oh man i am totally stoked about this blog post! today i am very very lucky and excited to share an interview with dyeing for ewe.

Dyeing for you is an amazing little business of hand spun yarn, and hand dyed fiber for spinning. Dyeing for you is an amazing crafter and once you see the wool, you will totally agree that they are an artist.




Dyeing for you is also phenominally funny and smart, and you can swing by the blog to check it out over this way

I gave Dyeing for Ewe 6 questions and was delighted when she got a little rambly on me. More awesome to share!

1. you make some amazing colors and great colorways, do you use any tools like colorwheels when you are deciding what colors to use?

-Thank-you so much! I started using online colour programs, and then got quickly frustrated. I needed something in my hands to mix, match and play with so I started dyeing up mini test strips of colours and blends of colours. Now I have hundreds of tiny colour bits of yarn and when I'm having issues with inspiration I pull them out and mix and match. They all have little labels on them so I can recall how I created that particular shade. They're also great for colour mixing tests. I like to add little bits of this and that to customize shades to make them mine.

2. what inspires you to keep crafting?


-It's a really selfish inspiration to be honest. I just want to play with fiber. Whether it's spinning, dyeing etc. I find my happy place when I'm playing with colour and fiber. It keeps me sane and centers me, but it's also incredibly fun at the same time. I've always know I'm the artsy fartsy need to create type, but I struggled to find my medium for years flitting from one thing to the next- when I found fiber arts it was like the sky opened up and an angel chorus started to sing and I knew I wanted to do this every day. I'm lucky that my shop allows me to do that.


3. whats one orginizational tool that you can not do with out?

-My dyeing notebook. Hands down, single most helpful organisational tool. I write down inspirations, colour mixes, name options and every single braid I dye with what mixes and application technique on which fiber I used. If I lost that book I'd pretty much have to start all over. You'd think it would be easy to remember some of the colourways but sometimes there are colours in the mix that would surprise you, and me sometimes.


4. tell us about your favorite part of dying wool?

- I'm hugely tactile and love just touching it. Soft wool, coarse wool, hairy wool and smooth wool. It's all lovely to me. Also because it's always an unknown, no matter how much I think I can control things. I can dye something a dozen times and it never looks exactly the same. I do small batch and one off dyeing, and that is what I really love about the process. I can re-do a colourway, but because it's one at a time they're always different. Wool is such a wonderful medium for that process and even after the dyeing you can individualize what you do with it by how you spin/felt how you draft and what spin technique you use. That's why I prefer to dye roving/top in particular. It just has so many more options.


5. can you tell us about something that frustrated you in the beginning, but now is a triumph?

-Dyeing related? Finding my own technique, beyond what you learn in dye books and the like. I needed to have something that looked unique in order to feel comfortable. I know some make a great living (more than me for certain) doing certain techniques and the same colourways over and over. That is awesome and I highly applaud them. But I really needed something that made me feel like I was doing something different. I'm not pretending to be anything new, mind you. I just found something that works for me and maybe makes people look twice before being able to figure out how I did it, you know?

Business wise? Breaking into etsy. It's such a huge site and I was convinced I'd put some items up, no one would ever buy a single thing and I'd get lost amongst the crowd. I'm hugely self conscious about my dyeing that way. So when people started responding positively I just.. have no words for how wonderful everyone has been. I'm hopeful to make this a full-time job one day, but my slow and steady progress has been absolutely awesome for me.


6. whats the something customers say to you that you love?

Gosh. Anything positive, or constructive criticism that allows me to better my dyeing. I'm a super insecure flaky artist type at times, and some days I dorkily read my feedback to remind myself that I don't completely suck. I'm not sure I'm supposed to admit that though. Appearing 100% confident and cocky just isn't my style though lol. Truly, I appreciate the kind words from friends and customers, or even just people who happened upon my little corner of etsy and favorited an item or sent me a message. The words mean more than sales, although sales are what enable me to keep dyeing so they're super swell as well.



Dyeing for ewe has a fantastic selection of colorways, some of which are themed after dr who, some of which are world of war craft themed, all of them are awesome. I can not say how much I covet their fiber. (relatives out there, my birthday is coming up, pay attention to that statement!) For those non spinners out there they also offers hand spun yarn that is spun up out of the lovely colorways and there is nothing like working with beautiful handspun.

head on over tothe store to check out the prettyness and to fill your fiber and yarn needs. You know you want to.