Hi there! My name is Kellie and I'm the girl with the dye all over her clothes. I'm in my mid thirties and live in the panhandle of West Virgina with my husband and a bunch of critters. We have 3 dogs, 5 cats, 2 turtles and a snake. Don't worry, the fiber gets its own pet-free room that's always closed off from the rest of the house.
About 5 years ago I decided to quit my pack+ a day habit. To keep my hands busy I learned how to knit. My husband commented, "Oh good, knitting will be cheaper than smoking." Ha! Knitting led me to reclaiming the yarn from thrift store sweaters, which led to dyeing with food coloring. I really enjoyed it, but hated the unpredictability of the food dyes. I bought a few small pots of Jacquard acid dyes and a couple skeins of blank sock yarn from KnitPicks and I was hooked. I also realized that I was annoyed by most stitch markers. They were lovely to look at, but impractical for use around yarn as the dangly bits would get caught more times than was it was worth. I found some aluminum rings at a local craft store and began experimenting with various bead sizes to find one that would fit. Pretty soon I had requests to buy the yarn and stitch markers from me. Not one to turn down an opportunity to make some money I dyed up a few skeins, packaged up some stitch markers and sold them on Etsy. It was a fun little diversion and that's all it was. I said to more than one person, "I enjoy doing it, but I never want it to become more than a part time thing."
Well.
Here I am about a year later with wholesale accounts at three different mills, new tools and supplies and working 10 hour days and going to school for animation. And I still love it, so much so that I dropped from full time enrollment at school to part time so I could give more of my time to the business. I love what I do and I hope I can keep doing this forever.