Who: Yarn Candy; Sweet Fibre by Melissa Where: Langley, BC Canada Website: www.yarncandy.com Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/yarncandybymelissa blog: http://www.yarncandysweetfiber.com/?page_id=6 See Melissa's updated blog posts on the right hand side of our blog for the month of July! Tell us little bit about how you began your love for dyeing yarn? I began my adventures in dyeing yarn in the summer of 2009 and am completely self-taught. All my life I’ve learned best by doing. I suppose I approach dyeing like I do the other creative interests in my life, whether it be cooking or painting, I approach them fearlessly, with the idea that chance really does work in our favor and complete trust in the “feel” of things. Sure, sometimes things don’t work out quite the way you imagined them but it’s also how really great things come about too. What inspired you to begin a handmade yarn business? I first learned how to knit when my mom opened the doors to 88 Stitches back in 2007. Being an artist and lover of all crafts I really took to it and haven’t stopped since. Working at the shop really inspired me to begin dyeing my own yarns. It’s also a great creative outlet, sometimes it’s nice to make colour for the sake of making it. At art school we’re constantly challenged with meanings and reasonings and are pushed towards conceptualism. With dyeing it’s just about the pretty colours and soft yarns. It’s a lovely way to rest the mind while still being creatively active. Your colourways are gorgeous, where does you inspiration come? During my first year at Emily Carr University I took a painting & colour theory class and it changed my life completely. Not only did I learn about the many ways in which colour operates I learned how to properly mix and decipher colour. In my painting practice I spend almost the same amount of time mixing my colours as I do actually applying them. This experience has really helped me with dyeing and choosing and pairing my colours together. Though powdered dyes are much more limiting than oil paints and a tad more chance driven too, I feel that I am still able to manipulate and predict colour in a similar way. My Grey Collection is a direct result of my fascination and obsession with chromatic greys in my paintings. Though the process and result of coloured greys in dyeing are slightly simpler, I’m still drawn to them and their unique and mysterious beauty. You could say that I’m inspired by colour itself. As for the names of my colours, most come after. I find they often remind me of places I’ve been, things I seen and the little bits of random that make up the rest of the day. What is your favourite fibre to work with (dyeing wise or knitting wise)? Anything with cashmere. Silk Cashmere Fingering & the Cashmerinos are my favourites to both dye & knit. Where are your yarns available for purchase? My yarns & stitch markers can be found both online in my Etsy shop and in store at 88 Stitches (Langley, BC). They’re also available at Knits by the Sea (Tofino, BC) & will be soon stocked at Make One Yarn Studio (Calgary, AB). 5/19/2010 Plum Project Studio Inc.Today I made my first visit to Plum Project Studio in N.Van. Janice, the owner, and I had a really nice visit. Her store is chalked full of wonderful organic fibres like the above fair-trade, organic, hand-spun cotton by Ecobutterfly. YUM! This wacky yet lovely yarn is made from recycled silk fabric strips. So amazing! Here is one of Janice's students, Haley, who is making her first knitted project (the bag pictured below). During my visit she polished off the 62 inch strap, cast on 60 stitches for the body and was knitting away as I left. I was very impressed. Below is organic cotton by Pakucho which are all in the natural colours in which they grew, some a slight tint of green, others grey as well as a range of creamy beige. They come in worsted, aran and bulky weights if I remember correctly. Janice also carries wonderful organic fabrics, some of which are printed in Toronto and San Francisco. They were ALL quite beautiful! Here's what I brought home: a skein of the Ecobutterfly organic hand-spun cotton, and four skeins of their new stock of plant-dyed crewel yarn (AKA wool embroidery yarn). I have no specific plans for them as of yet but my imagination is a brewing (I'll definitely be dyeing the cotton)
5/8/2010 Lisa HorvathLisa Horvath is a textile artist who maintains her Carmine Studio blog, and we are featuring her this month. I asked Lisa a couple of questions about herself and what she does. Lisa is recent graduate of the two year Textile Arts Diploma program at Capilano University.
Q: What is your favourite textile technique and why? A: My favorite textile technique is hand spinning yarn because I can create any color and style of yarn I want for all my projects, even though I just end up keeping the yarn for how it looks instead of using it. Q: How do you design the yarns you make? A: I usually just go with my intuition. I am currently working on a line of naturally dyed yarn with a larger quantity of yardage. Q: Do you have any upcoming shows or events? A: I have two upcoming events. The first one is "Sheep to Shawl" on May 22, 2010 at the Surrey Museum. It's a competition between local weaving and spinning guilds to make a shawl from scratch with in 4 hours. The second event is the "Maplewood Farm Sheep Day" in North Vancouver on May 30th, 2010. It's a day full of sheep sheering, herding and other cuddly animals. A few girls from the Textile Arts program at Capilano will be there with a table showing visitors how sheep fleece can be used after it has been taken from the sheep. 4/1/2010 April feature: Ellen StraubingerSee Ellen's blog here!
Hi! My name is Ellen Straubinger and I live with my husband and three children near White Rock, BC. I grew up in Germany where I learned knitting, crocheting and sewing in 5th grade. My friends and I we would knit every opportunity we had and sometimes we were allowed to knit during class. From the beginning I designed my own patterns. I remember making a sleeveless sweater with the side seams open and thought it was the coolest thing. I studied Business Administration in college, but I took every Art class I could also a life drawing class, which forced me to quite a bit of explaining when my kids found my drawings last year. During college I sewed a lot, but came back to knitting when my children were born. Always on the hunt for the perfect colour I started to dye my own yarn and decided to sell it on Etsy in October 2006. I like to knit with natural yarns, but wool is my favourite. Since I have started spinning I would like to explore more the wool of different breeds of sheep. 2/1/2010 Blog Feature: Robyn HumeHappy February, time for another blog feature.
I chose this lovely lady for two reasons: 1. I am a huge advocate of encouraging new bloggers, and she's brand-spanking new at it. 2.She has been brave enough to give herself the challenge of writing a blog post every day! Who? Robyn Hume Where? Gibsons, BC When? Every gosh-darn day! Clicky-clicky? www.birdsinflight.typepad.com And here's what else she told us: Q: What can we expect to hear about on your blog? A: My blog will feature daily knitting ventures as I work on my theme of completion and passage into the next half century. Plus other fibre interests of spinning and weaving as I complete several projects begun in the Yukon and ideas since then. Plus adventure of new projects, such as my Ravelry group of "10 lace shawls in 2010". Challenging and something I relish as I do love how loops and air mixed together create wonderful expressions out of "string". Too I will include my love of coastal life in the form of boating excursions with the local Coast Guard Auxilliary for one. Other passions which cross my day's path in the form of gardening, biscotti baking, and antics with Mr Kitty a two and a half year old with a passion too for things of fibre. We make a good team - at different ends of the spectrum! (Janna he has a name which I will keep anonymous). Q: When and where do you blog? A: I blog/write usually in the evening when the writing bug hits and sometimes earlier in day. From home is my site for such writing. Surrounded by my muse. Q: How do you plan on achieving your goal of blogging every day? A: I have a plan of knitting first sometime during the day as a commitment followed and paired with my daily writing. A promise to myself. A form of daily completion to enable my habit enroute to healthy change. Q:Do you have a favourite blog that you follow? A: Yes. Part of my routine involves checking in with a fellow daily writer, fibre friend, on Ravelry. A daily link since just before this blog began, one of my muse. A blog by fellow fibre artist and mentor Michelle Boyd titled "As the Whorl Spins" is the one I stay in touch with. (whorlspins.blogspot.com ) I have attended two summer fibre festivals in Gibsons Landing the past couple of years and had the great good fortune to meet this lady whom teaches all master levels of spinning and other life adventures. I find her a fascinating source of unending inspiration. Q: Tell us a bit more about yourself... A: I am a photographer on a new business venture. Shooting artist's work for jury/website etc., portraits plus a focus on newborns is a new venture. This thrills me as I have been playing at photography for over 30 years. In 2001 I took my first course to learn more of this craft and the first night I new this was my creative passion bar none. I also have a goldsmiths degree and have worked with a couple of very extinguished artists to my good fortune. Many creative adventures I have taken and fine metal work, photography and now textiles are my primary loves. Spinning, knitting and a new venture into weaving fascinate me. I am filling up booklets with my ideas.I began my creative discoveries while living in the Gulf Islands. From there I furthered this search in Calgary. Back to Vancouver I later discovered the joys of travel and took a job in the Yukon. Freelance photography came my way with a zeal. My best was shooting the Yukon Quest Sled Dog race, (1000 miles of outright adventure and will). Favourite moment: while in Dawson City wearing 6 layers of clothing and shooting the arrival of the first musher at 2:30am in -36 celsius. What a rush. People animals life are wonderous material for creative expression. Along with these creative outlets I have volunteered as docent and manager for a variety of Vancouver organizations. Now I am a core auxilliary member with the local coast guard. This involves weekly training, being on call for a twelve hour shift at a time and when the pager goes I have 15 minutes to arrive at the boat suit up and be away from the dock with our team on a rescue. Fast, teamwork, driving navigating or crewing to the needs of the call at hand. I thoroughly enjoy being in aid to others this way and enjoy the time on the sea where I feel at home. |
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Vancouver Yarn is a free resource which links you to local DIY textile shops and designers as well as artists and makers which are local to greater Vancouver BC, unceded Coast Salish territory, and throughout so-called British Columbia. I also list online shops and designers from around the country.
Many of my links come from your submissions - Thank you! If you tell me about a dyer, designer, shop etc I will add it.
Many of my links come from your submissions - Thank you! If you tell me about a dyer, designer, shop etc I will add it.
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