About The Knitting Goddess

 All About The Knitting Goddess

 The Knitting Goddess is run by me (Joy) and my tolerant other half (Bobbie). I dye and sell yarn and fibre, write patterns, make beads and shawl pins, so I get to play with a lot of different crafts and call it work. Bobbie is responsible for winding mini skeins, making stitch markers and packing up all of the parcels.

Where Did It Start?

Way back in 2005  I wanted lots of little bits of different colours to make a sweater and decided that it would be fun to have a go at dyeing what I wanted, rather than buying lots of yarn I didn’t need. I started off with a couple of dyes, dyed up more yarn than I needed and put the skeins on ebay, not really expecting that there would be much interest in them, and watched the bids go up and up.

I sold yarn on ebay for quite a while, then decided that I wanted more control over my shop, so set up my own website. At that point it was still very much a part time job, and I spent most of my time working as a craniosacral therapist. When we moved to the Isle of Wight in 2009 we bought a house which needed a huge amount of work. It was never going to be practical to run a therapy business in the middle of all the building work, so I dyed more yarn and allowed the business to grow.

In 2011 we moved again to Worthing.

In 2013 we moved north to Harrogate and managed to secure fantatsic workshop space - so we're now able to offer dyeing workshops as well as having lots of space where we can make a mess!

Crafts I Love

I’ve knitted since I was little. I can remember my Dad starting to teach me how to knit, but he didn’t know how to cast off! The first thing I knitted was in primary school, a very long strip of garter stitch which became a coat hanger cover. I’ve pretty much knitted ever since.Mum taught me to crochet and I’ll use it for edgings, but I’m much more confident as a knitter.

I started spinning because I couldn’t find the yarn I wanted to knit with – and I love the yarns that you can only get by handspinning. I’m now the proud owner of an alien spinner (plus another couple of wheels).

I’m also very fond of silversmithing, and make the silver stitch markers and shawl pins which you can find in the shop. More recently I’ve returned to making lampwork beads, and these feature in some of our stitch markers.

My final craft obsession for now is upholstery. There’s something enchanting about seeing a piece of furniture restored for a fraction of the price that it would cost to buy something new.

The Best Bits Of My Job

I love getting to play with dyes and coming up with new colour combinations – so both planning what I want to dye and the actual dyeing. The best bit is when you get a colour where two sections of dye overlap which totally changes the look of a skein.

I get a huge kick from seeing what people have made with our yarns, and ravelry is fantastic for that.

The final (and perhaps best) perk is being able to sit and knit and claim that I’m working!

And The Worst......

Multi coloured hands and clothes with interesting splotches of dye are a bit of an occupational hazard. In the winter, sitting too close to the skein winder can feel a bit drafty!

What Inspires Me?

Almost everything! I’m very guilty of being distracted when I spot something that I thing would make a great colourway.

The yarns and fibres that I dye are what I’d like to work with as a knitter, weaver or spinner. Working with yarn is such a tactile experience that I’d never want to sell anything that wasn’t a pleasure to touch. I have two very lovely yarn suppliers who make it very easy for me to get fantastic yarns into the shop.

Ideas for colourways come from all over the place; often it’s seeing colours together and thinking they’d look good on a skein of yarn. The colours which make up printer ink cartridges turned into a glorious skein of yarn.

 

What’s Next ?

There are lots of exciting plans in the pipeline - more on those soon.