Hand Dyed Yarn

Back in 2007/2008ish I fancied trying something new – after many false starts and aborted efforts I had learned to crochet, and decided to take things a step further and give dyeing my own yarn a try. Initially I tried dyeing with food colouring (messy, but safe and fun), then ordered a beginner’s dyeing pack and a selection of yarn and spent a happy afternoon making a huge mess.

I showed friends my efforts and the feedback was “this is great, sell it!” At the time my mental health was poor so I put dyeing kit and yarn away and largely forgot about them. Roll on late 2008/early 2009 and I wanted to crochet a shawl in a specific shade of red. None of the indie dyers I patronised had the right shade, so I tried dyeing my own.

That was the start, Abstract Cat was born and in August 2009 I sold my first skein. Several years on, I’m still dyeing and selling yarn, mostly variegated colours and semi solids, and still specialise in 2-ply laceweight and 4-ply ‘sock’ yarns. My main website is here and my online shop is here The shawl that started it all remains unfinished…