Handspun, hand dyed yarn from the fiber animals at Knox Farm State Park in East Aurora NY---and other animals raised with love and care.
Spinning for the new age: organic fiber, natural colors, eco-friendly dyes, hand processing, local shepherds, rare breeds, evolving techniques, online sales, compostable mailers, social media networking.
KnoxFarmFiber is the founder and an active supporter of the Western New York Fiber Festival. This festival was first held in 2005 and has grown to include fiber artists and fiber guilds throughout the region. Its focus is on fiber education for the public and networking opportunities for artists.
We are a family owned and operated business handcrafting Saxony spinning wheels from local Vermont materials. We also handcraft a variety of spinning accessories from Vermont materials such as niddy noddies, lazy kates, drying racks, and orifice hooks. To go with our wheels, we sell a variety of alpaca and alpaca/wool rovings from our own alpacas, and local sheep.
We show our wheels in several Vermont stores, and at fiber events and farmers' markets. We welcome visits (by appointment) to meet our animals and see our products.
-Paul and Kris
Mission: As a family, we strive to create and share beautiful, durable, affordable spinning wheels and accessories.
I'm a fibreholic - slightly off beat, dancing to my own tune, a whizz at multi-tasking - I juggle being a wife; mother; fibre artist; consulting editor - textiles for Stitches magazine; indie dyer and owner of “ColourSpun – Natural Designer Yarns”; creative workshop presenter; speaker; author of ""A Knitting Adventure with South African Yarn""... and anything else that takes my fancy.
My days are spent in my studio - dyeing, knitting, spinning, stitching, dreaming up projects for Stitches, making fibre art.... just generally having fun. I have my perfect life!
All my ColourSpun yarn is coloured by hand, so each skein is imbued with my creative energy and will have its own unique characteristics. I only use the finest quality, locally grown merino wool roving and yarn, kid mohair and pure cotton: the dyes are the most earth friendly available and have excellent wash fast and light fast properties. My studio is a smoke free and pet free environment and I use methods that use the minimum amount of water and sun stoves to dye the yarn.
I am a member of Fibreworks and my work has been exhibited at home in South Africa, in the U.K., Brazil, Europe, U.S.A., Japan and New Zealand. I have work published in a number of books including Innovative Threads - A Decade of South African Fibre Art by Liza Gillespie and 1000 Artisan Textiles by Sandra Salamony and Gina M Brown.
Artist's statement: I am not one of those artists who use their work to make profound statements. I don’t plan my work to express deep feelings or beliefs. Mostly, I am inspired by the beauty in things, sometimes in people, sometimes in nature and often in the materials I love to work with. The pieces I make often seem to create themselves as they develop and evolve into something completely different to what I have in mind at the start. I don’t follow rules but do believe that if something is worth doing it is worth doing well and stop if you’re not having fun.
ColourSpun's mission is to produce the best quality, natural, earth friendly fibre and yarn - filled with creative energy to give joy and pleasure to everyone who works with it.
Shani is a handspinning, dyer and weaver, who produces textiles with a "twist".
DyeVerse, her company, runs courses in colour, writing and textile construction, beginner through to experience, located in Wales and the South West.
Artist's statement: I am an established writer and practicing crafts person with a passion for exploring/challenging the possibilities of textiles. I specialise in combining arts and crafts with contemporary design to produce textiles and objects that are both practical and desirable.
I don't use complicated looms, techniques or equipment to produce my garments and installations, preferring to create work with simple constructions. This way I enjoy and engage fully with the process, rather than drowning in technicalities, and the finished item is something which has come into being "through" a slow and deliberate production journey not "because" of it.
Simplicity of construction along with quality of materials will ensure a welcome addition to your wardrobe or wall, or a bespoke present for a treasured friend or that special occasion.
My work has been featured in the Yarn Forward Magazine and various other periodicals and exhibitions throughout the UK, and I was involved with the creation of the SpinDyeWeavers, a textile workshop project in 2009.
Janie Bull and Ashley Ammons have known each other for nearly 25 years. Ashley and Janie's eldest daughter, Amanda have been best friends for the span of that time as well. This is how Ashley and Janie are ""related.""
When Janie moved up to the Fort Worth area to be closer to her girls, she brought all of her knitting with her, naturally. So this rekindled Ashley's love of knitting. Janie and Ashley began their Etsy shop, KnittyKnittyBangBang, during the spring of 2008 and have been going strong ever since.
We both specialize in knitted apparel and accessories. Janie prides herself in being an expert sock knitter while Ashley likes to crank out the hats and scarves. Every item is knit by hand with knitting needles. When they say ""handmade,"" boy do they mean it!
Ashley and Janie welcome custom orders and want to see their customers happy with the product they've purchased.
Ashley and Janie are typical knitters who love to buy good quality yarn. Recently, they've become fans of spinners and yarn dyers on Etsy. Ashley has branched off into her own ""solo career"" as a spinner and yarn dyer herself. This couldn't have been possible without a little help from her future husband, Erik, who bought her an Ashford Traditional Spinning Wheel for Christmas (2010). She's been spinning ever since. You can find her Etsy shop at dye2spin.
Artist's statement: It is the mission of KnittyKnittyBangBang to create a high-quality hand-knit product for its customers. This mission is fulfilled using yarns and other materials that not only speak to them as knitters but also work up into a premiere product.
I am a textile craftswoman with 25 years experience in creating beautiful color from plants and other natural materials. I sell premium natural dyes and supplies through my online store, Botanical Colors. I have traveled to Africa, Turkey, Southeast Asia, India, Central America and Europe in search of the historic and traditional colorants of these cultures.
I love color. I am happy every day that I have my hands in a dye pot and never tire of the magic of indigo. I abandoned a corporate position in Silicon Valley to relocate to Seattle and follow my dream of a life in the textile arts. I worked for over 6 years at Earthues in Seattle and honed my skills in color, design and production dyeing in one of the most beautiful and inspirational textile arts studios and the epicenter of natural dyeing in North America. In addition to dyeing, I spin, weave, knit and felt and am busily making sample swatch books of the hundreds of colors that I have dyed over the years.
I live in a small cottage in Seattle with a huge organic vegetable garden and share life's adventures with my heart's delight, Richard, and our sweet rough collie, Rio. We support community endeavors including the Coalition of Refugees from Burma and share our bounty by providing fresh, organic food to our local food banks.
Artist's statement: I strive to provide natural dyes that are beautiful, sustainable, environmentally friendly and support farming communities and small producers. I have personally visited a number of my major suppliers to ensure that their working environments and processing methods are humane and economically and socially responsible. All of the dyes that I sell are personally tested for quality, light and washfastness and are the historic dyes that have been used for centuries by textile artisans all over the world.
I hope someday to create a sustainable enterprise that leverages the textile skills of my Burmese friends so that they can thrive and prosper in their new home. I am optimistic that the success of Botanical Colors will help establish this new enterprise in the near future.
I am a textile designer producing a range of items from dyed fibres for handspinners, through handspun yarns, to finished woven items. I teach spinning, natural dyeing and weaving throughout the UK and abroad and am co-author, with Alison Daykin, of Creative Spinning.
I love textiles, creating them, turning fibre into yarn, yarn into beautiful coloured skeins, coloured skeins into woven items. A beautifully presented feast will not always make my mouth water, but a basket of beautifully coloured wool will have me drooling in seconds!
I have a studio at the Duchy Square Centre for Creativity, and work from there and from home. My work has been exhibited in many galleries in the UK and is currently in the Duchy Square Gallery Shop and The Art Chapel, Moretonhampstead, Devon.
Artist's statement: In addition to my passion for creating textiles and passing on my skills, I seek to minimise the negative impact I have on the environment. I have changed my practice to using natural dyes, a restricted range of mordants and using my skills and knowledge of the dyestuffs and colours to create the effects I want rather than relying on a chemical to do it for me. I fully realise that 'natural' does not necessarily equate to 'safe' so am cautious about my materials, processes and techniques.
I use natural fibres and am actively concerned with the current Campaign for Wool, a movement supporting the greater use of wool and the reduction of synthetic fibres in the environment.
I am IngerMaaike and fiber is my medium. All kinds of fiber: from silk to leather, from cotton to wool and everything in between.
I sew clothes from my own designs, knit on my very old and trusty knitting machine (again designing everything myself), felt luxurious scarves and home decor, spin yarn, dye fabric, silk and wool and have even been seen to construct leather boots, which I still wear to this day. :)
In all of my endeavours one thing has always been the main focus: the very best materials. This is what drove me to start creating for myself: I could not afford what I desired, so there was no option but to learn to make it myself.
Over the years, my skills have expanded to cover a range of fiber which gives me the chance to combine and expand the knowledge further with each passing moment. Each day brings me new joy in creating. I love what I do as well as sharing the knowledge I have built up over the years.
Artist's statement: To learn and to always be open to new experiences, to share beauty and smiles.
We are a unique and ever-evolving project including a flock of registered Shetland sheep, and featuring the work of Linda Glowacki, a visual artist who has fallen in love with fibre. Linda's signature pieces are the stunning wall hangings needlefelted on handmade felt. We also produce one-of-a-kind accessories and felted sculptures; and supply fleece to local artisans.
-Linda Glowacki and Margaret Brook
Artist's Statement: The sheep, with their wonderful range of natural coloured fleece, earn their keep as a constant source of entertainment and inspiration. Linda says "It's all about the felt; the colours and shapes that emerge during the felting process dictate the subjects of the wall hangings. Once I visualize the images, the mental flywheels disengage and I become totally absorbed in the artistic process." Each felt is a highly individual 'canvas'. When enhanced with needlefelted images, the spirit and substance of each subject is captured with a vibrancy difficult to achieve on canvas alone. Each work of fibre art is a delight not only to the eye, but to the fingertips. The designs are transferred straight from Linda's vivid imagination to the felt, without the use of patterns or sketches. Linda's deep connection to animals and the natural world is revealed in all her work.
Since Green Mountain Spinnery’s founding in 1981 we have been designing and producing richly colored, must-touch yarns and classic and contemporary patterns for hand knitters. To this day our goals remain unchanged: to create yarns of the highest quality, to help sustain regional sheep farming, and to develop environmentally sound ways to process natural fibers.
All the fibers we use – wool, alpaca, mohair, organic cotton, and lyocell - are grown or produced in the United States. We make every effort to purchase directly from individual growers. Unlike most commercial mills, The Green Mountain Spinnery uses no chemicals to bleach, mothproof or shrink-proof yarns.
From initial contact with the fiber grower through the final labeling and approval of each finished skein, our team attends with care to every step and detail in the yarn-making process. Each of our skilled employees brings enthusiasm and talent their work. Most of us at the Spinnery are accomplished hand-spinners, knitters or weavers; we have a heart-felt interest in producing extraordinary yarns for your use.
The yarns are created in our mill in Putney Vermont with vintage equipment. We match the dynamic capabilities of our machinery with a keen understanding of the nuances of each fiber blend. Throughout the entire process, the inherent liveliness of natural fibers is respected.
Our knitting patterns are designed to encourage knitters of every level to expand their skills and create natural fiber garments that can be worn with style and pleasure for years to come.
The Spinnery is now in its 30th year of operation. We are a worker-owned coopertive.
Location: Putney, Vermont, USA Online Shop: Green Mountain Spinnery Brick and Mortar Presence: Our mill store is located at 7 Brickyard Lane, Putney and is open every day except major holidays. Some of our yarns are also sold in fine yarn shops in the USA and Canada. See our website for a complete listing. Social Media:Ravelry Memberships:
TNNA- the National Needle Arts Association
Vermont Seep and Goat Association
Valley Alliance of Worker Coopertives Languages spoken: English
Green Mountain Spinnery, a worker-owned cooperative
"I am a textile collector, researcher and artist who has lived in various parts of Asia and the U.S. My eyes are always open to details of pattern and texture, my mind always absorbing the influences of my surroundings.
Any opportunity to discuss textile topics with others is a boon to me. Our work with textiles can encourage the prominence and prosperity of this invaluable heritage in the world.
My own manifestations take the form of handspun yarns and garments created from them, in addition to quilts and dyed fabrics. My designs are featured on Ravelry.com, and my blog shows a more personal (if sporadic) glimpse of my work ."
Artist statement: I am driven by textile-related dialogue and discovery.
It astounds and thrills me to touch cloth that has been worked by another's hands, in a distant culture or time.
To learn with my own hands, to produce original craft, within this global textile vocabulary – this is my life work.
Meanwhile, to continue the study of traditions, to document the textiles in context, to appreciate their role in the growth and perseverance of peoples – this is an ongoing fascination.
The two move hand-in-hand, the material study and execution; the intellectual reflection and research.
I dream of the time when the true value of textiles is acknowledged, when people and institutions revere this aspect of human culture and promote its study.
Location: Doha, Qatar Blog: eine saite Memberships/Sites:
Textile Society of America
Spin-Off Magazine Ravelry Languages spoken: English, Hindi, Ladakhi, French, wee bits of several others....
"Court Jester", an original design made by Tracy Hudson
Three Bags Full is my sheep ranch and fiber artist’s studio located at Mora, New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, between Las Vegas and Taos. I am very committed to living in tune with nature and causing as little damage to the environment as possible. My processes are environmentally friendly, I catch rain water and use a biodegradable washing products. I use only natural dyes and when I collect native dyestuffs I am careful to leave enough to keep the stand going.
I have been raising sheep, spinning with a wheel and weaving for over 30 years.
My Mt. d' Oro sheep are basically a closed flock with many generations of carefully selected crosses of Churro, Cotswold and a bit of Corriedale with the goal of producing the ideal wool for rug weaving. They offer the best of the three breeds, and are a medium size sheep with a double coated fleece.
Artist's Statement: My weaving has evolved into doing “bound weave” rugs, and I am now concentrating on that process. My aim is to produce a beautiful, durable rug by having control of the entire process, from the sheep to the finished product. I would be pleased to work with you to create an original custom rug. See all my rugs on my website threebagsfull.biz.
I am excited to be part of a new generation of handweavers who are experiencing the benefits of technology on an ancient craft. I incorporate the old with the new in my work, often using yarns that I have spun and old weaving drafts with new methods of computer aided design. I love dyeing my own yarns and paint yarns with synthetic dye or use natural plant dyes in the process of creating one of a kind textiles. Nature, geology and sometimes history inspire new color and design ideas and I continue to explore new techniques to keep my work fresh and alive.
My handweaving takes place on two looms; a small 8 shaft Schacht loom and a very large 24 shaft AVL. I do most of my own weave draft design and may test many ideas on the computer before I commit them to the loom. Being a member of Complex Weavers gives me access to some of the best handweavers in the U.S. and beyond. Their work and ideas are envaluable in my own creative processes as is that of my local group called the Not 2 Square Weavers.
-Beryl Moody
Mission: To increase public awareness about current innovations in contemporary handwoven cloth.
I am an independent fashion designer, lover of textiles, a weaver, spinner and dyer (natural dyes). I love to create unique accessories with unusual fabrics. I am of Armenian heritage and often incorporate vintage textiles from my grandmothers in my work. I also love collage and working with dry mineral pigments, which allows me to experiment with many different mediums.
The Pre-Raphaelites played a large part in shaping my outlook, as I was an English major in college. I also love cats, big and small, especially Siamese.
Many things inspire me--people who do their best at whatever they do; the art, music and crafts of different cultures; beautiful plants, trees flowers and shells. I enjoy collaborating with other artists and like the energy that is exchanged.
Mission: To explore, promote and create interesting, beautiful, and cutting edge textiles using natural fibers, pigments and dyes.
Need yarn? Got yarn....
