Onion peels are my favorite winter dye. The rich golden color gives the feeling of warmth when the temperature outside drops and the dye is so easy to use; a handful of skins + any pot + fibre + a bit of patience. This is commercially spun Shetland yarn from The World of Wool. I bought it long time ago in balls so now have to turn it into skeins before dyeing. I don’t have a yarn swift so use just chairs and it’s a bit time consuming. I thought, what if I just dye the whole ball as is, and I did and it worked pretty well. The color inside the ball is lighter but it just adds interest to the yarn I think. We don’t need a uniform color, do we?, for that one can just buy a dyed yarn…
I finially filled this bobbin and now have enough to knitt mittens. Here are few samples to practice hand coordination before embarking on knitting with four needles :).
This mode, working on different projects at the same time seems to be ‘me’. Reason argues with inspiration, I am growing stronger not to give in. I feel it’s so important to find our own working mode to have a craft business & stay creative & happy at the same time.
Red 2 White 
The colour from your onion peels truly speaks of a warm embrace.
And how important to recognize our own, just our own and personal way to express creatively what keeps us alive the most!
thank you, Sheila, for stopping by. I didn’t know you have a blog, will follow you there.
You’re absolutely welcome! I’m following you for long with great interest and sympathy! I’m “on air” with Iaialuna since last December but right now I’m slowly moving into a light renewal of contents and appearance, as you told in your post, to keep yourself closer and closer to your own path and to be brave enough to express it openly well, it’s peerless!
So, hope you’ll be back again in the future.
🙂
Looove the colour. It is actually an excellent idea to dye in a ball and get more of an “ombre” graduation of colour… very smart!
I just finished spinning wool and silk and I was going to dye it too with onion skins… Im not sure weather to first weave and then dye… or dye and then weave…..hmmmm
hmmm, some interesting dyeing could lead to som lovely effects in the woven piece + you could overdye the weaving… curious now what you will do 🙂
Lovely colour for the wool and I think you are exactly right. The beauty of hand dyed is that it is unique and that makes it wonderful!
“The beauty of hand dyed is that it is unique and that makes it wonderful!” I so agree!
I need to remember your words!
….. I get caught up in the ‘imperfection’ of unevenly dyed yarn, and then feel like it’s not ‘good enough’ to use. That people will think…. ‘what an amateurish dyer she is’.
But the subtle variations are a beauty….. a shifting of light and shadows, mystery.
The onion skins made your yarn look like curry…… a delightfully warm color!
Julie, so nicely sad. I know that we strive for perfection in what we make, but it’s not easy to define what ‘well made’ means anymore. Who would think, 40 years back, that exposed fraying seams on a coat is ‘well made’ and now some percieve it as beauty. I would think well dyed yarn is a yarn which holds the color well, that’s it, but even that might not be a must to others…
I agree.. working on several types of projects- ones more ‘serious’, others less- is what I am feeling as well. so exciting that you are weaving.. this can only yield beautiful, impressive results!
Thank you so much, Caitlin, lovely to hear from you!