The Yarn Advent Calendar season is in full swing in the shop! This will be our 4th year offering Advent Calendars and I couldn't be more excited! Yarn advent calendars typically consist of twenty four 20g mini skeins as well as one 100g skein of yarn. All of the skeins are individually dyed and are one of a kind colorways dyed according to the theme of the calendar. This year's Little Bishes Stitches yarn advent calendar theme is inspired by #EVENINGART, a running curation of artworks from artists local and international via @lilbishesstitches_yarn Instagram stories. Each evening a piece of art work is posted that not only evokes emotion in me but also inspires me creatively. For this year's...
Handwork is powerful. It is a form of communication and expression. It is a looking glass and communicator of how the the maker perceives their environment, community and the world. Handwork also creates a dialogue. Through dialogue, a powerful force can be conjured, where awareness is raised, people come together and ultimately change can be made. I like to think of this as LRC - Listen, Reflect and Connect. When the events in the Ukraine started to unfold, it was important to me to help initiate just that in my maker community and even more important, that the Ukraine heard my voice. The first thing that came to mind, was that the people who were fleeing or would soon be...
Before I started hand dying yarn, I would knit for hours a day. It was a daily ritual that never came too short. I would knit after work, on a Saturday morning or all day on Sunday while watching podcasts. Now that things are getting busier in the shop, I realize that if I would knit at all, it would maybe be every other day. One doesn’t have to have a hand dying business to realize that having an outlet is paramount to living a balanced life or even more so, bringing balance into your life. Everyone has a different schedule. When and where you knit is up to you, but even if it’s 15 Minutes a day, your...
Process: A series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a specific end. One of the reasons why I started hand dying yarn is because of my love of process and color. This process fulfills me and is extremely therapeutic and I cherish it very much! There is a definite process when creating a colorway and since I am by no means a linear thinker, it can certainly take a bit of refining until my vision is fulfilled. A process consists of steps or if you will, layers. This is very similar to the layers of a colorway. I consider myself a spontaneous yarn dyer whose inspiration has several sources: mood, emotion, an idea and sometimes the cosmos...
When I started hand dying yarn, I basically dyed any skein of yarn I could get my hands on! It didn’t matter! As long as it was yarn and it had been treated well, I was going to dye it! After a lot of experimenting with colors and their application, I began to realize that there was more to dying yarn than just an idea and the right amount of citric acid. The fiber you were dying also had a lot to say when it came to how the colorway turned out. With the help of this Eureka moment, I began testing yarn bases with just that hypothesis in mind. Conclusion: the type of fiber you use decides how color...
