Onion Skin Socks

I've been making Claire socks with Koigu yarn , a color called Charred Wood, if I remember correctly. I had to break into the second (and last) skein before finishing the first sock. That means I'll run out of yarn before finishing the second sock. What to do? Seems extravagant to buy another skein just to finish a toe. I had this orange fingering weight yarn from Dale of Norway -- a little too pink and bright, but . . . I wondered about dying it with onion skins. So I've been saving brown and red (mostly brown) onion skins for a few weeks. Tonight I put them into a glass bowl and poured boiling water over them, then let them sit for an hour or so. Now to experiment: I tested a short length of the orange yarn which I had 'cooked' in the onion skin soup. It's lying across the brown sock -- can you see it?

Looks like it will work. I rolled an estimated two toe's-worth of the orange yarn into a circle and tied it several places with twine. Then into the bowl of onion skin soup it went, and both went into the microwave oven.

I cooked them for seven minutes on high, until the yarn had absorbed much of the color in the water.

I rinsed the yarn until the rinse water ran clear, then hung it to dry. When it's dry, I'll roll it into a little ball and finish the first sock's toe. I hope there's enough to do both toes, as it might be hard to re-create the exact same color again!

This is another way to waste not, want not -- use it up, make it do. I'm feeling quite pleased with myself!