Creativity + The Indie Project
I've heard it said that there is nothing new under the sun.
“What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original.
It’s right there in the Bible: ‘There is nothing new under the sun.’ (Ecclesiastes 1:9)”
Ah, that's the one.
Yarn clubs are nothing new. Collaborations are nothing new. But Samantha Furst had an idea of how to do them both differently. It's a classic case of 1 + 1 = 3, the whole being greater than the parts added together.
In late December, Sam of Lavender Lune Yarn Co. introduced her idea: The Indie Project. It's a club, in that yarn buyers pre-purchase yarns sight unseen, trusting the dyer to make something beautiful. It's also a collaboration, because it's not just one dyer, it's two, each dyeing a colorway based on the same inspiration image. Part of the fun is seeing how two different people translate the same image into color—will they be similar or different? Will they compliment one another? It's fun to watch unfold on Instagram; I find myself studying the inspiration images and the results, making connections between them. I compare their colorways to my mental image of how I would have used the same image if I were a dyer. It's fascinating to have these different interpretations side by side, highlighting the myriad ways a single inspiration can result in so many different things.
It's Art.
Sam shared with me how nervous she felt about this project; that she "was taking a chance when asking some of the dyers to be a part of this..." (a feeling I have to admit familiarity with as I approach dyers to ask for interviews! Eek!) So far, soo good, though, as dyers have agreed to participate in this unique project, helping Sam with choosing bases and inspiration photos as well as delivering on time. "They've been awesome!" she says.
Speaking of the inspiration photos, I was curious about how they are chosen. The images span a wide range of styles, from stunning nature shots, to a dark, rustic cabin, and most recently, a graphic illustration with a limited color palette. Though different styles, each one features rich color.
“I love to look at beautiful things! I have found recently that I get quite inspired by travel photography rather than color schemes. So when I go looking for inspiration, I consider many things, the time of year, what’s been done and most importantly the dyer I am working with. That’s the whole point of this club, we are all different, but I also have a good idea on the feel of their dyeing. If I know a dyer often dyes in soft pastels or light colors, I won’t show them deep dark intense options. And I do give them several options because I want them to feel excited and inspired obviously to make something beautiful. I don’t want any part of this to be “work”.”
I got in on the very first offering in January. The chosen image was a collection of beautiful embroidery (by Sarah Buckley @ittybittybunnies) in gorgeous neutrals with pops of both vibrant and muted colors. There are so many ways to go with this! Sam's collaborator this time around was Brittany Petko of Machete Shoppe, a dyer I was already familiar with from a pair of socks I knit in 2017.
If you don't know Brittany's yarns, just know that they are, well... they're cool. I really can't think of a better word. I think she is so cool, and her colorways show it. Literally cool, in that I see a lot of cool undertones in her colorways, but also cool as in bold, with vivid contrasts and unapologetic speckling. It can be hard for dyers to describe their own style when they work so intuitively, but Brittany gave it a shot, saying it's "a little bit country, a little bit rock and roll, and a little bit modern day hippie." That's pretty spot on!
Brittany dyes in the Poconos on an 18-acre farm "with our chickens and a horse." She and her husband have two girls, three and five years old, and she works while they're at preschool or in bed.
“My husband builds and works on motorcycles and all kinds of metal work in his shop next to mine. So we don’t really fit into your typical mold; my inspiration for yarn is bright, loud, and also rustic and country. I’m not sure how they mix, but it’s just me, so I go with it.”
Sam's dyeing yarn around kids' schedules, too, between homeschooling and horseback riding—and, by the way, she's also training to be a midwife. (I don't think there is a single indie dyer who isn't a superhero, juggling all the things.) Living in the forests of Minnesota, there is no shortage of natural color inspiration:
“There is so much beauty around me! I definitely feel that I am drawn to nature colors. I have a hard time dyeing really bright colorways or pink, it’s just not me. So my surroundings definitely tone me down some and hopefully make some really wearable colorways.”
I find that there's often a surprise in Sam's colorways, a color I'd never imagine putting with the others, and yet—they work. Maybe it's her dyeing approach that brings disparate shades together so well. When I asked her to describe her style, she surprised me by telling me about layers:
“Layers! I love to layer colors. Not all my colorways are like this, but it’s what I would consider most me. I love to layer several colors, turn the yarn, layer more, turn again, layer more and then possibly even over dye with another color at that point. It definitely takes time!”
Since Sam's colors are usually such a delightful surprise to me, it wasn't a surprise that when my Indie Project yarns from Sam and Brittany arrived...I was surprised! The dyers used a 75/25 superwash merino/nylon blend. Sam's yarn, called "Betty's Lace," has a softness, as so many of hers do. The base shade of blue is so delicate that I have to remind myself that it's not glass, it's merino, and I don't have to worry about breaking it. The red speckles are a vibrant contrast that seem to have fallen off Brittany's yarn. Brittany's "Talulah" goes to town with the cool red, giving it space to explore its rich variations between sections of speckles over pink. It's as bold as anything I've seen from Brittany, and I just love it and the way these two colorways look together.
Interestingly, Sam and Brittany started with the same inspiration photo and came up with wildly different yarns that work together perfectly. And there was absolutely no collusion here! Sam concentrated on one hoop from the photo,
“I had no idea what Brittany was going to pick, but I decided I wanted to try to coordinate in some less obvious way. There was one hoop that had a grayish cloth with the embroidery, so I basically pulled all my colors from that one hoop even though there were several beautiful ones.”
And Brittany tells how she isolated a couple colors that stood out to her and went from there:
“Sam and I had zero conversation as to how we would approach our colors ... I was a little nervous that we might do something too similar. So, I just threw caution to the wind and went with it. My process wasn’t necessarily using only colors from the inspiration image but picking one or two and then using what felt more natural to my process, which can depend on my mood on any given day.
In truth, when I first saw what I had dyed I thought for sure it was a mess. Yarn can be deceiving while wet, so I try to always let it dry before I make my final judgment. Thank goodness I did because it looked great and nothing like I have created before.”
Sam says something pretty similar about waiting to know if a colorway has turned out "right:"
“Most of the time I don’t actually feel like “I got it” until a week later. I dye something, I often think “eh” and then it needs to grow on me. I think the ones I love right away are the colorways that have sat in my head for a bit already and just need to come out. I am my worst critic most of the time.”
Because the yarns compliment one another so seamlessly—I mean, seriously, they look like they were intended to coordinate—I wanted a project that highlighted the relationship between them. My go-to project for the Tour des Dyers is socks, and it seemed that a contrast toe/heel/cuff was the way to go. But, how to decide which color should be the contrast?
Neither. Or both. Because the two colorways play off each other so well, I made mismatched socks on purpose.
I know I'm a bit silly, but I think they're clever.
I considered making a second pair of socks, a "proper" match for each, but then I got the itch to do some stranded colorwork again. I found Ysolda Teague's Belyse mitts and was instantly sidetracked. This pattern is brilliant, pretty, looks really cool to wear, and is ridiculously practical. Win, all around. It was fun to make, if a little fussy with about a million ends to weave in... but totally worth it. I will be wearing these all the time once it gets cold again.
I can't decide what I love most about this whole Indie Project that Sam dreamed up. It has so much to say about the power of creativity.
“My tag line is that even though we all do the same thing, we are different people, and even if we dye something based on a similar inspiration or set of colors we will still get a different product because of our differences. It’s just a way to show that even though the market is really pretty saturated, we are all creating works of art. It’s something to celebrate!”
It sometimes feels like anyone with a kitchen can join the ranks of indie dyers populating the fiber community. But it's not just yarn, this happens in many fields and hobbies (as barriers to entry are lowered,) and I think it speaks to a human desire to create and share what we create. Indie dyers typically run small business operations and big lives that influence their work in infinite ways. They contribute their uniqueness to this swirl of fiber offerings, and yet, they're still all different and each skein is something special, made by a real person and their hands.
“...in the end I think we do what feels right to us. We all have a generally similar process and use some same tools even, but even how our fingers sprinkle is going to be different.”
The colors I received from January's Indie Project were totally not what I would have expected. The yarn in my head has a base of soft browns and mustards with some space for the softer colors to peek through between vibrant red speckles. (I say all that whilst having no concept of how dyeing actually works.) "Betty's Lace" and "Talulah" also convey the feeling of the photo to me, meshed with the influence of the dyers' personalities. It goes to show that there are as many ways of implementing a vision as there are visions to implement, and I can't help but believe that's a beautiful thing.
Because, in the end, the yarn we buy from indie dyers is special because of the personal touch of the people who make them. Knitting can seem, at the outset, a solo endeavor. But it doesn't have to be, and knowing who is behind the yarn we knit is just one way we can connect through craft. Sam and Brittany both have a story of the fiber community being there for them in the early years of motherhood (to which I'm sure many of us can relate:)
“I had taught myself to knit back in 2012 and for a few years, literally didn’t know a single person who knit. I was completely by myself. Instagram really opened up my life to so many amazing people and life long friends through the knitting and fiber community. They’ve given me confidence I didn’t know I had and a sense of belonging that I could never lose, no matter where I am in the world.”
“I have honestly met some of THE most wonderful friends through this community! For years I was in raising babies mode and lots of my close friends had faded. Over the past couple years I have found friends all over the world that thinking about them literally brings me to tears with how much they mean to me!”
I have two projects now that are created not just by my hands, but by mine and Sam's and Brittany's. And I've had the chance to reach out and get to know them better in the process and if that's not creative connection, well, I don't know what is.
This community is insanely amazing. I'm definitely feeling connected to lots more people and love growing our relationships through this project!
—Sam
I'm not sure where my place is yet in the fiber community or what my contributions are. Sometimes I feel like we never really know that until after the fact. If I had to choose though, I'd hope that I helped every person who has ever used a skein of yarn I've dyed to feel happiness. I know it sounds a bit cliché, but happiness is something we don’t truly feel in our world today without struggle. If I could do just that one thing, I think I could be okay with that, but who knows, our journey changes everyday.
—Brittany
There are a couple more days to get in on the May Indie Project with guest dyer Julie from Sweet Sparrow Yarns. Or keep watching Sam’s space all year long—I’ve heard rumor of some really amazing dyers participating on future iterations of the Project!
*Quotes have been lightly edited to work in context.