Bitten by the bug

Actually, I've been bitten by many bugs.  Mosquitos never liked me until we moved up here.  The little suckers here are vicious!  Yesterday something bit me in my face and today my eye is so swollen it's half shut.  Don't know what kind of bug it was and it doesn't really matter.  I don't mind.  It doesn't hurt and they're just being bugs.

The bug I'm referring to is hand dyeing.  Not too sure why I really wanted to try it, since I'm not that into colors.  I think I really like the *process* of dyeing!  My first two examples are shown above. I figured I'd start out easy and do single colors.  Now I know what others refer to as "variations".  Even though it's just a single color, I painted it on so it's not solid.  I've tried tatting with the brown, which although it does not have a lot of variations is not a solid brown either.  It looks quite nice tatted up.

I really like the lilac.  I hadn't planned on having it so mottled, but I like the way it looks.  Even though I know what I did wrong, unfortunately I am not sure I could do it again.  I haven't tried tatting with it yet so I don't know how it will tat up.  I think it will be pretty, but I'm probably biased:)

I also did a few 2-color skeins, but don't have photos of those yet.

I have several colorways in mind, but I am not sure what I would actually *do* with all the colored thread.  I'll have to show some restraint and start out slow.  It's hard though, especially knowing that my house is not nearly warm enough during the winter to dye thread!  I like a cold house:)  Before I know it, it will be too cold in here to set the dye.  (I obsessively cool the house year round, so it stays cool even when it's still warm outside.  As I said, I like a cool house).

Looking at that brown again, it's such a perfect shade of brown, that maybe I should take a few balls of thread and dunk them in the thread to make them all evenly dyed.  Variations are nice, but sometimes you need a nice, solid color for a more formal look.  I could definitely get into this!