dyeing fiber: walnut

The goal is to collect enough walnuts that fall from my neighbor's tree to both dye some yarn to make her a scarf and to add a skein to my growing "Minnesota blanket" stash.  The first few days, Maya and I scrabbled over the patio, and I'd sneak through burrs to collect as many little walnuts and their husks as I could, and then a week or two passed and we could gleefully collect dozens, our hands heavy with the nuts, little squirrels shaking fists from the branches.  They're soaking now, waiting for their time in the pot.