He received an inexpensive, yet very capable electric keyboard (he calls it piano) from Santa, and was very excited, but so far his parents are enjoying it more than he is.
I received a Christmas house from Mitch and Charlie -- A hardware store, of course. There weren't any yarn stores. So now I have an ACE Hardware Store, right next to Rosie's Restaurant. Charlie also gave me a "Fiber of the Month" club -- his own last-minute creation, but I'm seeing a business opportunity here.
The gift tag Mitch made for me; they are reindeer.
M's hooded vest, nearly done; I now have to sew the sides, knit the arm ribbings, and sew on the zipper.
I sat by the fire tonight and peeled the bark off the apple tree branches. Yup, after the defeat from the first attempt, I am trying the apple bark dye. It's a lot of work. I must be crazy to be doing this. It's so easy to buy a beautifully dyed pink fiber!
The natural dye book I'm using for a reference says to strip off the outer bark and use only the inner bark for brighter color. Not as easy as it may sound. Can't really tell what inner bark is -- especially from a branch that has a crust of old, brittle bark. That's the kind I used for my first attempt. So this time I avoided those, and peeled off the thin, light brownish part with a pocket knife. I am going out to get a jug of distilled water to soak the bark in -- then the wait begins (I'm supposed to soak it for about a week). If it fails this time, I am not touching the apple bark ever again!
1 comment:
My sunflower dye was similarly unprepossessing. I think it got slightly yellow. But not "dyed," as you'd expect such a word to suggest.
Good luck!
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