Category: Explore 1

I chose this module because I am a hand knitter, crocheter and tatter and therefore have a keen interest in dying my own yarns. I design knit & crochet patterns, selling them on Ravelry, although I admit I haven’t added any new designs to my shop in about 5 years.https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/leaves-of-lothlorien-baby-blankethttps://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ffion-crocheted-foxglovehttps://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/clematis-garland-buntinghttps://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/glaramara-crochet-shawlI am a bit of a yarn snob & I only use natural fibres for my work. I love linen yarns especially, but I also use wools, cottons, silks and bamboos. I appreciate synthetic fibres have their place – baby knits for example – much easier to be able to throw things in the washing machine with everything else than having to carefully hand wash & block everything to keep it in shape, however that is also what I don’t like about synthetic yarns – you don’t get the stitch definition & can’t manipulate them like you can natural fibres.I am also interested in the sustainability aspect – avoiding plastic and pollution from some dyeing processes, however I am intrigued to see what colours I will be able to achieve with natural dyes – I suspect I will only be able to achieve soft muted tones & not the bright, vivid colours I am drawn to. We shall see!I am also a keen gardener and hope to create a dye bed – I won’t be able to grow things like avocado’s or pomegranates, but there are many native species of dye plants that I would be able to grow myself.I currently only sell my patterns online, which is very efficient as it took maybe a few days to design the pattern, make up a sample and then type up the pattern, putting it up for sale as a pdf. My only material costs have been the yarn to make up the sample. As I said, I haven’t added any designs to my shop in about 5 years, but I am starting to think about adding more.I didn’t think it was worth the effort, as after taxes & Ravelry charges I only make £4 per pattern sold. Maybe 3 of my patterns have been successful & I sell between 5 & 8 per month – so I only earn about £20 – £30 per month which is never going to be a living wage. This doesn’t sound like much, but what I didn’t think about was that sales have continued at that rate, so as a monthly income it’s a bit rubbish, but when you consider that I have made £25 per month for 5 years, that makes £1,500 for 3 patterns so far! If you think about that in terms of artwork – around £500 per design (so far!) seems pretty reasonable, so I need to get some new patterns designed!The popularity of the patterns also depends on your presence and notoriety, so if I could dye my own yarns & make up little kits to sell at yarn shows such as Wonderwool Wales, Edinburgh Yarn Festival & Unravel, meeting the knitting community this would help sell more patterns and increase my ‘followers’.