the midwest fiber and folk fest was last weekend in the next town over last weekend and i found my new obsession there -- natural dyes! i took an all-day workshop on saturday and it was a blast. i learned a lot and got to play with yarn -- doesn't get much better. on lunchbreak from the class i also got to meet up with the amazingly talented kim of kimberly r and we talked shop a little bit while walking around and checked out a few of the vendors. then i had to rush back to class -- so much for food or shopping. oh well, it was worth it.

here's a pic of the miniskeins we made in the class. dyes used were from madder root, indigo, bee balm, marigolds, golden margarite, queen anne's lace, and weld. i think that's it, but it was tons. one thing about natural dyes -- if you're gathering and extracting your own dye, it's a labor-intense process. even if you're just using the powdered dye from a commerical source, it's still quite a job. but the results are just beautiful! see for yourself...


and while we're talking yarn, here's a peek of several things planned to stock on august 1st when i'm guesting at lemon tree lane. still working on the yarn for that last one, and still might pull of one more set if i can, but if not it will be these three.