Collaboration

Every yarn is a collaboration between animal, farmer, dyer, spinner. Each yarn I spin is an unspoken agreement use the raw, pure fiber to create an artistic expression, to endeavor to honor the original fiber and the others who have worked with it.
This sense of collaboration and community is why I choose to buy most of my supplies from local fiber farmers and handpaint the fiber myself. Sometimes, though, I like to create something in collaboration with even more artists, to work with someone else’s painted fiber.
Last week I purchased some lovely fiber from a few Etsy sellers. The small fiber farm, Fleecemakers, raise Romney sheep and sell the roving dyed and blended in beautiful mixes. I ordered Ocean Wave and Tropical colorways (stay tuned to the shop or my Twitter updates to see the yarns this fiber become!)
I’ve been a fan of Jayne’s work for a while, but when I saw the Fabulosity fiber, I couldn’t resist any longer. I snatched it up and created some Fabulous! yarn (that’s not bragging, that’s the yarn name!)

My favorite part of selling handspun yarn is knowing that everything I spin becomes a collaboration with yet another artist – the knitter or crocheter! The fiber that I admired and squished, that flowed through my fingers and twisted into yarn before my eyes; it will flow through a knitters hands and become something warm, useful and squishy.

Have you collaborated with me (or another fiber artist)? Let me know about it in the comments!