This is the first in a series of blog posts featuring the fabulous sponsors of Indie Untangled, taking place on October 20, 2023, in person and online. Tickets are now available!
Since starting Indie Untangled in 2014, it’s been fascinating to learn about the artists behind the indie-dyed yarn we admire. I’m excited to share more about Addy of Ruby and Roses Hand Dyed Yarn, who launched as a solo dyer in 2020 and has since been joined full time by her husband and two employees.
Tell me about how you got started dyeing yarn.
I have been interested in the fiber arts since I was 8 years old, creating and selling my own crafts at art shows and farmers’ markets, finally honing my skills and passions to start a business producing hand dyed artistic yarn.
My great grandmother, Ruby, was very artistic. Even though I did not have the opportunity to meet her, I was inspired by the heirlooms she created, each with its own unique style and creativity. Roses have always been my favorite flower, particularly those that are ruby red. So, I honored her legacy by naming my business, Ruby and Roses Yarn.
Since 2020, I have been dyeing the highest quality speckled, variegated, and tonal yarn available, and marketing my colorways through Instagram and YouTube both directly to knitters and crocheters, and also to yarn stores worldwide! Ruby and Roses Yarn is best known for showcasing uniquely powerful, eye-catching color palettes for every style. I love to evoke a certain mood in each of my colorway collections. Whether vibrant jewel tones, or delicate pastels, each bursts with color!
What inspires your colorways?
I know it’s not the norm, but I am not typically one to base my colorways off of inspiration, photos, or color palettes I find online. I live in a colorful world that inspires me daily! I love to look at my dyes, and imagine what it would look like to combine several of them. I tend to create a colorway in my head before trying to make it a reality. Sometimes my experiments work and other times I just learn a new way not to do it.
The one exception to this is my Yarn-ary Islands Collection from this summer, where I went outside of my comfort zone and created colorways based off of inspiration photos, we took on our honeymoon in the Canary Islands! I think it grew me as an artist, and it’s something that’s going to be in my toolbelt for years to come!
Do you have a favorite color or colors, and have they changed since you became a dyer?
I’ve always been obsessed with all things pink! My favorite colors have definitely morphed over the years as my style shifted. All in all, I’d say the integrity of the aesthetic I love has stayed the same! My husband likes to joke that my specialty is “sneaking pink into any colorway”!
What are some of your most popular colorways?
Some of my most popular colorways are created using technique that I like to call my watercolor effect. It was one of the hardest techniques for me to learn personally, which might be why it’s so well loved! The effect captures a style somewhere between speckling and variegation, where the speckles bleed slightly to give off a watercolor feel. My Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, Stormy Shore, and Deep Affection colorways are three shop staples and personal favorites of mine that are created using this technique!
Can you share some of your plans for Indie Untangled?
I am really excited to bring a miniature version of our studio space directly to you! I hope to bring a colorway for every style to inspire color combo creating. We did our first show a few weeks ago, and I truly loved getting to build personal palettes for my lovely followers by starting with their favorite colors and laying them out on a table to create the perfect combos for their projects!
When and how did you learn to knit?
I actually taught myself to knit on YouTube when I was 10 years old because I thought it looked really fun and I wanted to add some projects to my mix to sell at farmers market! I started with hats that turned out way too big and eventually worked my way up to knit a Marie Wallin (Daffodils Sweater) design Which is still the hardest piece I’ve made to date!
What are some of your favorite FOs you or your customers have made with your yarn?
Everything our customers create with my colorways is so special to me: however, I think that seeing Ruby and Roses handmade blankets always make my jaw drop to the floor. It’s so cool to see that someone would want to devote all of that time and energy into creating a blanket solely out of the colorways I create. It’s a feeling that I think will never get old, which is why I always treasure getting to help people craft their blanket palettes in person!
Another favorite of mine is the Find your Fade shawl that my sample knitter Emily created using My Tattered Pages colorway, for my wedding day!
What’s currently on your needles?
As I’m writing this at the end of August, I am feverishly working on my Rhinebeck sweater, which you will hopefully see me wear during the event! It’s using one of my favorite colorways: Sail Away (shocker – it’s pink), with a little bit of freestyle colorwork at the hem. I can’t wait to show you all in person!
