My Sister's Knitter

July Indie dyer feature and giveaway ~ Wren House Yarns

 

Hello there, happy Sunday to you!

While I love posting every Sunday and chatting with you, to be able to feature some talented dyers this year has been a thrill. We are just over the half way mark of 2017 and the hits keep on coming. Of course I must say a huge thank you to all of you for supporting these dyers and liking their Etsy shops. It means the world to me and them. So how about if we get to July's indie dyer...Wren House Yarns?

 

 

I have known and adored Leigh for a number of years via her blog. Being one who was inspired by her beautiful photos of nature and yarn, I was elated when she began dyeing. I have acquired quite a few beauties from her shop and the love affair continues to present day.

 

What inspired you to dye yarn?

 

My love of dyeing yarn really came about because I wanted to learn to knit fingerless mitts about 9 years ago.  Watching the colors come together while knitting was magical.  I just had to figure it out!   First came Kool-aid, then professional acid fast dyes.  It's a slippery slope!  

 

 

What inspires your colors?

 

My inspiration comes from everyday life.  From bits of nature to unfinished thrift shop paintings.  While I mostly dye with professional acid fast dyes, I love working with natural dyes as well.  It will never cease to amaze me the beautiful one-of-a-kind colors that can come from Mother Nature.

 

How about a little about you?

 

We are lucky to live in a few acres of woods on our suburban homestead.  Summers are spent picking berries, gardening, canning, and drying yarn on the clothesline.   Knitting and yarn drying by the wood stove in the winter.  I've been known to keep bees, knit in my kayak, stack wood, and haul home bags of roadside plants to use as dye.

 

When did you start your business?

 

Wren House Yarns opened about three years ago.  It's named after the lovely little Wren that nests outside our bedroom window every year.  So cheerful and energetic! 

 

 

 

Where do you see yourself in five years?

 

I would love to still be dyeing small batch yarns from the garage workshop five years from now!  It's tricky as an independent dyer.  While I've teetered at the precipice of moving over to creating a larger business, staying small is what works for me.  Each skein is unique.  I don't want to loose that experience for the knitter.  Plus, my creative joy comes from experimenting with small batches.  It is truly wonderful to go out the back door, open the garage to the woods, and set to work!

 

 

 

Lovely Leigh, is what I call her. Amazing when someone's personality and loves can be translated so perfectly into their art.  Thank you Leigh for allowing me to feature you on my blog!

 

You can find Leigh and Wren House Yarns in the following places:

 

Etsy

Ravelry

Instagram

Blog

 

In addition to agreeing to be a gracious feature here, Wren House Yarns has offered up this truly stunning skein of her 100% Superwash Merino fingering weight yarn in the color Kilim (inspired by vintage Kilim textiles).

 

 

 

To enter to win this stunning skein, please visit Wren House Yarns and come back to tell me what your favorite colorway. This giveaway is open worldwide and will close July Saturday the 29th at midnight PST. I will draw a winner via Random number generator and announce it on the blog on July 30th.

 

Next week I will share with you the beautiful socks I am knitting with Wren House Yarns!

 

Have the best day today!

XO,

Andi

 

 

 

Dream knitting...

 

Good morning to you!

 

 

Once again I send many thanks to all of you for your wonderful advice and thoughtful words about my "feeling behind" post last week. I took tips from many and it made for a better week. A common theme in the comments was- prioritize. That is exactly what I did. Also I gave myself a break which was important and provided some relief.

 

Sweet Sparrow Yarns

Another thing that helped this week was some seriously brilliant GMDs. Despite the super hots days here in Arizona, wool in the mail will always be a welcome sight. I am sure you can relate.

 

Great Lakes Tweed.

Gifted yarn is especially a mood lifter...thank you Rachel. :)  Speaking of Rachel of Great Lakes Tweed- she was offering up a discount in her shop for National Knit in Public Day, which got me thinking about some of my favorite places to knit or even places I dream of knitting.

While I am often whining about the more warm than cool months in my state, moving is not in the cards just yet. So what do you do when your knitting environment is not exactly what you would like? You dream...dream of being in your own personal knitting oasis/environment.  I don't have much experience knitting in public like in a park or festival with fellow knitters, I think that would be incredible.  If I were to add to this it would be someplace in the mountains near a lake with a campfire and a chill in the air. I guess you could say this was my happy knitting place, a sort of mental vacation.

Now I would love to hear about your happy knitting place? Maybe it is where you are right now or have already experienced it and your memories serve as tool to take you back there whenever your mind craves it? Please share. :)

Enjoy a song and have the best day today!

 

 

XO,

Andi

May Indie Dyer Feature~ Ruataniwha Dye Studio

 

Happy Sunday!  It is that time of the month where I have the pleasure of featuring another wonderful indie dyer. This month we are chatting with Ruataniwha Dye Studio! Who wouldn't want to know more about a company that describes themselves as~

"Ruataniwha Dye Studio is the colour collaboration between two New Zealanders, one a yarn enthusiast the other a chemist! We currently hand-dye yarn in central Tokyo, Japan and specialise in providing quality New Zealand and British-sourced yarns for unique knitting and crochet projects."

 

 

When did you start your business? 

Duncan and I began Ruataniwha Dye Studio in 2015, but it had been ruminating away quietly for some time before then. (Note: the ‘wh’ in ruataniwha is pronounced like an ‘f’ or the ‘ph’ in Steph ‘roo-ah-tuni- far’). Ruataniwha literally means two taniwha’s, where a taniwha is a prevalent creature in New Zealand Maori lore and they are often thought to protect bodies of water and the people who reside by them from nefarious influences. It’s also the name of the inlet neighbouring my parents’ sheep farm in New Zealand where I grew up.

 

 

What inspired you to dye yarn and what inspires your colors? 

Most of our shades are inspired by nature or the feelings of wonder that our environment holds. We both love hiking and being outdoors and are both fascinated with plant-life, geology and birds, in particular. Duncan especially enjoys mapping our outdoor excursions with photographs of the mineral depositions in rocks, tree-clinging lichens, and the various creepy crawlies we encounter. In all these photographs and his collections of rocks, plants, and insects, I saw beautiful shades that I wanted to knit with and so we began transferring some of these colours onto yarn.

 

 

Other shades are inspired in a much more whimsical way, by my feelings about certain happenings or associations in my personal sphere, while Duncan has a greater hand in designing the brighter colours that frequently adorn our sock yarn owing to his status as Ruataniwha Dye Studio’s Preeminent Hand-Knit Sock Wearer. 

We tend to favour more semi-solid and tonal shades, varying from pastels and muted tones through to rich, layered colours. We do step out a bit more with our sock yarn range, occasionally playing with a touch of speckling and light variegation because for socks, we like to have a bit more fun!

 

 

How about a little about you?

Both of us are academic scientists and have moved a lot over the last 10 years, from our native New Zealand, to the UK, Germany and now Japan. I’ve been knitting for many years, learning as a child and becoming inspired to knit more earnestly while living in Leeds, UK with its rich textile history. I equate knitting and having my hands full of yarn with feeling ‘at home’ wherever we happen to be. For the longest time, Tokyo was too big and too busy to really feel like home, but taking yarn, infusing it with colour, and drawing upon our collective scientific training to do so gave me the feeling that I’d finally arrived. I find dyeing yarn to be both joyful and restorative and those are the sentiments I hope our yarn carries along with them to their final destinations.

 

 

Where do you see yourself and the business in 5 years? 

Rolling stones that we’ve been, we’re now hoping to gather a bit of moss over the next few years! I’d certainly still love to be transferring the beauty of the natural world onto yarn and to be able to spend more time doing it. One of our core philosophies is that sustainability and traceability in business practices are maintained to protect our environment. All of our yarns are entirely traceable and from ethical, sustainable sources, meaning for the most part, we know the farms where the sheep were raised, the scourers and the spinners, all those involved in the process, and can attest that no animals or people were exploited or ill-treated to make our products. I’d like to build on this foundation in the future and further reduce our footprint by looking to non-superwash and nylon-free sock alternatives, for example.

 

 

I like to throw in some fun questions at the end of these chats so I asked Steph:

Your favorite dessert?

Lemon meringue pie (with a biscuit base not a pastry crust).

Good choice...it is one of my favorites as well. :)

 

 

Wasn't it a pleasure to meet  Ruataniwha Dye Studio's. Each month it bring me such joy to "meet" and learn more about the talented artists in the fabulous community we create in. I am currently knitting a pair of socks in Ruataniwha Dye Studio's Merino yarn in the color Coral, you may remember this picture from last week. The pattern I am knitting is Wildflowers & Honeycombs- which I happen to think goes perfectly with this gorgeous Spring color.

 

 

I was hoping to be further along on these socks, but some weeks don't allow for much knitting. Trust me when I saw it is a pleasure knitting with this stunning yarn. I will be stocking up on all the beautiful yarns from this amazing dyer!

Why not stock up and add some of the beauties to your stash, especially as Ruataniwha Dye Studio has offered the most generous of discount codes for all of you- use Andi17 to get 10% off your cart until June 1st 2017. 

Thank you so much to Steph for visiting me and allowing me to share my love for Ruataniwha!

 

Have the best day today and to all the wonderful mothers out there~ Happy Mother's Day!

XO,

Andi

 

 

Slow motion knitting...

 

Happy Sunday!

 

 

Hello there! How was your week? Did it feel like eternity like mine or was it just right?  Maybe mine felt like eternity because everything I have done in the last week has felt like it has been going at a snail's pace. Then again, I can just say that I was focusing on slow living. ;) Also, really what is the rush? Life goes by fast enough.

 

 

We hit s record 107 degrees this week and today the high should only hit 71. Maybe that is the reason for the rush to the weekend. Right now the windows are open and the coolest of breezes is passing through my home...ahhhhhhh, that is what I am talking about. Now today, I pray the day drags at the slowest pace possible. Despite the fact that I am dying to get to the next color change in my Fade shawl, I need to remember that slow motion knitting is not a bad thing.

 

 

I have started some new socks that are part of a review for an exciting May Indie Dyer of the month feature coming next Sunday.  Everything about this yarn color sings Spring, does it now? I am very pumped about sharing all the wonderful things about May's feature dyer.

 

 

Mail this week has been off the charts good. My tea shelf is now restocked...and honestly it didn't need to be restocked.   I had a gift card that from a friend that was due to expire so I leaped at the change to stock up on some of my always favorites (forever nuts, cold 911, Buddha's blend) as well as try some new to me ones.

 

 

Me and my dear friend Julia (in Australia), have been suffering through an epic cold for weeks on end. Luckily mine already passed but Julia thought she would send me a lovely care package because she is absolutely stunning like that.  Seriously I wish I could hug her.

Thanks to a beautiful Sunday and wonderful friends, my angst about the long hot week has ended on a magical note. I hope your week and now weekend has been especially kind to you.

I will end this post with a fun video brought to you from Michael Stone (Out of Hand's Youtube channel). I love seeing men knit and the fact that they are handsome doesn't hurt either. ;)

 

 

Have the best day today!

XO,

Andi

April Indie Dyer Feature & Giveaway~ Dyed inThe Wool Yarn Co.

 

Happy Sunday! Here we are into another month in the year where we get to be treated with a little Q & A from another wonderful indie dyer. The month of April we celebrate- Vanessa of Dyed in the Wool Yarn Co. So grab your cup of tea and let's get to know this amazing dyer.

 

dyedinthewoolyarnco

Indie Dyed Yarnie Works Speckled with LOVE. 

               

Q: When did you start your business? 

A: I started my business a little over a year ago.

 

Family is everything as Vanessa shows us here. :)

Q: What inspired you to dye yarn and what inspires your colors? 

A: My inspiration to dye yarn was to have access to the funky and bright colors I was searching for.  Lots of things inspire me. Sometimes I picture someone's outfit in my head and think of the color combos that make me say "wow".  I picture how they will look worked up and then work backwards and apply them to my dye technique. I love anything funky and use that. House décor, kids drawings, fashion, everything I come in contact with! 

Inspirations

Q: How about a little about you? 

A: I am a graphic designer by trade. I started staying home with my two little girls and needed a creative outlet that I could control my hours with. My grandmother is a 90 year old knitter, my mom knits and I do now too! I crocheted at a young age and only began knitting 5 years ago. Obviously I take my favorite things to a new level and decided to dye my own yarn! LOVE IT!

 

 

Q: Where do you see yourself and the business in 5 years? 

A: I hope to be able to work with my mom and have her help me in my business.  She is a busy body like me and when she retires I think we'd make a killer combo.

 

 

Q: Your favorite dessert? 

A: GIVE ME ALL THE PIE. I want pie for Christmas, my birthday, because it's Thursday, all the days.

 

Thank you so much Vanessa for sharing yourself and your gorgeous talent with us. Pie...ah yes, if every meal could be pie with a side of knitting, how much happier this world would be. Not only does Vanessa have excellent taste in desserts but in her color combinations as well.

I bought a skein of her Twisted Spark sock yarn in the colorway, Macaroon. Seriously I cannot capture the beauty of the yarn.  I do try to finish at least one sock and soak it so I can give a review of the yarn. Mission accomplished and if ever there was a time when single sock syndrome was not a problem this would be that time. In an odd way, I sort of never what to stop knitting with this skein.

 

 

The hand is amazing and while sometimes yarn that contained stellina has a bit of rougher feel to it, not the case here. The random speckles were perfectly timed, if that makes sense. After a soak this yarn which was already as soft as heck, bloomed. Despite having a drawer full of socks, I may have to be forced not to wear these everyday this coming Winter. 

 

Pattern~ Hermione's Everyday socks

As if drooling over yarn and getting to know Vanessa wasn't enough, she graciously sent a skein of the most fluffy stunning yarn for one of you lucky peeps. This is her DK Single But Not Lonely Yarn in the colorway De Carnivale.

 

 

To enter please visit Dyed in the Wool Yarn Co. and come back here leaving a comment of what your favorite colorway in her shop is. Please make sure to leave your email address so that I can contact you if you are chosen. This giveaway is open worldwide and will close April 29th. Winner will be selected via random number generator and announced on the blog April 30th.

 

Happy Easter! Have the best day today.

XO,

Andi

Keeping the knitting focus...

 

Happy Sunday!

 

Yarn~ Dyed in The Wool Co. in the color Macaroon  Pattern~Hermione's Everyday socks

Hello loves! Sunday is here and honestly I am not ready for it to be Sunday. Greedily I wish it were Saturday so that I could be better prepared for a relaxing knit-worthy Sunday. Due to a bad cold (which it would seem everyone in the U.S. has), I haven't been able to do all the things I wanted to do this weekend. You know how that is. :)

 

Yarn~ Knitting a Love Song in Vintage   Pattern~ Impossible Girl

Despite having a case of the icks, I was well enough to knit. Which has me thinking should I really complain? Now here is the problem, working on a test knit with a fast approaching deadline has me not being able to work on things that I want to work on, which is everything but the test knit.  Don't get me wrong, the test knit is a wonderful knit and the yarn incredible to work with. It is just that the stubborn knitter in me wants to knit everything except for what I should be.

 

Yarn~ LittleBeanCrochet in the color Molly Weasley

The point I am crawling towards is that I need inspiration in order to stay focused on the test knit. Keeping me company and away from all the pretty yarns has come from a number of different areas.

Podcasts (my watch lists are ever changing depending on my mood). Now this may sound off but considering that the test knit I am working on uses organic wool, my choice is podcasts follows along that inspiration. Is that odd?

• Ninja Chickens
• The Gentle Knitter
• Fiber Trek
• Skeindeer Knits
• Knitography p4chen

Then are the television shows. These too are determined on what helps me to focus on my wooly intention.

• Vikings (odd choice I know but within the blood and fighting there are glimpses of weaving and beautiful wools).
• Lord of The Rings

Then we have beautiful Instagram feeds, because for me seeing beautiful wools and knits in action ignites inspiration.

• xtinawithwolves
• jaykay_knits
• leighsideknits
• seabluewool

Then we have the music...always the music. :) 

I adore, Indie Feed Music.

 

So the question of today, how do you keep yourself focused on a monogamous knit? I know there are many of you out there that have no issues avoiding the temptations that haunt non-monogamous knitters like me, but how about those of you who tend to feel the itch of knitting all the things?

Enjoy a song and we will chat again next Sunday.

 

Have the best day today!

XO,

Andi

March Indie Dyer~ Knitting A Love Song & Giveaway...

 **This giveaway is now closed- thank you for all who commented.**

Happy Sunday! Can I just tell you that these monthly indie dyer features have been one of the best ideas I have had in a long time? It has been so amazing to get to know these artists on a personal and business level.

March I get the privilege of introducing you to the talented, Kirsten of Knitting a Love Song. Before I got to know her yarn, I watched her wonderful podcast and fell in love with her infectious personality. Her projects and yarn all speak to my heart. I have no doubt that after meeting Kirsten you will fall in love with her as well.

 I am 29 years old and for the first 20 years of my life, I lived in New York. When I moved to New Orleans, I barely knew anyone and didn't have a job right away. I taught myself to knit through youtube and soon found Ravelry.com Knitting A Love Song officially opened in February of 2016, but my love for dyeing yarn came long before that. I started dyeing my own yarn in 2012 with kool-aid, food coloring and vinegar. Before I knew it, I was over-dyeing skeins of yarn I had bought years earlier and coming up with new, rich color combinations.

 

 

In 2015, I found myself feeling burnt out at my full time job and uninspired with my knitting. I struggled with depression my entire life and it seemed like it was only getting worse. I mentioned to my boyfriend that I wished I could just dye yarn all day for a living and he said, "why not?" The prospect of opening Knitting A Love Song and being able to dye yarn seemed like a dream come true. When I get to play with the dye pots, all my stress and anxiety seems to melt away. I dye colors that I love, in hopes that my customers will love them, too.

 

 

My inspiration comes from things and places in New York and New Orleans, as well as my mood at the time. I started my podcast in 2016 and while my episodes were sporadic, I feel that it gave me more motivation to knit. I have made the resolution to record at least 26 episodes this year. I have made so many amazing friends through knitting, podcasting and dyeing yarn.

 

 

I feel so lucky to be part of a community that values generosity, creativity, kindness and love. I hope that with the continued support of my customers and other fellow indie dyers, that within the next five years, I could make Knitting A Love Song my full-time job. There is nothing more relaxing and fun to me than dyeing yarn for my shop.

 

 

Kirsten has an wonderful group on Ravelry and is currently hosting a Stash Down KAL. Here is a bit more about it:

Stashdown KAL: 

Towards the end of 2016, I realized that I had enough yarn to probably last the rest of my life. I had yarn in stash that I had bought in the beginning of my journey through the fiber arts;, things that I was keeping for sentimental reasons. But keeping yarn in boxes wasn't going to bring me happiness;...what would bring me happiness is turning that yarn into something beautiful, which helped propel the Stashdown 2017 make-a-long. The idea of Stashdown 2017 is to use the beautiful things that you bought and turn them into something even better. We all have excess somewhere in our lives and for a lot of us crafters, that excess is in our stashes. The focus is on using up some of the things you’re hoarding because you think

they’re too nice to use, and/or to find uses for

things you are still searching for the perfect project for. I'm hoping that through Stashdown 2017, we can all motivate each other to be more creative and to think of our stash in different ways. I've encouraged anyone who wants to participate to make some goals for the year and let them know that these goals do not have to be set in stone. The purpose isn't to force yourself to do anything but to challenge yourself throughout the year.

 

 

 

Links to social media:

 

Instagram:

http://www.instagram.com/knittingalovesong/

Ravelry profile:

http://www.ravelry.com/people/knittingalovesong

Ravelry Group:

http://www.ravelry.com/groups/knitting-a-love-song-podcast

Podcast:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3Cl-7Sx8vU1j9JGwoqdlbw

Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/knittingalovesong

 

What a brilliant love Kirsten is right? Not only is she talented but also extremely generous and has offered up a skein to one lucky winner from her Etsy shop. The giveaway is open worldwide and the winner will get to choose the yarn- I know right?!  If that weren't enough Kirsten is also offering up a 15% discount code to her shop- MSKLOVE.

The giveaway will be open until Saturday March 25th at midnight. The winner will be drawn via random number generator and announced via a blog post on the 26th. To enter please leave a comment (make sure to include your email address when prompted- no need to enter it into the comment itself) and tell me your favorite colorway in the Knitting a Love Song shop or what color would you like to see.

Thank you Kirsten for allowing me to feature you and your beautiful yarn on my blog. I feel like I have gained a new friend in the process-lucky me.

I will leave you with an episode of the Knitting a Love Song podcast and wish you the very best day today!

 

 

XO!

Andi

February Indie Dyer~ Long Dog Yarn

 

Happy Sunday! Hope you week was kind and gentle to you.

Today  I have the pleasure of introducing you to this month's featured indie dyer. As you know this year I am introducing you to some talented indie dyers in the hope that you find some new loves.

And here is Brandy dyer extraordinaire and the face behind Long Dog Yarn.

 

 

When did you start your business?

Formally, I first started selling my hand-dyed yarns online in May 2016. I was on the verge of defending my Ph.D. thesis, so that seemed as good a time as any to jump into something completely new and different and try to start a whole new business endeavor. 

 

 

 

 

What inspired you to dye yarn and what inspires your colors?

I had been knitting for about 3.5 years and had been designing my own knitwear patterns for about a year when I jumped into seriously dyeing yarn. I was initially inspired by the idea of creating my own custom color palettes for my designs and having complete creative control over the entire process, from the yarn through to the finished project. After I started, dyeing yarn became a new and different creative outlet for me that related to my passion for knitting, but gave me a bit more instant gratification in what I produced. I just began playing with different color palettes and dyeing styles - fortunately, people seemed to respond to it and my business has continued to grow in exciting and unexpected ways. 

 

My colors are largely inspired by nature, but sometimes different color palettes from billboards or people’s outfits on the street will inspire me and I will immediately jot down new colorways in my phone. I also use Pinterest a lot to explore graphic art and different color palettes to get inspiration when I get in the mood to try dyeing up something new for the shop.

 

 

 

 

How about a little about you?

Well, I’ve finished my PhD now and am focusing most of my attention on the dyeing and design aspects of my business to try to grow and make an actual living from my creative work. 

 

I have a wire-hair dachshund named Rufus who was the inspiration behind my yarn company name and logo. 

 

And finally, after crocheting for years and years I finally taught myself to knit using online tutorials because I wanted to make myself a warm pair of socks while my husband and I were going to school in Toronto for our PhDs. I had always felt before that knitters were a bit snobby and thought themselves better than crocheters, so I had stayed away due to pride. But once I knit my first pair of socks, I was completely hooked and I have been knitting nonstop ever since. It’s proved to be an amazing creative outlet, helped relieve a lot of the stress associated with graduate school, and now I feel very fortunate to have the chance to knit and work with yarn on a daily basis as my job!

 

 

 

Where do you see yourself and the business in 5 years?

I would really love to continue the growth I’ve been able to experience these past several months and continue to expand my line of yarns into more retail stores throughout North America and maybe even overseas! I’d also love to team up with other knitwear designers to put together a collection of designs featuring my yarns - something in the vain of the Brooklyn Tweed model. I’d even like to explore the idea of opening my own small yarn shop that showcases the beautiful work of independent hand dyers and the creativity and hard work that goes into dyeing beautiful skeins of yarn.

 

Lovely chatting with Brandy, right?

 

******************************************************************************************

 

I am currently knitting up some of this beautiful yarn and if you can believe it, I went for a more muted color. This is despite the fact that all of those beautiful bright colors pictured above spoke to me. Something about this color (Champagne Toast), captivated me and I see the final socks in my sock drawer.

 

 

 

The yarn is incredible. Some of you avid sock knitters may already know this, but you can tell by how a yarn knits up, how it is going to wear. Despite being  super soft and lush, I can feel that these socks are going to last. Good thing because I am smitten.

 

 

Pattern~ Pillars by Lisa Stichweh

 

I really cannot get enough of this yarn.  It is soft with an occasional pop of dark grey and it sings to my sock knitting soul.

 

Thank you so much Brandy for allowing me to chat with you and share a bit about you on my blog. Now Brandy not only accepted by request to be a featured as my indie of the February but also sent a little gift your way-

"I’ve set up the coupon code MSK15 for my Etsy shop and longdogyarn.com to save 15% on any order until March 12, 2017. "

 

 

 

 

Have a the best day today!

 

XO,

 

Andi

Yarn Review and Giveaway~ Great Lakes Tweed

  Giveaway now closed~ winner will be announced midweek!

Hello there, happy Sunday!

If you remember one of my goals for 2017 was to try and introduce you all to more indie dyers. I am happy to say I have a great line up at the ready. Are you ready to meet our first amazing indie dyer, Rachel of Great Lakes Tweed?

Thank you so much to Rachel for allowing me to pester her into a review and allowing me to review her yarn for you all the read about and get to know her a bit. For me purchasing hand-dyed yarn from indie dyers is personal because I think everyone needs to support art in whatever medium it comes in. The art of hand-dying sings to my soul, therefore it is only fitting that I want to know more about the creator.

So without further ado, a chat with Rachel.  

 

 

 

When did you start your business?

I have been dying yarn since October 2015, but I just recently started my Etsy shop in November, 2016.

What inspired you to dye yarn and what inspires your colors?

There is actually a bit of story behind what got me started dying yarn. My fiancé and I live near Greenfield Village, which is a large outdoor living history museum filled with historical buildings. The buildings, including farms, are maintained by in-character works. Part of the farm maintenance includes sheering the sheep, which is then hand spun into yarn that they sell on site. My fiancé took me to the museum on my birthday in 2015, and he also bought me a couple skeins of their yarn. While we were there some of the workers were natural dying yarn with walnuts, berries, and various other dyestuff. I thought it was super interesting and decided to give it a shot myself, so I dyed my yarn with a dozen roses. After that I started dyeing with other materials, and eventually found my true passion acid dying yarn.

My colors are inspired by a variety of things, but most inspiration come from Michigan’s great outdoors. The funny thing about dyeing yarn is that it rarely comes out as planned, so while I might draw inspiration from one scene it might end up looking totally different in the end!

How about a little about you?

I started crocheting forever ago, when I was about 8 years old. My best friend was learning to crochet, so I asked my grandma to teach me. I was literally hooked (haha). I kept crocheting regularly, but eventually wanted to learn to knit, so I taught myself how to knit through Youtube videos and tutorials I found online when I was in college (about 2010). I loved knitting! I swear it’s the only thing that kept me sane while working on my degree, haha. These days I prefer knitting, and do it regularly, but I do still crochet from time to time. :)

These days I’m working as an IT Professional by and dyeing by night. I live with my fiancé, dog, and two cats in Metro Detroit, Michigan.

Where do you see yourself and the business in 5 years?

In 5 years I would love to be dyeing on a large scale. Currently I’m rocking very small batches – never more than 2 skeins dyed in a single batch. I’d like to maintain smaller batches, but doing 5 or so at a time would be great! So in conjunction with that, I’d also love to have dye studio to support my dyeing hobby.

Shorter term, I’m looking to expand into other yarn weights within the next few weeks! 

Isn't it wonderful to find out the inspiration behind the beautiful creations we get to play with as yarnies?  I found Rachel on one of my many visits to Etsy and fell in love with this yarn...

 

 

in the colorway, Love Shack.  It went on the needles immediately for one reason because I wanted to test out the yarn so that I could accurately say how I felt about it for this review and another reason, how could I resist?

 

Pattern~ Wendelin by Rosemary Waits

Off I went. The feel of the yarn is perfect. It is everything soft that a merino blend should be. I don't say this lightly as I have had yarns that look highly saturated feel a bit like twine and rather stiff to knit with-thankfully that was not the case with Great Lakes Tweed sock yarn. 

 

 

 

The yarn was pleasantly soft with the perfect amount of nylon (25%), so I felt confident that it would wear well. Another test of colors that are richly dyed such as these is that once soaked, how do the colors react. Do they muddle together? Do those brilliant pops of dark pink get lost? As you can see above there was not bleeding on my very white toe and they colors stayed tonal. Nothing lost in translation after a couple of washings. Perfection because I do like me a bright white contrasting toe.

It is rather lovely when things work out for the best, right?

 

 

Thanks to Rachel one of you lucky peeps will have the chance to win one of the most beautiful skeins of yarn in the color, Fire On The Mountain (pictured above). It is a sock yarn 75% Superwash Merino 25% nylon 463 yards.  For your chance to win, please visit Great Lakes Tweed's Etsy shop and come back here telling me your favorite colorway or since she is open to custom orders what colorway you would like to see her dye up.  The giveaway is open worldwide and will close January 28th and a winner will be drawn via random number generator on January 29th and announced on the blog.

* Thanks to many of you great people- Rachel's yarns are selling like hotcakes. Take a glance at her sold yarns to see some of the colorways she offers up*

 

Till next Sunday, I wish you the best day today!

XO,

Andi 

Lovely knitterly things~ baa ram ewe

 

Happy Sunday!

 

 

Good morning to you.  Thank you all for the wonderful birthday wishes! Not only do you make every day special but birthday too.  :)

 

 

What a lovely morning to relax with delicious tea and a new to me yarn. I was contacted by the generous people at baa ram ewe asking if I would like to try their new yarn, Dovestone. While baa ram ewe is not a new company it was a new to me yarn to work with. Having seen all the beautiful projects created with this yarn on Ravelry and blogland, my response was an excited, "Yes please!".

 

 

Have you heard about baa ram ewe? In case you haven't here is a bit about them from their website:

"Our masterplan is to make Yorkshire famous for wool production across the world once more, reconnecting it to its woolly heritage. We've put ourselves at the centre of this renaissance commanding worldwide appeal for our luxurious and authentic wools, all spun and made in Yorkshire."

After working with their gorgeous yarn, I have to say their master plan has been achieved.

 

 

I tried my best to take a photo that would capture the beautiful of this yarn. A picture where you could almost see how amazing it is to work with Dovestone aran. The difficult part is trying to capture the feel of this perfectly  Yorkshire spun yarn.  You may just have to trust me.

Details of the yarn:

"We’ve taken the same wonderful blend of sumptuous Bluefaced Leicester with two Yorkshire sheep breeds, the Wensleydale and the Masham, and create a palette of five natural undyed shades in a cosy aran weight yarn."

50% Bluefaced Leicester
25% Wensleydale Longwool
25% Masham

 

 

You may be thinking, okay so it looks incredible to knit with but how is it to knit with. My friends it is gorgeous with a capital G. There is a wonderful bounce and elasticity about it. While my first thought was to knit something with cables because I know in the back of my mind that this yarn is going to bloom like no bodies business, but I couldn't get this pattern out of my head when visualized the finished project.

Obviously I haven't finished the hat, so I cannot remark on the bloom or how the yarn reacts to a lovely soak. This not finishing had much to do with a very busy birthday month. I promise I will follow up this post with  the end results very soon.

A very big thank you to baa ram ewe for allowing me to play with this yummy yarn. I love being able to try new yarn blends and share them with all of you.

I will leave you with the secret password from the sheep and wish you the best day today!

 

 

 

XO,

Andi