In 2017 I was lucky enough to get to attend the original Yarn & Yoga at the Hotsprings. I was there by the grace of other people, my mother who gifted me the retreat, my spouse who encouraged me to go and took on extra work so I could go, co-workers who stepped up and allowed me time away. When I think back on this event it feels to me a bit like an origin story for myself as I am today, and very much like an event that helped to launch my career in the wool.
Just look at all of this loveliness! Look at the beautiful shine and that nice twist angle. This is my newest millspun yarn, and the first batch of it that I've had done up myself instead of purchasing wholesale through another artist. If you haven't ever sent off wool to a mill, this is a BIG DEAL for me, and I couldn't be happier with the results, and that I get to share them with all of you!
I am very excited to finally be sharing this project with all of you. It’s been a long time in the making, and longer time in me finding my way back to the dyepots for color, but the first (of hopefully many) round of it is here! Montana Millspun Suffolk Sock Yarns!
A brief update, some wild harvesting, and overlapping natural dyes in my work and the work of my spouse-creature. Bonus photos of the Montana woods and some of the things you can find in them when you slow down and look.
These past few have definitely not been what anyone expected. I’m looking forward to 2022 with the same things I plan out for myself every year - more knits, the learning of new things, and lots more time spent wandering the woods for dye plants and with my hands in the wool. A wrap up of my visit to the coast, My Mama, and my final finish of 2021!
The long and short of it is that I've found myself more supported than I expected to be. Self confidence in putting my work out into the world as purchasable items isn't something I have a lot of. I come up against this strange conundrum where I both do and don't want money for my work. As if getting paid somehow spoils my ideals or something ridiculous like that.
Our little cottage is right in the woods outside of Eureka Montana. When it comes to abundant and available dyestuff, Fir cones are at the top of the list. While our forest is a mixed mostly conifer forest, at our altitude sub-alpine fir reign supreme ( there are also the occasional lodgepole, tamarack, ponderosa, and cedar - my Dad was a dendrophile - what can I say? It rubbed off on me.) Each of these different species attract and interact with different lichens and fungi in beautiful symbiotic relationships - but that's a story for another blog.