Note from Lauren of the future…. I wrote this post back in November and never clicked publish! I’ll be continuing this series this month, so this is a great way to catch up.
I often get asked how I got into yarn dyeing and I figured it warranted a blog post. In fact, I plan to do a series more on my hand dyed yarn business, the early years.
I think the why started because it was something I was intrigued with when I first learned of hand dyed yarn businesses. When I first started buying hand dyed yarn, I probably had no clue they were mostly run by one person shops. I don’t think I fully grasped that until I saw some of their YouTube channels. I was always interested in seeing how the yarns came to be and quickly became obsessed with the process.
I was always a crafty kid and always had to have an activity wherever I was. While I wouldn’t call myself a restless kid in that I loved to take rests, I also didn’t like to sit with nothing to do (still don’t!). As a kid, I worked on a lot of needlepoints and brought those with me on trips, family visits and wherever else I could. I remember as a kid saying that I wanted to own a needlepoint store one day. It just seemed like a dream to surround myself with the craft and even as a kid I knew it was something I wanted to do. As I got older, reality set in a bit more and I never found myself on a path to open a business.
Knitting certainly took over my life and like a lot of people, being a knitter became more and more of an identity. I was living in a new city with no I knew outside of coworkers and found myself drawn into the knititng community. I was reading blogs, listening to podcasts and watching youtube videos. I learned how to knit simply by absorbing myself into it and by the time I had the time to start knitting (I was being with exams at the time), I thought I could do way more than I probably should have. Since all of the people I listened to were knitting sock after sock, I didn’t even think twice about casting one on. I quickly grew my stash and projects from there.
I’ve always been a learner. I loved school and was always excited for the start of a new year. I love challenging myself and seem to get bored when things become routine. It’s ironic though because I often call myself a routine person and someone who does well with routine. I think I also love to plan and schedule and so when things become too routine, I have nothing else to plan and so I look for something new.
After I finished up my exams, I really took to knitting and that was the next challenge to myself. Years later, I think I was just looking for something new to learn and that just became how to dye yarn. I started watching videos and became more and more intrigued by the process. Up late one night after too much coffee, I ended up buying some supplies to try out dyeing. To say I fell in love with the process quickly is an understatement.
I knew starting a business wasn’t just appreciating a love of the craft. You have to also want to be a business owner. This is also something I’ve wanted to do since I was little. Own my own business. I remember as a kid saying that I wanted to own a needlepoint store one day. It was never realistic to me in that it wasn’t a path I ever found myself on, nor did I really know anyone with their own business. I knew people in corporate jobs and that’s what I saw myself doing. I remember a cousin of mine once saying that a baker stops being a baker once they open a bakery.
It was a commitment I wanted to try and I knew being part business owner and part hand dyer was just the journey I was ready to take.
Stay tuned for the next post in this new series. Next time I’ll share more about how I started my business.
You can watch me talk more about the WHY here on my YouTube channel…
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