D is for Dwarf

In the book, the short stocky dwarf is standing with his hand on his hip and the line of his body makes the upward thrust of the D and the curve of his elbow is the curve of the D. A lot of people also do D is for Door and you can draw a cute little dwarf house with a D-shaped door.

Our Harvest activities went well overall. The paper lanterns weren't a hit, since I dropped a lit tealight candle trying to get it into the lantern and all the children thought it was going to catch the house on fire. As did I. Having a lantern made of a flammable material just doesn't make sense to me and, besides, I was uncertain that the paper bottom was sturdy enough. We decided instead to put our tealights (lit on the counter and then lowered in with tongs -- I didn't have any kitchen matches) in the bottom of old glass jars (honey or jam jars). This worked out much better and you can glue tissue paper shapes to the outside and give it a wire or string handle for holding.

Our wool dyeing went extremely well. We used beets (from a can), papery yellow onion skins, and chopped red cabbage. The beets gave us a pinkish tan. The onion skins yielded a beautiful honey golden brown, perfect for a doll hair color. Our red cabbage (we used over half the head) produced a light lavender-gray, a nice hair and beard color for an old man. Maybe Old Man Winter?

Some tips:
If you've never done this before it is quite easy. Just don't use a pan you were planning on using to cook dinner, since they simmer away all day long. First, chop up your dye agent and put it in a cheesecloth bag. Place the bag at the bottom of your pot. Tie the bag well because otherwise you'll spend forever picking tiny bits of onion skin out of your skein of wool. Next, place the wool (loose unspun wool, roving, or yarn) on top of the bag. Pour a semi-generous amount of white vinegar in the pot and then fill with cool water. A soup pot works better than a saucepan. You want there to be plenty of water for your wool to float in. Don't use hot water or your wool will felt on you. Start with cool. Place the pot on the stove and bring to a simmer over very low heat. This takes a while. Then let it simmer for most of the day. The wool will be paler after it is dry so don't take it out too soon. When you like the color you're getting, you can take it off the heat, remove the dye sack and then let the pot sit until the wool has absorbed all the color in the water OR until you love the color just as it is OR until you get bored. Rinse the wool thoroughly in cool water until no more color runs out of it. Lie flat to dry.

My three dye stuffs were pretty kid friendly. Rebecca, who is 2, chopped cooked beets into little pieces with a butter knife. Raw beets are a pain in the neck to work with but would obviously give a richer color. Leah, 3, removed the papery onion skins. Natalie, 5, tore apart a head of red cabbage. Of the three, I loved the onion color the best and this is easy to do -- just save your onion skins each week and over time you'll have a nice big pile.