This is the fourth in a series of blog posts featuring the fabulous sponsors of Indie Spotlight, taking place from May 14-16, 2021.
Carolyn of Greenwood Fiberworks is an indie dyer who is the rare triple threat: she knits, crochets AND spins, and so offers yarn, spinning fiber and knit and crochet kits. She’s been dyeing for a couple of decades (!) and shares her deep expertise at events and guilds across the country. While Greenwood Fiberworks is not a new company, we’re so excited to spotlight them and get them on your radar.
Tell me about how you got started dyeing yarn.
I began dyeing yarn about 20 years ago, the same time I learned how to spin. I spun literally pounds of white wool on a drop spindle and then wanted to dye it to make holiday stockings in a deep red and green. A friend told me I could use Kool-Aid as a dye, so I purchased a couple packets of lime and black cherry flavored mix. I soon learned that I needed much more than just a couple packets and returned to the store and purchased all they had on the shelf. I was finally able to get the deep colors I needed, but no matter how much I rinsed, there was still a fruity smell. I since learned to use professional grade dyes and love to put color on just about everything.
What inspires your colorways?
I live in the beautiful mountain west and the environment around me inspires a lot of my colorways. We have the beautiful red rock, deep mountains, and gorgeous sunrises and sunsets. Sometimes, colors come to me from a greeting card, a piece of fabric, or even my own imagination.
Do you have a favorite color or colors, and have they changed since you became a dyer?
Green has always been a favorite color of mine. It suits me since my name is Greenwood! I love it in all shades for the calm and peacefulness it brings.
Is there a color that you would love to dye, but that is challenging to create?
I find it challenging to make colorways with the color red. It seems to overwhelm the other colors I put with it. I’ve been able to come up with a few colorways such as American Diner or Dragon Scales, but it is still a challenge for me to put red in a colorway.
What are some of your most popular colorways?
Oh, that’s a hard one. I’d have to say Arcade, which is a more jewel-toned rainbow. Then there is Cappuccino, which seems to have many natural colors of creams, tans, and browns. Colorways with blues always seem popular, especially our Shades of Turquoise.
Can you share some of your plans for Indie Spotlight?
I’m looking forward to introducing our new colorway, Dragon Fruit. I wanted something bright and cheerful as we begin to come together again so I put together happy colors. I wasn’t sure what to name it, but my daughter said it looked like Dragon Fruit, and she was right! I’m also wanting to share some of our hand-dyed fibers for spinners and felters.
Dragon Fruit, the Greenwood Fiberworks show special.
When and how did you learn to knit?
I was about seven or eight years old when my mother gave me a pair of long metal knitting needles and some worsted-weight yarn. She taught me to knit back and forth in garter stitch. I knit what was supposed to be a square hot pad, but it turned out to be more of a trapezoid. I still have it after all these years.
I’ve taken up crochet recently. One of my favorite projects is the Lost in Time Shawl that we’ve made with our DK Yakity Yak yarn.
What are some of your favorite FOs you or your customers have made with your yarn?
I think one of my favorite projects has been the Hitofude sweater. It drapes so nicely with our Yakity Yak yarn. I’ve made several of these and many of my customers have also. Another favorite is the Peek-A-Boo Lace Shawl because it makes great use of our mini skeins.
What’s currently on your needles?
I’m playing with a pair of jaywalker socks in our April Diamond colorway. I wanted an easy travel project as I’ll hopefully be headed to Boston to meet my new grandson soon!
Superwash and non-Superwash yarns, what’s the difference? After all, aren’t they both wool? In my view as a knitter and a natural dyer, they are related in the way a horse, and the Emerald City’s Horse of a Different Color would be!
To understand, let’s look at the horse first, or in our case the raw wool! Sheep wool is made of natural fibrous proteins from the keratin group. The keratin is what gives yarn its flexibility, elasticity, resilience and memory. Each “hair” has a complex physical structure, and is made up of overlapping minuscule scales. The scales help repel dirt and allow the fibers to felt. In the case of some non-Superwash fibers, felting does not occur, as in down breeds. In their natural state, the fibers are coated with a waxy coat of lanolin which serves as a water repellent. During wool processing, the lanolin is removed.
Now, let’s look at the Horse of a Different Color, the Superwash. The most common treatment used to transform a yarn into “Superwash” is the Chlorine-Hercosett process. To etch the scales we talked about earlier, the fiber is chlorinated with either chlorine gas or a chlorine solution, followed by the application of a plastic resin to coat the fibers. The result is a yarn you can wash in the washing machine that will not felt.
Before I discuss the difference between the two types of yarn from a dyeing and a knitting perspective, I want to point out some of the negative environmental impacts of the Chlorine-Hercosett process. This process is not sustainable, it uses hazardous chemicals, and creates toxic waste. It uses more water and energy than traditionally processed wools, and the yarns, after they are transformed into garments or household products, shed microplastics during washing.
Because of the negative environmental impacts of the traditional Chlorine-Hercosett process, new processes have been developed to improve the washability of wool, and decrease felting. Among them, to name only a few, are the EXP process which does not use chlorine and instead uses natural salts as oxidizing agents, and the Naturetexx Plasma Process which uses air and electricity.
Now that I have said that, and that I am sure you are looking sadly at all the beautiful skeins of Superwash in your stash, you are wondering what to do. My answer is: use them! The resources and energy that were used to produce them have already been expended, and not using them would be a waste.
So how do the horse and the Horse of a Different Color compare? The two skeins below and their samples were knitted from 100% Merino fingering yarn, one non-Superwash, the other Superwash, with both skeins weighing 20g each.
Body in the skein
Non-Superwash top, Superwash bottom.
The difference in body between the two skeins is very apparent in the pictures below. The non-superwash skein which appears first has body, whereas the superwash clearly has not retained its natural structure. The yarn is flatter, and denser.
Drape
No-Superwash top, Superwash bottom.
The difference in body translates into the drape. I knitted two identical swatches. The Superwash Merino drapes more than the non-Superwash, but is also more shapeless.
Color
This is where my experience as a hand-dyer comes in. Superwash yarns absorb color more readily than non-Superwash. Non-Superwash yarns appear more subtle, while Superwash yarns are deeply saturated. Even with natural dyes, my dyes of choice, the color difference is striking. Both yarns were identically dyed together using sequoia. In addition, the absorption of color is faster in a Superwash skein than it is in a non-Superwash skein.
Shine
The difference in color is only accentuated by the difference in light reflection. A Superwash yarn is smooth with a slight sheen, while a non-Superwash yarn is matte with a soft glow.
Elasticity/Memory
Superwash skein left, non-Superwash right.
Superwash yarns lose their elasticity, and memory. The absence of scales, means the fibers and stitches are sitting next to each other but are not interlocked, so they tend to stretch more readily. This would be fine for a shawl, but less attractive for a sweater. The tendency to stretch is visible when the samples are wet.
Gauge
Superwash left, non-Superwash right.
With an equal number of stitches cast on in these samples, the Superwash swatch is wider and longer than the non-Superwash swatch. The stitches in the non-Superwash swatch are closely connected to each other, while the stitches in the Superwash swatch remain clearly separate, with minute gaps. This will have an impact on the warmth of the knitted garment, with non-Superwash yarn being significantly warmer. The Superwash swatch is flatter. Textured stitches will appear flat in the Superwash Merino, and round and plump in the non-Superwash Merino.
Softness
Both are soft, though in a slightly different way. In the case of Merino yarns, Superwash feels sleek and non-Superwash feels pillow-y.
Water
Non-Superwash top, Superwash bottom.
The Superwash yarn will absorb water faster as opposed to the non-Superwash yarn which will repel the water. A non-Superwash garment will allow you to stay warmer even when wet.
As a natural dyer, a knitter and a spinner, I prefer non-Superwash fibers. Each breed-specific fiber has unique properties that make one fiber or another ideal for a particular project. The same way a Superwash Merino is drastically different from a non-Superwash Merino, Merino fiber is drastically different from let’s say Suffolk or Wensleydale. And as I hinted earlier in my post, some fibers felt and some do not. There is a perfect natural fiber for any project! This could be the subject of a whole new post, but for now, I hope you will look at your stash a little differently, and that you will explore the possibilities in using non-Superwash fibers.
Caroline Hegwer, owner of The Noble Thread, is a fiber artist who focuses on natural dyeing, knitwear design, and spinning. Born and raised in Paris, France, she was taught to knit when she was seven years old by her grandmother and fell in love with it instantly. Since then, she has been immersing herself in the world of fiber arts. Twelve years ago, she began dyeing yarn with natural dyes gathered from around her home and has been hooked ever since. Caroline’s love for natural dyeing has grown into a love for all things natural and the sustainability of fiber arts. You can follow Caroline on Instagram.
Caroline of The Noble Thread has caught the natural dyeing bug and recently released her first collection of entirely naturally-dyed yarns. As she’s based in North Carolina, the collection is locally inspired by the colors of the coastal Southeast: pinky-peach azaleas (swoon) and sea-foam blues and greens.
Here’s where to find some fantastic socks: Sign-ups open March for AnnieDot Creative’s new yarn club, inspired by Newt Scamander (the fictional English wizard and author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them). The year-long club starts shipping in April.
Aimee of Pancake and Lulu has been having regular mini shop updates. The most recent one included colorways called Funfetti, Dark Fairy and Raspberry Truffle.
Get 25% off individual patterns or the ebook for Michelle’s Go Anywhere collection, inspired by Reading Rainbow, with the code INDIELOVE.
Selena of Sweater Sisters is going to be at the Marriott Marquis for VKL NYC this weekend debuting a bunch of new products. Among them are new alpaca, alpaca blend and extra fine untreated Merino bases available both hand dyed by Selena in Wyoming and au naturale.
Selena also offers kits featuring yarns from other small businesses and patterns from indie designers. Pictured above is the Fluffy Bell Sweater by Tiam Safari in Fleece Artist Wisp, a blend of mohair, wool and nylon. And if you want to dye your own sweater quantity, Selena is also bringing dye kits with of Landscape Dyes of Australia (she’s one of only two licensed retailers in the U.S.
Julia of Pandia’s Jewels debuted 2020 with preorders of a new colorway called Moonlight Maze. You have the option of ordering this color on a variety of bases from fingering to worsted through this Sunday, January 19.
Lisa The Knitting Artist also has a new colorway. Beneath Wandering Thoughts is inspired by a bright pink and green painting of the same name, with pops of purple and yellow to help you dream of spring.
Kate of McMullin Fiber Co. is celebrating 2020 with lots of new colorways. Monthly and three-month subscriptions to her La Societe D’Orsay club have also opened up. IU subscribers — that’s you! — enjoy a special 15% discount off everything in the shop with the coupon code IUNewYear.
If you’re interested in getting a sample of one of my favorite discoveries from Barcelona Knits, Stefania and Giulia of Lanivendole are opening preorders today for a special yarn club called BY THE SEA. For this one-package club, they are dyeing 200 grams of a new blend of Italian Wool and alpaca in an exclusive colorway, and including two accessories, from Marianna of isewsoidontkillpeople and Alice & Eleonora of Last One Stones.
The kits will be listed in the Lanivendole shop at 5 p.m. CEST (that’s 10 a.m. Eastern) and will be open until January 20, or until they’re sold, with shipping in early February.
We need a little Mister Rogers in our lives, now more than ever, so it’s fitting that Laura of Slipped Stitch Studios is ending the year with one of her most requested fabrics of 2019. This tribute to our favorite neighbor will go live in the Slipped Stitch Studios shop today at 9 a.m. Pacific Time and orders will ship today and Monday.
Michelle of Crafty Flutterby Creations is celebrating the new year with dragonfly shawl pins in new colors.
The Indie Untangled Eight Nights of Hanukkah Kits have shipped, which means there are some extra goodies available! Shop the Indie Untangled Hanukkah shop before the first candle is lit on Sunday. Orders made today through Sunday will ship out on Monday and should arrive before the end of the holiday, depending on where you’re located. (If you purchased a kit, don’t click the link and spoil your surprise, though there are Spoiler Alert photos just in case!)
Victoria of Eden Cottage Yarns is having a special update planned for this Tuesday, with some Titus 4ply, a Merino and silk blend, Eldwick Lace mohair and silk and some Hayton DK MCN. This random assortment supports an upcoming pattern release that is expected to be quite popular.
Karida Collins, foreground, and Ann Weaver, the co-owners of Plied Yarn Co.
This is the seventh in a series of blog posts featuring the fabulous sponsors of the 2019 Rhinebeck Trunk Show.
For years, Karida Collins of Neighborhood Fiber Co. and designer Ann Weaver have expertly brought together color. Recently, the longtime collaborators embarked on an exciting new venture, co-founding Plied Yarn Co. to produce a unique product: woolen-spun yarn that is hand dyed and then plied at the mill.
I was excited to see hints of their new venture pop up on Instagram a few months ago, and now that their cat is out of the bag, I’m thrilled to announce that I will be hosting this new yarn line in my booth at the Indie Untangled Rhinebeck Trunk Show!
Tell me how Plied Yarn Co. came about.
Plied Yarns is a collaboration between Karida Collins, founder and president of Neighborhood Fiber Co., and Ann Weaver, knitting instructor and designer. We traveled to Harrisville Designs for a weeklong weaving workshop, which included a mill tour. After the tour, we talked excitedly about the potential for creating a woolen-spun hand-dyed yarn unlike any yarn that was on the market. We refined our ideas and conferred with Harrisville for about a year, figuring out how we could create the yarn we envisioned. Then came a nerve-wracking period of trial and error (the possibility that what we wanted just wouldn’t work was always looming). Finally, we spun and dyed a small test batch and then a larger batch, which was enough to start selling.
How is it different from other hand-dyed yarns?
Plied is different from other hand-dyed yarns in two significant ways. First, unlike the majority of hand-dyed yarns, it is woolen spun, not worsted spun. Woolen spun yarns are not Superwash, and they are lighter and loftier than worsted spun yarns. After washing and blocking, woolen spun yarns bloom beautifully, which makes them suitable for knitting at a wide range of gauges. Second, we hand-dyed each of the plies in each color separately, and then we return them to the mill for plying. The result is complex, multilayered colors because each ply is semisolid.
What expertise would you say each of you brings to the table in this venture?
Karida brings a dozen years of yarn-dyeing and selling experience, which is invaluable. She not only has the expertise to create the colors we envision, but also has the business insight that comes from over a decade in the industry. Ann brings a strong color point of view from nearly a decade of teaching color theory for knitters and creating designs based on color interaction. Additionally, we both bring our contacts — designers, shops and events — and what we’ve learned from them to the yarn we’re creating. Our goal is to make yarn that is both exciting and appealing to a wide range of fiber artists.
What plans does Ann have for designs in the yarn?
Ann has reworked a few of her designs in Plied, and she is developing a few new designs to be released in 2020. Currently, she is focused on working with other designers and sample knitters to ensure that Plied designs reflect a variety of viewpoints and styles (and she’s really busy making the yarn).
Karida, how does Plied fit into the overall vision you have for Neighborhood Fiber Co.?
Karida imagines herself as a yarn baron, much in the style of past oil barons. Or Mr. Monopoly. Mainly, she wants to wear a monocle. Plied and Neighborhood Fiber Co. have significantly different production processes, even though they’re both hand-dyed yarns. Ideally, Plied will be the beginning of a new kind of offering from Neighborhood Fiber Co. and its affiliates (what we call the Neighborhood Fiber Co. Lab). We want to have a wide variety of yarns, in addition to the wide variety of colors.
How did each of you learn to knit?
Ann learned from her mom, who taught her to knit and purl. Beyond the knit and purl stitches, she is self taught. Over the past few years, she’s taken workshops with other teachers, both local and nationally known, whenever she can to improve her skills and broaden her perspective.
Karida learned to knit right after college. Suddenly faced with the realities of budgeting a life in Washington, DC, with an entry-level salary, she and her friends started looking for ways to have fun at home. Her best friend taught her to knit, and she felt like she was finally doing what she was meant to do.
Do you enjoy other crafts in addition to knitting?
When she’s not knitting, Ann quilts, weaves, crochets, cross-stitches and embroiders, and rummages around at thrift stores, yard sales, auctions and, occasionally, the trash for the “supplies” she needs for these projects. Karida enjoys starting projects and then letting them languish in assorted bins and bags around the house. She has dabbled in quilting, weaving, crochet, cross-stitch, embroidery, rug tufting and basket-weaving. Her main hobby is chasing her 19-month-old son around the house and sneaking in naps whenever she can.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out in the fiber industry?
First, be prepared to work VERY HARD for a long time. Have a source of income outside your fiber industry pursuit that pays your bills (being independently wealthy works, too). Then, don’t give up. Even when all of your friends and family tell you to quit and get a “real job,” refuse to admit defeat. Take risks! Don’t worry about the long-term financial consequences. You were never going to pay back your student loans anyway. Or move to Baltimore. You can afford to do anything here. Look at us. Living the dream.
You still have time to snag Mudpunch’s Tavern Fall, an autumnal palette featuring broad stripes of orange, gold, turquoise and burgundy. It’s available (until sold out) on 385 yards of 80/20 Superwash Merino/nylon 4-ply sock yarn. Also in Chantel’s shop is Black Razzleberry, featuring city blues and purple which gives a preview of the winter to come.
Debbie of Murky Depths Dyeworks is preparing for winter on the horizon with bold, saturated hues. Colorways like Turmeric, Sirocco and Lucia are inspired by her prized collection of silk saris and family photos.
Michelle of Crafty Flutterby Creations will be hosting her first ever Facebook Live sale tonight at 9 p.m. EST! This fun event will include shawl pin styling tips, stories from Michelle’s fall events and the chance to snag Rare Breed shawl pins that have only been available at her shows.
Brooke of Fully Spun has new seasonal colorways of her millspun that looks like handspun, along with new bulky and aran weight bases. Kits for Francoise Danoy’s Icescape and Phlegethon shawls are also back in the shop.
Laura is back from Stitches SoCal and has plenty of goodies for sale. The shop will be stocked with new, never-before-sold items today at 9 a.m. PST.
Attention dyers: Carrie is gearing up for another production run of SkeinMinders and SkeinTwisters and both are discounted through Sunday, November 11 with the coupon code SMDISC.
Robin of October House Fibers has opened preorders for her Christmas Sweets Sock Sets, and there are several color combinations available. Orders close on November 25 and will ship out the first week of December, giving you plenty of time for holiday knitting.
Shauna of Farm Girl Fibers just updated her shop with a variety of fall- and winter-inspired colors, including red, green, blue, brown and plum tonals. There are plenty of sweater quantities available on fingering Merino/nylon and worsted Merino.
In celebration of her two new pattern releases, A Foxy Frolic and Snowflake Man, Mona of bunnymuff is having an exclusive Indie Untangled promotion! Use the code SnowyFrolic in her Ravelry shop and receive an automatic $2 off each pattern through November 19.
This is the 11th in a series of blog posts featuring the fabulous sponsors of the 2018 Rhinebeck Trunk Show.
The Knot House in Frederick, Maryland, is an LYS that really supports indie dyers. It’s where trunk show vendor Dami of Magpie Fibers learned to knit and launched her company and always showcases the latest and greatest at their indie pop-up during the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.
I asked owners Heather and Cathy to give us a look at their plans for Rhinebeck and also learned about a new dyer who has come on the scene…
Who are you both most looking forward to seeing at the Indie Untangled Rhinebeck Trunk Show?
Hu Made. We haven’t met Amanda, so we are looking forward to meeting her and seeing her yarns in person.
Tell me about some of the most recent dyers that you’ve stocked your shop with.
We have two that we have added recently:
1) Nice & Knit – We love their Sock and DK. They have great colors and are just a pleasure to work with.
2) Chasing Rabbits – Love the Sock and her colors.
Cathy and Heather
Are there any indie dyers and designers that you think should be on knitters’ radars?
I have to give myself a plug here. We have our own hand-dyed yarns now. We launched our La Di Da DK and Mo Debonair Mohair earlier this fall. With the focus on sweaters, we have focused on tonal solids.
How did you decide to dye your own yarn?
I don’t really know. I had thought about it before but never really thought of myself as an artist. But Mom and I thought I should try to supplement the shop. So Mom ordered yarn and I ordered dye and got started.
Where do you dye?
I currently dye in my home kitchen but we are working on building out a small studio in the basement.
What inspires your colors?
I have always loved textiles and have been known to spend way to much on decor fabrics. I love a room done well with pops of color. So I get a lot of inspiration from home decor pictures and fabrics. I also love timeless fashion. Matter of fact, I took a picture of Uma Thurman in the streets of NYC in 1987 and used it to come up with a small collection. In my option, yarn colors have to be truly wearable. I will be doing a sock weight in variegated fun stuff soon!
What are you each planning to wear to both Indie Untangled and the New York Sheep & Wool Festival?
Not exactly sure yet, but I’m sure Mom and I will both be wearing something from Boyland Knitworks and/or Andrea Mowry.
An FO of Caitlin Hunter’s Tecumseh.
What do you think is going to be the most-seen sweater at Rhinebeck this year?
Tell me the projects that are currently on your needles.
Mom is working on Caitlin’s Ramblin Woman Cardigan [a pattern that is debuting at Indie Untangled] using Knot House La Di Da DK. I am working on Millie by Nice & Knit and the Aim True Hat by Caitlin Hunter.
Cathy’s Sipila sweater.
What are each of your favorite FOs from the last year?
I think mine is still Sunset Highway and Mom’s is her Sipila sweater.
This is the first in a series of blog posts featuring the fabulous sponsors of the 2018 Rhinebeck Trunk Show.
Since I started attending the New York Sheep & Wool Festival in 2011, I’ve known of Spirit Trail Fiberworks, one of the very first indie dyers to come on the scene. I gravitated toward Jennifer’s striking blues and her silky soft bases. Five years later, I purchased my first sweater quantity of Sprit Trail Birte, a luscious blend of Merino, Cashmere and silk that I used for Mary Annarella’s You Wear It Well, which is one of my all time favorite sweaters.
Shortly after I showed off my sweater at Maryland Sheep & Wool, where Jennifer also vends, she started posting on Indie Untangled, and I got to see what a variety of colors she creates on her luxurious bases. Jennifer’s Subscriber Inspiration Colors, in which she dyes colors based on a photo taken by one of her newsletter subscribers, are particularly unique, and I’m so looking forward to what she comes up with for installment for the Knitting Our National Parks series later this year.
If you’re going to Rhinebeck, Spirit Trail should definitely be on your shopping list.
Tell me about how you got started dyeing yarn.
I left my career in commercial real estate in Washington, DC, in 1998, after my son was born in late 1997. My daughter followed in 2000, and it was around mid-2001 when I started thinking about what I would do next for work. I had left real estate because I wanted to stay at home with my kids, so I was looking for something I could do from home.
I had started knitting again when I was pregnant with my son, so was really focused on trying to figure out how to turn knitting and textiles into a business. In early 2002, I took a dye workshop from Barbara Gentry at Stony Mountain Fibers in Charlottesville, Virginia, and then a few more dyeing classes at the Potomac Fiber Arts Guild. It was during the workshop with Barbara that a lightbulb went off in my head and I thought, “I could totally do this from home!” It seemed like it would be much more feasible than trying to knit for pay, so that’s what I did!
I spent the rest of 2002 investigating dyes and yarn suppliers, festivals and shows, website design… all the fun stuff. Then I started playing and experimenting with dyes and different yarn bases and fibers. I officially opened Spirit Trail Fiberworks in January 2003 with a small online shop, applied to all the shows I could and started doing shows that fall with the Knitter’s Review Retreat and the Fall Fiber Festival of Virginia. MDSW and NYSW followed the next year, along with a few other East Coast shows I did for a few years.
I was definitely on the very early side of the indie dyer explosion. I can remember customers at NY and MD looking at my yarns and saying they didn’t know what to do with them; indie dyeing just wasn’t much a thing yet. The industry has certainly evolved since then, and it’s been fun to watch and participate in this evolution.
How did you decide on the name Spirit Trail Fiberworks?
I sort of fell into my real estate career (my dad was a local DC architect and I worked in his office after college), and really, the entire 15 years I worked in real estate I pretty much longed to be doing something more creative. I have a degree in English literature with concentrations in fine art and philosophy, so the business world was not where I thought I’d ever be.
When I was trying to come up with a name, I came across a concept in Navaho weaving called the Weaver’s Pathway, or Spirit Trail. I wrote up a description of what it means and where it comes from on my website.
What inspires your colorways and your colorway names?
Gosh, everything. An image, an idea, a song, an impression. I get a lot of inspiration from the beautiful area where I live, in the shadow of Shenandoah National Park. But I get inspiration from all sorts of places. Usually, the colorway name comes from whatever inspired the color, but when I’m dyeing based on a feeling or impression it’s more difficult to put a name to the color. Sometimes there’s a lot of back and forth between myself, my friend Brooke who works for me, and my mom who also works for me — each of us throwing out words or phrases, and building from there until we get to the final name.
Do you have a favorite color or colors, and have they changed since you became a dyer?
My favorite colors definitely change. I used to be drawn to earth tones like deep greens, browns and more muddy colors. Then it was grays and neutrals. These days, my favorites tend to be aqua blues and oranges. I’m sure they’ll change again. My ideas about color have definitely changed since I became I dyer. I used to have certain colors I hated – bubblegum pink and pastel colors, for instance. For years, I just didn’t dye pink at all. That’s definitely evolved – there are no colors I don’t like or won’t dye. I wouldn’t even say there are colors I wouldn’t wear anymore; I’m game for just about anything.
When and how did you learn to knit?
My mom taught me to knit when I was 14. Being the over achiever that I was/am, my first project was a long, cabled tunic in some nasty acrylic yarn (because that was mostly what was available back then). I pretty much cried through the entire process and my mom was not sympathetic at all, since I’d insisted on starting with something so big and complicated. I got through it, wore that tunic until it was frayed and pilled and nasty, and continued knitting through high school and college. I stopped knitting during my real estate years, started up again when I got pregnant with my son, and haven’t stopped since. He’ll be 21 later this year.
Is there a color that you would love to dye, but that is challenging to create?
One color I’ve been trying to create but have never done to my satisfaction is a “shimmery” silver on a wool yarn. It’s easy to get silk or Stellina to be a shimmery silver, since they’re already shimmery or sparkly. But to get a silver-gray with the characteristics of metallic silver on a matte base is tough. I’m still working on that.
What are some of your favorite FOs you or your customers have made with your yarn?
This is a hard question! I absolutely love seeing what my customers make with my yarn. It’s hard to pick a favorite. Of my own projects, I love my Traveler Tunic by Joji Locatelli that I turned into a dress and my Gola sweater that I test knit for Laura Nelkin with the addition of some fun vertical stripes (editor’s note: Jennifer is wearing it in the photo at the beginning of this post).
Other favorites include North Shore, (I wear this one all.the.time; pictured above), the “Caragh Sweater” I made for my daughter, Caragh, Obsidian (so super-sexy), Beck (crazy-gorgeous!), Starting Point (love how this kit turned out) and Lotus Mittens (I’m a sucker for anything colorwork).
What are some of the best things you’ve learned running your fiber business?
I’ve learned so much. The one huge benefit of my past career, which I now appreciate very much, is that I am really good at budgets, spreadsheets, financial forecasting – all the business aspects of running a business. But, beyond appreciating my experience much more now than I ever did before, I’ve learned quite a few valuable lessons over the last 16 years.
First, customer service is key. It’s essential for a small business. My focus is creating the best quality work so I have happy customers; I really work to have the best customer service I can in every aspect of my business.
Second, it’s a business, not a hobby. My prices have to reflect realistic margins (while still staying as competitive as possible) that will allow me to continue to run my business.
Third, work can’t take over every aspect of life. This last one is the most difficult for me – the work/life balance – because I’m so Type A and can get pretty obsessive. It’s so easy to let work consume every waking minute (and more), but in order to have a full life and not get burned out, there need to be boundaries. About six or seven years ago, I really put the brakes on my business because I felt it was growing beyond what I could manage, with two small children still at home, and keep it to my philosophy, which was that it remain a small business, and that I am the one dyeing all the yarn (the latter has been my driving focus since day one, and it certainly limits growth potential). Hindsight being 20/20, part of me regrets that decision now, but it was the right one for me to make at the time. Running a business is a marathon, not a sprint, so I have to make decisions to the best of my ability, and then continue to move forward.
Last, if you have your own small business, it’s essential to love what you do, at least if you’re going to do it well. But no matter how much you love your job, some days it’s going to be WORK and not so much fun. My gauge that I’m doing well is when I can successfully dye and have it turn out great, even when I’m not in the mood to do it, and that 29 days out of 30 I love what I do. A good friend of mine is a potter and he told me once, “You can only create something once. After that, it’s just production.” This is so very true, so to keep my creativity alive and well, I started dyeing non-repeatable colors (my “Lucky Pots”) in addition to repeating colorways. His answer was to build himself a salt-fire kiln, since the salt firing process is more unpredictable. So that’s how he creates one-of-a-kind work, versus his major production work. It’s essential to keep things fresh, and feed your soul with your work.
Jennifer at Spirit Trail Fiberworks has been doing a fun collaboration with her newsletter subscribers in which she dyes a colorway inspired by a photo sent by one of her readers. February’s colors — one main and two complementary — are inspired by a photo of a Blue Laced Red Wyandotte chicken. The yarn will be available to pre-order until February 19 at 5 p.m. Eastern Time.
Jennifer has also created her latest design with TV knitting in mind. Craic — Irish Gaelic slang for “fun, a good time, a good conversation” — is a crescent-shaped, fingering-weight shawl with some garter, stripes and texture. It is knit with two 400-yard skeins of fingering, and you can even mix and match bases to get an even more interesting texture. Don’t forget that you can receive 20% off your order of any in-stock yarn through February 28 with the code Indie.
Marian has a new six-skein gradient set called Beekeeper in the colorways Beeswax, Protect the Pollinators, Honeycomb, Dumbledore, Queen Bee and Hive Mind. It is currently available in fingering weight on her Scrumptious HT base, which is 80% Superwash Merino, 10% Cashmere and 10% nylon in three sizes.
Cat Sandwich Fibers is having a shop update this Sunday, February 18, with lots of new OOAK colorways and new Cat Sandwich enamel pins.
Pam’s latest design, Checkpoint, is a two-color sideways triangle with garter and what she promises to be easy intarsia.
Acadia Lights, the fifth colorway in the Knitting Our National Parks series by Asylum Fibers, is available to preorder through next Friday, February 23. You can get some ideas on what to make with either the Solitary Fingering or Golden Goose DK here.
