I can't remember when I dyed these balls of wool. It was at least a couple of years ago in the midst of my eco dyeing frenzy. At the time I was dyeing anything and everything I could get my hands on. I was also doing  straight up dyeing. Most of these balls of wall have been dyed with plants stuck in a pot but there is a ball which I used to wrap around an eco-dyed bundled of something or other. It's my favourite.

I'm pretty sure the dark brown is from walnut shells. The multi-coloured ball has some orange from cinerea and then whatever else was in the pot with the wool. The ball was originally tied around an eco-dyed bundle. Any string (or wool) you use to bind your bundles gets dyed in the pot. It's a beautiful example of accidental or incidental art.

I've been wanting to make a beanie to match the eco-dyed scarf you can see in the pictures. The merino wool scarf was my first ever successful attempt at eco-dyeding after many failures. The beautiful fingerless gloves were a birthday present from a very dear friend. She hand-spun the wool and then knitted the gloves. With a scarf and gloves all I was missing was a beanie. With winter coming, it's time to do something about my lack of beanie situation. Luckily for me, I had thoughtfully dyed these balls of wool on a previous occasion.

For some reason when I first dyed these balls, I didn't like the results. Crazy, right? They look incredible even if  I do say so myself. I think at the time they didn't turn out how I was expecting which blinded me to their beauty. With the passing of time, I've forgotten my original expectation and can finally see them in their true glory. Sometimes the only difference between success and failure is time.