The three winners of the fun and trendy knitting bags from the Knitterella collection are:
dclulu on ravelry, Rasa, & Frankly Beka
Congratulations! Please contact me at yarnonthehouse@gmail.com to collect your prizes.I'm super-duper excited to announce that we have Maya from
Springtree Road back on the blog, but this time the feature is all about her and her lovely indie yarn company. If you want to check out her previous visit,
click here. You all know that I'm a die hard fan of semi-solids and Maya does not disappoint! She is very talented at dyeing up beautiful semi-solid colorways that have luxuriously saturated color and gusto! Maya answered some fun YOTH interview questions for us. Check out her written interview with me...
1. Maya, please start by telling us a little bit about yourself and what you do?Sure! I live near Atlanta, Georgia with my husband Ross, my daughter V, and our 3 super spoiled kitty cats. We homeschool. I love taking photographs, storytelling, and knitting. And I’m an indie yarn dyer. I started my shop with handspun yarn and painted roving in 2009, but as of January 2011 I’ve been dyeing millspun yarn pretty much exclusively.
2. I'm a sucker for semi-solids and your yarns truly look beautiful! What's your favorite yarn, fiber, or color that you offer?Thanks, Ve! It’s really hard to pick just one because my favorite yarn or color is usually whatever I’m working with at that moment. But I’ll pick my
Tigerlily Wine colorway today, which is a tiger lily orange glazed with deep wine.
3. How did you get into dyeing fiber? How did you learn?I was a knitter already, but when I lost my at-home job as an editor for a non-profit I immediately started looking for something else I could do that would keep me at home with my daughter. When I told my husband I wanted to make yarn to sell online he said go for it, so I did!
I learned from several sources – videos online, books, and a mighty fine network of fiber artists who were kind enough to give me some of their best tips and tricks and answer my many silly questions.
4. For budding new yarnies out there, what's the one piece of advice you have?Set boundaries. If you let it, fiber will take over your house and the business will take over your life. You’ve got to find as much balance as you can get or you’ll burn out.
5. What will be next for you? Do you have new yarns or colorways in the works that you can share with us?
Yes, I do! I’m introducing a new fiber blend at my next update toward the end of this week – it’s an alpaca/silk/cashmere blend, fingering weight, and it’s really just super soft and beautiful.
I’ve also just started giving a preview of the yarns that will be in the next update about 24 hours before they go on sale so that my customers have a chance to plan their purchase beforehand. They show up on my site under the heading “Coming Soon.” I announce my updates in several locations –
my newsletter,
Ravelry group,
Facebook page, and in the
photo slideshow on my site.
6. Why do you knit?
I think knitting/crochet is unique as a craft because so many artists have a hand in the creation of the finished object. From the blend of fibers, to the color, to the pattern, to the knitting – so many people’s creative visions go into it. And even if you don’t feel like a particularly creative person, if you knit or crochet you can create something of beauty. And it’s useful! It’s the perfect craft.
7. When did you learn to knit and who taught you? My brother and I visited family in Ireland when I was 16 years old and my grandmother taught me to cast on, knit, purl, and bind off. Occasionally I’d find myself in a lovely little yarn shop and I’d buy something like a set of US10 bamboo needles, not having a clue what to do with them really. Sometimes I’d get out my needles and some yarn to be sure that I remembered how to knit and then I’d put it all away again.
One day when my daughter was about 2, I thought about how I always intended to learn to knit, to follow a pattern. I decided that was the time. So I made a simple moss stitch scarf for her, and I’ve pretty much always had a couple of WIPs going ever since.
8. If you were to knit and live anywhere in the world, where would you knit and live? I would love to try on the Pacific Northwest and see how that fits me.
9. What's been your worst knitting disaster? Probably my worst knitting disaster is having this really great idea for a pattern, searching to make sure no one else had done it before, procrastinating for about a year or so, and then finding out that someone else had written a very similar pattern in the meantime. At least I learned early on that I’m not a designer – I just couldn’t seem to get it down on paper so that it made sense. Fortunately, there are many, many others who are brilliant at it.
10. And last but not least, if you were enjoying a favorite drink while reading my blog, what would it be? If I’m reading in the morning, it’d be a cherry smoothie with a big bunch of fresh kale hidden in it. If it’s Friday evening, it’d be a margarita.
Maya has generously sponsored two lucky followers the chance to win a skein of THEIR CHOICE (from in-stock yarns) from Springtree Road. How fun! If you win, you get to pick your own yarn! I love that! Check out some of her gorgeous colorways:
In addition to the fantastic giveaway, she is also offering a short term 10% coupon off of in-stock yarns, but the coupon ends tomorrow, June 7th, at 11pm Eastern. So, hop on the deal if you are interested by using the coupon code "YOTH10" during checkout.I would like you to do the following if you would like to be entered into this week's giveaway:1. Read over
the rules if you have not done so already.
2. Leave a comment on this blog post by the end of Sunday, 6/19/11. Check out
Springtree Road's Flickr Photostream and let us know what your favorite colorway is. I know it's hard to choose just one - pick a few if you have to!
I'll randomly pick the winners in 2 weeks and post the results along with the new giveaway, so be sure to check back. Good luck everyone.
Sincerely,
Ve
