Things I have learned from my dyepots

Things I have learned from my dyepots, or, What I did over my summer vacation

-I learned that there are colors you don’t expect hidden in the natural dye material.....
-I learned that yellow is not just yellow - like my wonderful greens and reds, yellows are varied and can be beautiful
-I learned that I don’t always get what the books and websites tell me I will get
-I learned that I have a lot of natural dyes in my pantry, even more than I thought, and I am still looking out for more
-Books and websites do not always agree, so I take all the information, toss it into my brain, and use the parts I either can remember or the parts that make sense
-From all the reading, the times I don’t get the colors I want are probably my fault and the fault of my impatience
-When a recipe says to soak something overnight, usually it works better if you do what it says
-Sometimes thinking about what the books say causes a lock up in your brain, and if you quit worrying and just do it, it will work out — or screw up completely and you will just have to start over
-I don’t spin enough white yarn, because I like color too much, but I need to make a point of spinning white yarn so I can play with my dyepots more
-I collect way too many dyebooks, but love reading and re-reading them....I need to read them more often, because I forget really good ideas
-I wish I could have friends over when I am playing with my dyepots, but usually, I just wake up in the morning and think, “I’ll do a couple of pots today!”
-Photographs never quite catch the beauty of the colors, but I have to photograph them anyway, because I really feel the need to share them with everybody
-Using the colors are almost as much fun as making them, but only after I have sufficiently admired the skeins or fiber, and had enough “oooo-ing and ah-ing” of the results