Sometimes I have a hard time getting inspired. There's always the same colorways that customers love and it's easy as a dyer to get stagnant when you dye up the same ones time again. I've come to this hurdle many times and each time I've went more indie and have done a creative dyeing session.
I follow Emily (daughter of Paula from Bayview Fiber Arts) and she shares inspirational color palettes. This one has been stuck in my head for a couple weeks. It's a photoshopped picture but highly inspirational!
Here's the pot of yarn 💜💙 There was a few more layers to go on but I'm loving how it's progressing so far!
There's nothing that beats the feeling of being allowed that creative freedom with your own business. When I started dyeing yarn (then Prairie Knitting) it was all about developing this creativity and selling my creativity. Then I registered my business name (PrairieDyeStudio) and transitioned to a creative business. It's easy to get caught up in the business aspect of a creative business. Then you lose perspective on what it is you love about your business. I've transitioned my business a few times this year to balance what I love about my business and what I don't love about it. My true passion lays with being Indie and not commercial. I don't write down Dye recipes, I don't calculate the volume of my water, and I eye ball the temperature of my pot. I really fly by the seat of my pants and put caution to the wind when I dye. It's creatively freeing and if something doesn't turn out, overdyeing does wonders.
I'm sure there are people out there that are losing their minds right now reading this 😂 How can you reproduce colorways?
I Dye by feel. When it feels right the colorway is done. There will never be an exact match between dyelots and there will never be a regular appearing colorway in my updates. This is part of my next transition for my business. I'm transitioning to a creative dyeing | creative sewing | creative making policy for my creative indie home business.
Part of this decision came about because I have a husband, 2 kiddos ( 1 yr and 4 yr), 3 fur babies and no time to myself for my own knitting 😂 My spare time was about fulfilling custom orders and I was being overwhelmed by doing this. So I have chosen to not do any custom orders. If it's available in my shop, it's available. If it's not, I've moved on to another colorway, fabric ect. There will be some colorways that make appearances in updates here and there but I won't be dyeing to order or request. Follow me on Instagram, Facebook or the Prairie Dye Studio Ravelry Group to keep in the loop with full previews of what will be available in each update 😍
I will be aiming to do a monthly update where the yarn dyed, a few Project Bags and some stitch markers will become available and will remain in the shop until they sell out.
Thanks so much for understanding and your support ❤️❤️
