There’s a definite luxuriousness about hand dyed yarns.
From the stunning fibres used (is there seriously anything softer than alpaca?!) to the gorgeous colourways that can be achieved (speckles! Gorgeous, gorgeous speckles!), the choices are simply endless. From searching for indie dyers on Instagram (prepare to fall down the rabbit hole of stunning yarns!) to seeing some of the stunning creations made from hand dyed, I only admired from afar.
At least with acrylic yarn, if I made mistakes and yarn got wasted, it wasn’t really a big deal as it was, by comparison, a damn sight cheaper than hand dyed yarn.
And this is what has always worried me about splashing out on it. What if I start a project with a skein of hand dyed yarn and I change my mind, thus wasting precious yarn? Because of this, I’ve only ever purchased one or two skeins in all the years that I’ve been crocheting.
But as of January this year, this has stopped! This is the year my hand dyed yarn collection will grow… and grow it has!
After last year seeing Little Cosy Things (who, by the way, has the most beautiful hand made crochet hooks – I seriously cannot get enough of these!!) buying a skein of hand dyed yarn each month for 12 Months of Yarn, I knew I would be doing exactly the same this year.
After perusing the many, many wonderful dyers on Instagram and lusting after nearly every skein of yarn going, I finally settled on a beautiful skein of superwash merino yarn by Vicki Brown Designs called Ama. I won’t lie, I had several other skeins also in various baskets ready to check out, but with some serious self-control, I only purchased one skein! The colours of this skein are simply gorgeous – a beautiful coral yarn with coral and purple speckles which are simply stunning together.
After buying this, I wasn’t sure if I would decide to go for a rainbow theme for the year – anyone who’s familiar with my Instagram account this year will have noticed that it’s all about the rainbow at the moment!
After spending most of February trying to find a perfect skein of orange yarn to try this out (and realising that I’m really not a lover of orange!), I decided to just buy skeins at random and hope that the colours would flow together.
February’s skein of hand dyed goodness came from BiffsugarYarns and is beautiful shades of mauve, teal, pink and grey. I loved how this skein called Selkie went so well with January’s skein, it was a very happy coincidence.
With March’s skein, I went in a completely different direction from the first two skeins and really added a pop of colour with yellows, pinks, blues and hints of greens. The photo’s really do not do this skein of Crafty Animals by JoKnitSew any justice!
April and May saw my collection grow with skeins from Castle View Yarns and Woolly Mama Yarns.
The aptly named Frozen Fractals by Castle View Yarns is full of beautiful blue hues and splashes of purples, with Bohemia from Woolly Mama Yarns having dashes of hot pinks and purples mixed with paler blues and beautiful speckles.
I did notice that after 5 months, my collection was starting to become rather purple heavy. Purple’s never really been a colour that I’ve been drawn to over other shades, so this has surprised me! If anything, I thought there would be more pinks!
I decided with June that I would try my hardest to sway myself away from purple toned yarns and try and add a splash of colour to it – and boy, did that happen with June’s skein!
I spent more time than I will ever care to admit scrolling through various indie dyer’s stock until I came across this… and it was literally love at first sight! This beautiful skein of Blue Planet from Spectrum Fibre has definitely added a pop of neon delight to my collection of hand dyed yarns.
I’ve loved watching my collection grow over the past 6 months and I can’t wait to see which skeins will join these beauties. I’ve found myself counting down to the first of the month so I can justify buying even more delicious yarns!
On top of this, I’ve treated myself to my first ever yarn advent calendar from Vicki Brown Designs. I was so disappointed last year when I missed out after leaving it far too late to order one from any dyer, so this year I’ve been super organised and have pre-ordered one! I’m already on count down to December and the surprise of 24 x 10g mini skeins of DK yarn.
I’m so excited to discover some more wonderful dyer’s over the coming 6 months. If you have a favourite dyer, please let me know!
Now, I’m off to have a browse through more yarn and try not to ‘accidentally’ buy another skein of yarn this month!
Take Care! xx
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