When I think of the process of hand dyeing or hand painting skeins of yarn, I usually envision something fairly artistic, or sometimes I picture a mad scientist working in a lab coat. When I heard that Catherine Gamroth of caterpillargreen had used her engineering and computer science background to create a more efficient way of creating self-striping yarn, my mind went to some Rube Goldberg-esque contraption. Turns out, I wasn’t too far off…
Catherine, who’s based in British Columbia, earned her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, working for several years in the sustainable building design field and for the local water utility. She later returned to school for her master’s in computer science. Catherine started knitting while in graduate school and it immediately displaced all her other hobbies. Her business has taken off since she posted on Indie Untangled a year ago, and the self-striping shawl yarn she released last fall has been wildly popular (and even got a mention from The Yarn Harlot!). Catherine was kind enough to give a glimpse into her intriguing process:
Tell me how you got started dyeing yarn.
So, I was minding my own business one day when I was bitten by a radioactive spider. I thought nothing of it at the time, but woke up the next morning with the ability to shoot colourful yarn right out of my wrists…oh…wait…that’s not right.
What got me started dyeing was the challenge of finding a more efficient way to make self-striping yarn. Anyone who has dyed their own self-striping yarn will tell you that it is a very labour intensive process. The first skein I ever dyed took me what felt like days, mostly spent unwinding and untangling yarn.
So most of my time has been spent developing a dyeing process, rather than learning the techniques and subtleties of the art of hand-dyeing. As a result, I am very much a one-trick pony, but it’s a really neat trick.
Can you tell me a little bit about your custom dyeing process? How does your engineering and computer science background come into play with dyeing?
Oh, you mean my army of robots? Yeah, they were going to take over the world but I convinced them to focus on yarn domination first.
I kid. Mostly.
We have quite an elaborate set-up for our dyeing – pulleys, motors, valves, etc. – that takes makes our process much more efficient. That’s not a royal we, either. My husband is my co-conspirator in all of this.
What’s the story behind the name caterpillargreen?
I think I got it from a paint chip while I was trying to think up a user name for Flickr. Great story, right?
What would you say inspires your colorways?
Overall, I would love to create self-striping yarns that don’t scream “novelty” but have some of the depth and elegance that you see in semi-solid hand-dyed yarns.
Is there a colorway that you’ve found is challenging to create, or to get “just right”?
I feel like I am still on the steep part of the learning curve for designing with colours. So far, I have just played around until I find something I like. I’m not sure I’ve achieved “just right” yet, but it is a fun challenge.
Victoria, BC, appears to have a very vibrant knitting and fiber community. Can you say how that has impacted your business?
I have been blown away by the encouragement and support we have received from our local fiber community. Our first day of business – the first time anyone outside our immediate family had seen our yarn – was at Victoria’s big fiber festival, Fibrations. Not only did people buy our yarn (!) but they came to introduce themselves, to congratulate us, and to welcome us to the local scene. From a business point of view, making those connections and getting our yarn into the hands of prominent knitters, designers and bloggers has been a huge part of our success so far.
Catherine has generously offered a skein in the colourway of the winner’s choice. To enter, comment with a link to the shawl pattern you would like to make with the yarn (Catherine has some great suggestions on her website). You have until the end of the day my time on Sunday, June 28, and then I’ll be picking a winner by random number generator. Good luck!
42 Responses
I just made my first Boneyard shawl. Unfortunately, it was a gift so now I would love to make one for myself! Love your yarn! http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/boneyard-shawl
Would love to try your yarn. I would make either Payuma http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pamuya
or Sunray http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sunray-shawl-2
Mount Bachelor has been on my radar for awhile … this seems the perfect way to go!
I’d love to do a Sea Urchin shawl or even Aisling. So pretty! Thanks for the fun giveaway, and congrats to Caterpillar Yarns on such great success!
Ah, I forgot the links:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sea-urchin-shawl
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/aisling-6
I’d love to knit a rainbow Boneyard Shawl: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/boneyard-shawl.
I’ve not seen Mount Bachelor before, but it looks like a fun, easy pattern!
I love how the Boneyard Shawl looks in this yarn and have always longed to make a striped on.
I have to say that I think Boneyard would be a wonderful shawl to make with this yarn.
Light and up could be lovely, but you might have to play with the eyelet rows to keep them within a single stripe.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/light-and-up
I’d also be very interested to see how Fleece or Cold mountain worked up in one of these colorways, too.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fleece
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cold-mountain
Beautiful yarn! So excited for the opportunity to win a skein for a shawl. It would be Boneyard Shawl for sure!!
I’d love to see the yarn in a Zilver (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/zilver) or, perhaps, a Therapy (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/therapy).
Would love to try this with Stipey Shawl!
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/welty
I’ve been drooling over this yarn since the Yarn Harlot posted about it! I would make the Laylow shawl http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/laylow.
ooooooh!! I’ve made socks and fingerless mitts from the one skein of Concrete and Tulips sock yarn that I managed to get my hands on. They are gorgeous. I’d love to knit a shawl – try out something by Xandy Peters – http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/petal-cowl
What an enticing giveaway!
I, too, would love to knit a Boneyard shawl with this beautiful yarn. I have tried to buy some many times!
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/boneyard-shawl
Love the way the yarn knits up in the Boneyard Shawl but tempted by the Fire Drake shawl as well.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/boneyard-shawl
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fire-drake-2
I will make the boneyard shawl by Stephen west.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/boneyard-shawl
Would love to try this yarn with Cladonia. I think it’d be so beautiful!
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cladonia
I have yet to make a Boneyard Shawl http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/boneyard-shawl
though it’s been in my queue forever. This is such perfect yarn for it!
I think that gorgeous self-striping yarns like these would look great as something like Revontuli -huivi/Northern Lights: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/revontuli–huivi-northern-lights, and I also think it would be really fun to do a sideways shawl like Vittorio: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/vittorio.
Your yarns look wonderful! I would love to knit Stephen West’s Boneyard shawl.
Carol B
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/boneyard-shawl
I think ‘Wave’ by Kristen Finlay would look amazing using any of the caterpillargreen colorways: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/wave-10
Whoever wins this yarn will be one lucky knitter!
I think a Boneyard shawl would be an amazing accessory for this fall!
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/boneyard-shawl
I like the Komorebi shawl http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/komorebi-shawl
Pebble Beach Shawl
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pebble-beach-shawl/
I might have to copy the yarn harlot and use http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/simple-yet-effective-shawl-fingering-weight. (Not sure how to post a link?)
Great post, so interesting to learn the process from Caterpillargreen. Definitely the Boneyard Shawl, I have been dying to cast one on for the upcoming fall season http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/boneyard-shawl
I loved how she used technical skills to come up with her striping process. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/calzone
I’d love to make Westknit’s Boneyard Shawl in one of caterpillargreen’s shawl yarns. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/boneyard-shawl I think they’re perfect
oh i LOVE her yarns! boneyard shawl is usually a good one or probably just a stockinette basic shawl…
xox fantastic giveaway! xo
I think the Sunray would look wonderful, maybe in the Ocean Sunset colorway! http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sunray-shawl-2
Caterpillargreen Yarns are absolutely stunning.
I would love to make a Boneyard shawl (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/boneyard-shawl) in Concrete and Tulips.
Interesting interview! I would do Laylow–I think it would look great.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/laylow
Boneyard!
I love Caterpillargreen yarns….I have Cladonia in my favourites to knit with their shawl stripes yarn! Thanks so much for the chance to win! 🙂
I would love to try mount bachelor in peacock
I would love to make the Boneyard shawl. Catherine’s yarn is amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your interview with her. You can see her wit come through just like in her Instagram posts.
http://westknits.com/index.php/pattern/shawls/boneyard-shawl/
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/boneyard-shawl
I would probably make the Linus (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/linus-4) shawl pattern or maybe A Certain Slant (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/a-certain-slant). It’s beautiful yarn and it wouldn’t be difficult to make something stunning with it!
I’m completely in love with Lilli Pilli http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lilli-pilli and think it’d be lovely either using a self striping as one of the main stripe colors or even as the lace panels.
Zilver and Pebble Beach are strong contenders for me. Truly, something simple, because I’d want to showcase the yarn.
I love the rainbow shawl in the IU blog post!