October 24, 2019 • 63 mins
Are you looking for a way to take your projects to the next level?
Try dying your own yarn! In this episode you'll hear from Ashley, talented dyer and maker behind Montana Crochet. Her passion for dying yarn really shines as she shares some tips for getting started and for achieving some really great looking coloration.
Ashley is also very passionate about her maker business and the community as a whole. We wrap up this episode chatting a bit about where you can find inspiration for yarn dying experiments and tips for standing out.
About The BHooked Podcast
Brittany's primary goal is to inspire you and help you grow in your craft with The BHooked Podcast. Through her own stories and the stories of each special guest, you'll discover tips and tricks to improve your crochet and knitting skills and find inspiration to achieve your hobby goals. When you want to kick back and learn from yarn industry experts, grab some yarn and turn on The BHooked Podcast. There's never a shortage of all things crochet, knitting or yarn.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brittany (00:00):
You're listening to the Be Hooked Podcast, episode
139, with Brittany.
Well, hey there.
(00:32):
Welcome to episode 139 of theBe Oaked podcast.
Thank you so much for joiningme today.
I have a real special treatagain for you this week.
I am always so excited aboutthe people in the community that
I'm able to share with you hereon the podcast, and this one is
no exception.
I have been looking forward totalking to her for a couple of
(00:53):
weeks now and share some of herwisdom with you about dyeing
yarn.
We've talked about yarn dyeinga couple times before and I know
it's something that reallypiques your interest as a
crocheter and a knitter.
I know for me it's alwaysreally interesting to see how
that comes about and how you canapply your skills as an artist
(01:16):
and your creativity to takingyour projects one step further.
I know for me, crochet is soimportant to me because of the
process.
I actually like the processalmost more than the finished
project sometimes, although Ireally do enjoy gifting and
seeing people's faces when I'mable to do that.
And of course, wearing thethings that I make definitely
(01:39):
makes me feel proud, but Ireally, really love the process
of creating the thing.
I've been a little moreinterested in dyeing yarn in the
past couple of months, and itreally started here on the
podcast because I invited aguest on the show to talk about
dyeing yarn, but this episodereally takes it to the next
(01:59):
level.
I wanted to get some ideas andsome tips from Ashley about
dyeing yarn for the first timebecause I know you may not have
ever dyed yarn before, so Iwanted to keep it relevant for
you in that sense, but if youheard that first episode about
dyeing yarn You gave it a try.
Ashley gave us a lot of reallygood next level tips.
(02:21):
So that's what you can lookforward to hearing today.
I have Ashley from MontanaCrochet.
She's got some beautiful yarnin her shop.
I would definitely encourageyou to check out her Instagram
page so that you can see this inaction so you can sort of put
an image to what you're going tohear.
She talks about some of thecolorways and how those
(02:42):
colorways come about.
It's super interesting.
I know I'm really excited toget my dye pot out again and try
a couple more hanks of yarn.
And I hope that we can inspireyou to do the same.
So before we get started, thereare a couple of different
resources that Ashley mentionedin terms of where you can get
some yarn and where you can getsome dye in order to try out
(03:05):
some of the things that shetalks about.
I will have that linked in theshow notes page.
I will also have all ofAshley's information there so
you can connect with her afterhearing the episode if you want
to.
And the show notes for thisepisode are located at
behooked.com slash 139.
All right, here we go.
Here's Ashley from MontanaCrochet.
(03:25):
Well, Ashley, welcome to the BeYolked podcast.
Thank you so much for joiningme today.
Well, thank you so much forhaving me.
I'm so happy to be here.
It is an absolute pleasure.
I have been an admirer of yourInstagram account for so, so
long, and I'm just so excited tofinally have you on the show to
tap into some of your wisdom.
(03:47):
I mean, you do a lot of things,so I know you sort of have a
lot of things going on andthings that you're really great
at, and I'm just pumped to beable to share that with the
audience today.
Ashley (03:57):
Oh
Brittany (03:57):
my gosh.
Well, thank you so much.
Those are such big complimentscoming from you.
Seriously.
Well, I mean, I mean it everysingle word of it.
Your Instagram account isbeautiful.
I mean, it's, it's a veryinspirational place for somebody
to go if they're looking forinspiration, which is really
wonderful.
I know that's a really big perkto Instagram as a community,
(04:19):
but you're also doing thingslike designing.
So you've got a talk aboutbecause I actually the last time
I had somebody on the showabout dyeing yarn I hadn't tried
it for myself aside from like areally bad Kool-Aid experiment
gone completely wrong but Iwould I can't remember exactly
(04:43):
when it was I think it was abouta month ago I dyed yarn for the
first time and it was so muchfun that I have to get back to
it so I'm gonna I'm gonna be alittle bit selfish and and
probably ask some questionsabout dyeing yarn to help me and
certainly help the people inthe audience as well.
Ashley (05:02):
Well, absolutely.
Fire away.
I love to talk about dyeing andthe science behind it and my
process and what I use.
I'm so excited that you'vetried it.
I swear, anybody who gives it ago, they just can't keep
themselves away from it.
It is just so much fun.
It really is.
It is.
Brittany (05:21):
It is.
I spent an entire daycompletely devoted to it, and I
was really sad when everythingwas finished, mostly because I
didn't have another, like, woolskein of yarn that was a natural
color that I could dye again.
So I had to put everythingaway, and I just need to get
more fiber.
I do have the dye.
(05:42):
I just need to make it happen.
Ashley (05:45):
Well, I think you need to definitely be doing some
shopping.
A little pre-Christmas shoppingand maybe getting yourself some
bear yarn to play around withfor sure.
Brittany (05:56):
Yeah.
Now that might actually be agood place to start, but I'm
going to put a little bookmarkthere for a second because I
want to give people a chance toget to know you a little bit
better.
Like I said, I've been sort ofInsta-stalking you for a while,
but for somebody who hasn'theard of you yet, tell us a
little bit about you and wherethey can find your beautiful
work on Instagram and how yougot into this whole world of
(06:17):
fiber arts.
Ashley (06:19):
Well, you can check me out on Instagram.
My handle is Montana.crochet.
I really kind of got into this.
Well, the very first time thatI started dyeing or that I tried
dyeing was July of 2018.
So just a little over a yearago, really.
I'll never forget that firsttime.
(06:41):
I think I had about 20 skeinsto play with.
And I think I ended up likingonly one of them.
Oh, yeah?
Well, because it's just, youknow, you're experimenting and
you really kind of don't knowwhat you're doing when you're
first, you know, trying to giveit a go.
And everything that I kind oflearned had been just from
(07:03):
scouring YouTube and, you know,seeing what other people were
using and their techniques.
And so I really just kind ofstarted playing.
And then from there, I honed inon...
really like my inspiration andwhat colors I was drawn to.
And at that point, it just, itkind of exploded.
(07:27):
And I realized how much of apassion I had for it and how
much I really loved dyeing.
And I just can't imagine doinganything else.
Brittany (07:35):
Yeah.
So did you start dyeing firstor did you know how to crochet
beforehand?
Ashley (07:42):
Oh, I've been crocheting since I was nine.
My grandma taught me, you know,one weekend when we were
staying with grandma andgrandpa, and she gave me my
first ever crochet hook, which Istill have.
It's just this, it's a littletreasure of mine.
It's an H hook, a little boyhook.
And yeah, I've been crocheting,you know, probably there is...
(08:04):
about a six or seven yearperiod, just kind of growing up
and into high school where Ididn't do much of it.
But after I graduated highschool, I've really just been
crocheting solid ever sincethen.
Brittany (08:16):
Super cool.
What is your favorite thing tocrochet?
I know you do like a lot ofdifferent things, but I feel
like we all sort of have ourgo-to project.
If you had to put your fingeron like one project, what would
be like the thing you would goto when you want to relax and
just sort of zone out?
Ashley (08:34):
Oh my gosh.
Um, you know, I'm, I'm a totalshawl addict right now.
I don't even know how manyshawls I've crocheted in the
last like year and a half, butwhen I just want to like, when I
really want to chill and likezone out, it's making Afghans
and blankets and throws.
There's just something reallylike, you know, like those
(08:57):
repetitive stitches that, youknow, you can just put on the
Netflix and chill and And yeah,there's just something about
blankets.
Plus, I mean, they make greatgifts, you know, for like, you
know, people getting married orpeople having babies.
I mean, I've made more blanketsfor more family members.
And that's like the one thing Iget requests from my kids.
(09:19):
Mom, when are you going to makeme another blanket?
Brittany (09:23):
Yeah, that's true.
You know, now that I thinkabout it, that's the thing that
a lot of people request of me.
too I wonder if it's just likethe thing that people associate
with homey cozy like the all thethe nice things that people
love about crochet and knitstuff as well who yeah who like
don't necessarily do it but theywant to have that and what you
(09:47):
see on tv all the time I don'tknow how many times I have like
pointed out to my husband lookat that afghan like thrown over
the back of the couch just inthis tv show
Ashley (09:58):
Well, yeah, I think that's that it's probably the
most prevalent part of likecrochet or knit culture that
people see on a regular basis.
You know what I mean?
Is seeing that crocheted Afghanor knit, you know, knit blanket
or whatever it is.
Brittany (10:13):
Yeah.
So how many of those do youthink that you've made?
Oh, my gosh.
Probably a lot of years there,right?
I'm generally good for one totwo per year.
Any more than that is just,it's a little rough.
Ashley (10:29):
Well, yeah, because they're such big projects.
You know, I've honestly, overthe years, I bet you I've made
at least 50.
Wow, yeah.
At least.
I mean, I just think of alllike just the babies being born
in like the last 10 years.
I've made, you know, more babyblankets, but then like
graduations and weddings andthings like that too.
(10:51):
I mean, definitely, I'd have tosay at least 50.
Brittany (10:54):
Yeah.
Ashley (10:55):
That's impressive.
Brittany (10:57):
That's a lot of blankets to make.
Ashley (10:59):
Right.
What about you?
How many, how many you thinkyou've made then?
Brittany (11:04):
Oh gosh.
If I had to put my finger onit, I would say, and we're
including baby blankets in thistoo.
Oh gosh.
I would say probably at least30.
Right.
I mean, it's a lot.
It is a lot.
Yeah, because I'm thinking ofall of those that I have gifted
(11:25):
and the patterns that I havecreated.
I still have a lot of those.
We have several in our housetoo.
That's the one thing my husbandis always like requesting I
make.
Can you make a really, reallysoft afghan, like a really soft
blanket that we can throw overthe back of the couch?
So we have several of them.
He's really like keen on that.
on like furry yarns or thebellocks or you know that sort
(11:49):
of stuff which is fun it's Ireally love making blankets out
of that kind of stuff
Ashley (11:55):
oh yeah just that cozy like you just can't get enough
of it
Brittany (11:59):
oh for sure love cuddling under that so anyways
bringing it into today um Whendid Montana Crochet come about?
I'm guessing it didn't startright away, but you sort of led
into it, and now you have abusiness that you're working
full-time on.
I think that's really cool.
I would love to hear just atiny bit of that story.
Ashley (12:19):
You know, I guess what kind of happened is I was so
nervous about you know, putting,putting my own hand dyed yarn
into my Instagram feed for thefirst time.
I just, cause I, I didn't knowwhat other people were going to
think.
Um, but it was, I want to saylate August or early September
(12:41):
when I posted I guess I showedoff my first hand dyed skeins
and, and people, people reallywere just so receptive to it.
Like, Oh my gosh, you did that.
It's beautiful.
And I, and I decided, well, youknow, like, Hey, I, I've, I
bought Montana crochet.com, um,months before just thinking,
(13:04):
well, who knows?
I don't know what I'm going todo with this, but I wanted to at
least kind of put it out thereto the universe that maybe
Montana crochet could become athing at the time but I didn't
know what that looked like so sothen late August early
September is when I had my firsttechnical like shop update and
(13:26):
I sold out in like two hours andwow I I couldn't believe it and
at the time I think I only hadjust over like a thousand
followers and I just thoughtthat was the most amazing thing
I'm like oh my gosh these peoplelike like what I do And I
couldn't believe it.
It was just so magical to me.
(13:47):
And then the whole process of,you know, just dyeing the yarn,
you know, hanking it up,labeling it, packaging it, you
know, the whole process, I loveevery little bit of it.
I honestly do.
Brittany (14:02):
Well, that's really cool.
So how often do you thinkyou're doing shop updates now?
Ashley (14:07):
You know, honestly, it's been once a month is kind of,
is where I like to sit at.
Sometimes, like in November,I'll have two just because it's
a really busy month.
But yeah, for the most part, Ijust try and keep it at once a
month.
That's about enough for me.
I'm kind of maxed out at thatpoint.
Brittany (14:28):
Yeah, well, it seems like, well, I mean, I sort of
have a tiny, tiny bit ofexperience with the process and
how long it takes, but I can'teven imagine doing that twice to
the magnitude that you arewhere you're creating stock.
So you're creating more thanone of every color and you're
doing multiple hangs at once.
(14:48):
If you had to guess, what doyou say is kind of like what you
can do in a batch?
Are we looking at like, I don'tknow, five or six hangs or like
50 hangs?
Well,
Ashley (14:59):
when I'm dyeing for an update, I try to dye anywhere
between 100 and 120 a day.
Oh,
Brittany (15:06):
wow.
Ashley (15:08):
That that's about any, any more than that.
And it, and I'm, and I'm dyingfor like 16 hours straight.
So, you know, it's, it's kindof good because, because I'm a
small batch dyer and I'm notdying 10 skeins at a time in a
pot.
I typically it's anywherebetween two and maybe four at
the max.
(15:28):
That's why my process takes somuch longer is because I only
die two to maybe four at a time.
Brittany (15:35):
Gotcha.
Okay.
And I think that really showsthrough in your product because
you have some really gorgeous,unique items.
I can scroll through Instagram.
I can see a project that'sbeing crocheted with your yarn,
not know that it's you postingit and know exactly who that is
because your yarn, to me, itjust, it feels signature.
(15:57):
It just has a look to it thatsays Ashley.
Ashley (16:00):
Well, thank you.
You know, a lot of, a lot of myyarns too, which it kind of
blows people's minds when I tellthem about it.
A lot of them are over dyed.
And what that means is thatit's, it's not just being dyed
once.
Sometimes there's certainskeins or colorways like Nebula,
for instance, it's a reallypopular colorway that gets dyed
(16:22):
anywhere between three and fourseparate times.
So if I have to dye 10 Nebula,technically it's it feels like
30 or 40, but in order to getcertain depth to certain
colorways and make sure that thecolor saturation goes all the
way through, um, the yarn,whatever base that is, sometimes
(16:46):
it does require being dyedthree or four different times.
Brittany (16:49):
Okay.
Now is that for the colorwaysthat are like more tonal where
you have the same, um, You'reusing the same color, but it
looks different like shades?
Or is it more like themulticolored hanks that we've
seen from you?
Ashley (17:06):
It's more the multicolored ones.
Some of my multicolored oneshave anywhere between four and
six different colors that I dyewith in the pot.
But depending on the weight ofthe yarn...
it's going to take a fewdifferent tries to make sure
that it gets, that every singlecolor gets saturated into the
(17:30):
entire scheme.
So like the more, more tonalyarns, those, those only get
dyed once and you know, it just,it comes out how it comes out
and I love it.
And those are quick and thoseare easy.
It's the ones that, that have alot of extra effort in them
that can be tiring sometimes,but they're gorgeous.
And they crochet and knit upjust, oh, I can't get enough of
(17:54):
it.
Brittany (17:55):
Yeah.
And since we're over audiohere, let's try to put a picture
in the audience's mind here.
When we're talking about thesemulticolors, would you say that
they're more like striped orombre or more like variegated,
spotty, if you will?
Ashley (18:11):
I would say they're more variegated, but what's really
unique about some of them is theway that they fade into the
next color.
So if it's something like,let's take larkspur, for
example.
Larkspur is named after, it'sthis beautiful, beautiful, deep
(18:32):
purple flower that blooms in themountains near my cabin.
And It's very blue and it'svery purple, but it's not just
blue and purple.
So when you're crocheting oryou're knitting with it, you're
fading from the blue into thepurple as you use it.
There's not just this clear cutlike shift and change in the
(18:55):
color as you use it.
I don't know, I mean, if that'sa good way of describing it or
not.
Brittany (19:01):
Yeah, yeah, I think it is.
Now, my mind here is going inthe direction of how on earth do
you do that?
The yarn...
dyeing experiment that I didwas just a single color.
I put it in a single dye pot,but I know that hand painting
exists.
I know a little bit about that.
Is that more the techniqueyou're using for these or are
(19:22):
you dyeing sections in a pot orhow does that work?
Ashley (19:26):
Yeah, it depends on the colorway, but really I do
everything in the pot.
And it all depends on how muchwater you have.
There's certain ways of dyeingwhere you have like a low water
table or you have a high watertable.
So a lot of these, they'rebeing dyed with a low water
table so that I can control, youknow, in sections in the pot,
(19:49):
how the color takes.
Does that make sense?
So I'll take something likeLarkspur, which actually uses
three different colors, and Iplace them in three different
areas in the pot.
And then I use like a stainlesssteel spoon, you know, in order
to kind of press the yarn downinto the dye and let the dye
(20:09):
kind of come together and createits own, it's like new color.
Oh my
Brittany (20:15):
gosh, it's so hard to describe.
Yeah.
So are there multiple differentcolors in the pot at the same
time and they're just not okaysee that makes that makes sense
so the the different dyes are inthe same pot but they're just
not mixed together
Ashley (20:32):
They will mix together, but that's where I control that
by using like a spoon to say,okay, well, I want to see what
happens when these ones cometogether.
Ah, okay.
But you want to make sure thatyou're using, that's where like
color theory, knowledge of colortheory really comes in.
Because, you know, if you use ared and a blue together, when
(20:54):
those two colors come togetherin the same pot, they're going
to create a purple.
You know what I mean?
So you want to be careful aboutwhich colors you're putting in
the pot at the same time.
But that's what's so cool aboutit is the science behind it and
seeing those colors shift andchange, you know.
Brittany (21:13):
Yeah.
So you can get really, reallydetailed with this.
But I'm going to venture toguess that most of the people
listening have either died maybeonce or two just for fun or
they haven't tried it at allbefore.
So let's help that person out.
I know you have a lot ofexperience with dyeing, like,
obviously some very intricatehanks of yarn, but also some
(21:37):
really basic and simple.
So let's sort of break it intosteps of what somebody would
need to do.
We'll kind of go back to thatbookmark because I think the
first thing you need is you haveto have some yarn to dye.
So a lot of people, I wouldsay, may not– go to an online
store and order a bunch ofpremium animal fiber yarn to dye
(22:02):
with for an experiment.
Do you think it's reasonable orokay to just walk into your
yarn store, find something thatis wool in a light color and use
that?
Or what would yourrecommendation be as far as
finding a couple of hanks toplay around with?
Ashley (22:19):
Oh my gosh.
I'm, I'm totally, I wouldtotally say yes to that.
Go to your, you know, whetherit's Michael's, Joanne's, Hobby
Lobby, find something that, youknow, the, the more wool, the
better and pick it up and giveit a go.
Definitely.
The first place that I went to,and it, you know, I didn't go
to my local yarn store.
(22:40):
I went to Knit Picks and theyhave an amazing selection of
bare wools.
And what's really, really niceis they're very reasonably
priced and you can buy it byjust one or two skeins at a time
you know so it's not thismassive investment I mean you
know you don't have to buy 10 2040 at a time I mean when you're
(23:03):
when you're just wanting toplay around and try it out you
know a lot of people just can'tafford to do that I mean I know
I couldn't you know
Brittany (23:11):
And for an experiment, you probably wouldn't want to
invest.
I know I wouldn't.
If I'm just trying to figuresomething out just to say that
I've done it or maybe see if Iwant to do more of it, I'm
probably going to take theeasier, less expensive route.
Ashley (23:25):
Oh, of course.
Brittany (23:26):
But that's good to know about...
Yeah, I've heard that before,that they're a great resource.
So I will have that included inthe show notes.
So if you do want to try thatand you do want to grab just
maybe one or two.
Now they are online, so thatwould be an order that you'd
have to put in.
I haven't personally orderedfrom them before.
(23:47):
Do you know if they have apretty quick turnaround as far
as shipping?
Ashley (23:51):
Oh my goodness, yes.
I believe it's two days istypically.
Yeah, I mean, they have itright out the door.
So I mean, if you're reallyhankering to give it a try, Knit
Picks is definitely a greatresource and place to go.
Brittany (24:06):
Okay, perfect.
Now, before you said the morewool, the better, does that mean
that you could potentially, orlet's say somebody has in their
stash, like I'm thinking an80-20 blend, will that take up
the dye?
I know acrylic is always alittle bit weird and finicky
from a bad past experience.
So can you actually dye an80-20 blend and it work out and
(24:28):
it not bleed off all over yourhands?
Ashley (24:31):
Yes.
So the 80% is wool, correct?
Brittany (24:35):
Yes.
Ashley (24:36):
Okay, so the wool is what's going to take the dye.
The acrylic will not take it atall, zero.
So yes, it'll definitely work.
However, it will be differentif you had done the same exact
color on 100% wool.
(24:57):
So it'll come out just a littlebit different.
Brittany (25:02):
Do you know what I mean?
Yeah, I'm thinking maybelighter and it might be easier
to spot the wool versus theacrylic.
Ashley (25:11):
Yeah, it'd actually kind of be interesting.
Like now that I'm thinkingabout it, I'm like, huh, I
wonder how that would work out.
Brittany (25:17):
Yeah, well, we might have to give that a try just to
see what happens.
I do have some dye here.
But is there a fiber that'sgood for beginners or like a
wool that you would recommend oris it kind of all pretty much
the same?
Ashley (25:32):
Honestly, 100% superwash merino is definitely my, it's
my absolute favorite.
You know, you can get Highlandwools, I know, but they just
tend, they're not, they're notas soft.
I mean, I know that, I knowthat they're really good for
like knitting sweaters andthings like that.
(25:52):
But personally, you know, Ireally want something soft
against my skin.
So that's where, that's where Igo with the 100% superwash
merino.
Brittany (26:01):
Gotcha.
I'm 100% with you on that one.
I can do a sweater, like a lesssoft sweater if I knew I'm
going to have the long sleeveshirt on underneath it.
But I am a little bit of anitch-a-phobe for sure.
Oh,
Ashley (26:13):
I know.
And gosh, you know, you spendso much time creating something
and you want to make sure thatyou love it.
Brittany (26:20):
Yes, definitely.
And I think that's what's sogreat about this process,
because think about howwonderful it is to create
project a crochet thing likefrom a little ball of yarn or
multiple balls of yarn intosomething that you can wear or
that you can drape over you tokeep you warm on the couch that
process is I think what so manyof us are drawn to but this
(26:43):
takes it to the next level whenyou hand select your yarn when
you hand dye your yarn and thencreate it into a thing I just
feel like that's so much morethan than just the project
itself
Ashley (26:58):
Well, it's a totally different immersion into it.
You know, just that creativeprocess of, you know, we're all
makers and we love, weabsolutely love to crochet.
We love to knit, but, you know,to, to take it to that next
level, it, It is really, reallymagical.
There's nothing like it whenyou've been through that entire
(27:19):
process from beginning to endwhen it's drying and then you're
getting it all caked up andthen you're creating this
beautiful piece with it.
It is really something special.
Brittany (27:30):
Yeah, for sure.
Now let's talk a little bitabout dyes because that's
probably the next thing thatyou'll need.
Okay.
Do you have a recommendationfor where to get a hold of dyes?
Maybe what is easier to workwith that might be good for
somebody who's just startingout?
Ashley (27:48):
You know, it depends on whether or not you want to...
work with natural dyes orwhether you're up for trying
acid dyes.
I mean, they're totallydifferent worlds and you need
entirely different supplies,whether or not you're going to
be doing natural dyeing or aciddyeing.
So I use acid dyes and I go toDharmaTrading.com to get mine.
(28:11):
I use Dharma acid dyes almostexclusively.
They're amazing.
The saturation that they giveis just out of this world.
They're shipping, they're,they're entire company.
They've just been absolutelywonderful.
So Dharma Trading is where Iwould go for acid dyes.
And they do have a really,really great selection of
(28:32):
natural dyes as well.
I just haven't really gone thatroute myself.
Brittany (28:37):
Yeah.
Okay.
So the acid dyes, I'm sittinghere thinking and knowing what I
know from this first tank thatI dyed recently, I know you have
to have a mordant, which isreally just like an acid.
Right.
You can use vinegar.
There are a couple of otherthings.
When you use an acid dye, doesthat take the place of a
mordant?
So it kind of makes you haveone less supply you need?
(28:59):
Or do you still have to have
Ashley (29:01):
that?
No, absolutely.
I feel like I should justinvest in citric acid stock for
how much I buy.
I use citric acid.
And what that does is...
when you're getting ready todye yarn, you need to soak it.
So that's the first step aboveanything else.
You need to soak your yarn in,like you're saying, your
(29:25):
mordant.
So especially people who usenatural dyes, they like to use
vinegar.
And people who are using aciddyes, they use what is, it's
just food grade citric acid.
You find it all over in ourfoods.
So it's completely safe.
And what that does is it allowsthe fiber to open up and accept
the dye.
And the longer that you soakyour yarn, the better.
(29:49):
I mean, I'm even thinking rightnow, I've got a few tubs right
now where yarn has been soakingfor over a week at least.
Oh, wow, really?
Yeah, and citric acid,something that people don't
necessarily know about it isthat it's like a softener.
So you take something likesuperwash merino wool, which is
(30:12):
already soft in its own nature.
And then the longer that yougive it in that citric acid, the
softer it becomes.
It is just, it's magic,absolute magic.
So citric acid is where I'm atin regards to the mordant,
definitely.
Brittany (30:30):
Okay, all right.
Well, that's a good little tipthere.
I know with this kit that I wasusing, there was a lot less
soaking and so not having doneit before that's really
interesting to know that you cansoak it for a long like a
really long time and the longerthe better I'm wondering if
that's why I mean I'm sure it'spart of the reason why your yarn
(30:53):
is so vibrant and so prettyyeah
Ashley (30:57):
I mean and and I've I've tried to where I'm like oh my
gosh you know I'm kind of I'm ina rush.
I need to get these skeinssoaking, but I only have an hour
to let them soak.
There is a clear differencebetween just giving, you know,
yarn an hour to soak incomparison to a day in
comparison to three plus days.
(31:18):
And I've just learned thelonger, the better.
And the more time that I cangive and plan in advance, I
think the better that it turnsout and the less work that I
need to put into it because thatyarn is just, it is ready for
that color.
It's like, ooh, give it to me.
Yes.
Brittany (31:35):
Yeah.
Now, are there any cautionsthat you have to go through with
soaking the wool that long?
Because I know wool is reallyfinicky.
It doesn't like to be really...
you know, stirred or squeezedor anything like that.
Is there any precautionary tipsthat you might have with
handling it and soaking it thatlong?
Ashley (31:56):
Honestly, I haven't had any issues with it like at all.
I do know once it gets soakedin a tub, I don't mess with it.
I don't touch it.
Also a really, really good tipis to, when you get your bear
yarn, put a zip tie on it Sothat when you grab it out of,
you know, whether you're soakingit in a tub or in a bin or in a
(32:18):
bucket or whatever, it's notgoing to get tangled.
Because I mean, oh my gosh, Itell you what, you do not want
wet wool tangled up in a bunchof, you know, like 30 or 40.
So I always make sure to ziptie mine that way when I pull it
out of the water, I'm justgrabbing it by the zip tie and
I'm not messing with that skein.
(32:39):
You know what I mean?
Brittany (32:40):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So are you, soaking and dyeing,I'm guessing, in a big long
loop.
Like if you were to take a hankand unwind it, you're left with
a really long loop.
Is that how you're soaking itand dyeing it or do you do
something different?
Ashley (32:57):
Nope, that's exactly what I'm doing.
So once you unwind a hank andyou've got your one big loop,
that's when I attach the zip tieand that's how I soak it and
that's how I dye it.
And yeah, it stays, that ziptie stays on until after it's
dry.
Brittany (33:11):
Okay.
And just to clarify forsomebody listening, if you do
end up buying some yarn that'salready in a skein or a cake or
something like that, it reallyis a good practice, right?
To get it in this state whereyou have it in one big long
loop.
Do you have any tips for doingthat for somebody who doesn't
have a yarn swift?
You know, before I had aswift...
Ashley (33:34):
I use the back of a chair honestly I do too it's I I
think it's like the best trickbecause otherwise I just don't
know how you do it you'd havethis oh my gosh it would just be
a nightmare and I and I do haveto tell you before I figured
out the back of the chair trickthere was a point in time when I
had when I had an anchor yarnyou know that it was hand dyed
(33:57):
and I was like oh my gosh thisis just so special and I spent
you know like four hours tryingit was just trailing all over my
I'm like, oh my gosh, how do Ido this?
So yeah, the back of the chairtrick.
Brittany (34:10):
Yeah, the first time I bought a hank of yarn from a
local yarn shop, it was really,really early in the game.
And I had no clue of how thathank actually became a hank or
what it looks like when youundid it.
So I get this hank of yarnhome.
It was actually for mybirthday.
I went there on my birthday andI bought some Malabrigo.
(34:33):
I think it was, gosh, I don'tremember the name of it.
But anyways, it was so gorgeousand I wanted to make a hat out
of it so bad.
I get it home.
And I undo it and I'm like,what, what do I do here?
I had no idea.
So I had this big loop sort ofset out on the table and I'm
(34:53):
thinking, okay, I don't have aball winder or anything like
that because I was so new to it.
I didn't even know that existedreally.
And so I'm just rolling it in alittle ball, like on my fingers
and in my hands and just likewalking around this table,
trying to wind it into a ball.
And by the time I finally hadit, It didn't really get
(35:14):
tangled, but it wants to sort ofstick together a little bit.
So it kind of did get a littlemessy.
By the time I was done with it,I was like, I'm exhausted.
I don't feel like crochetinganymore.
It was not fun.
So yarn swifts, although it isan extra purchase and a yarn
ball winder, cause you kind ofhave to use the two of them
(35:34):
together are a good investment.
But if you can't make thatinvestment, ask the people at
the yarn store to put it in acake for you, because I didn't
know that, but they will do thatfor you.
Ashley (35:46):
Oh, they will.
And they have no problem, youknow, doing so.
So, and really, Really,honestly, your local yarn store,
even if it's something that youhand dye yourself and you still
don't have a swift and awinder, head down there and ask,
hey, I just hand dyed this forthe first time.
(36:06):
Can I use your winder?
They are more than happy tohelp.
you know, I'm sure of it.
Brittany (36:13):
Yeah, that's a good tip too.
Now I'm thinking here, I'm justtrying to think about the
process here.
So we have, we have the yarn,we've talked about dyes a little
bit.
We've talked about some of theprocess.
Is there anything else thatsomebody would need to know to
get into this?
Especially when it comes
Ashley (36:31):
to using acid dyes, it's very important when you use
acid dyes that you're usingstainless steel because So
you're using a stainless steelpot or a stainless steel
restaurant pan, stainless steelspoons, stainless steel
measuring utensils, and that thesurface that you're working on
is non-porous, which means thatit's going to repel that acid
(36:54):
dye should any of the dyes spillonto your work surface.
Acid dyes, they're notexactly...
safe to work with, shall I say.
You know, you want to make surethat you're wearing a mask so
that you're not inhaling any ofthe dyes into your lungs.
But it is just, it's soimportant.
(37:15):
I know I've seen before wherepeople will try and dye for the
first time and they're doing itin their crock pot.
And it's like, okay, well, holdon.
That's a really great idea.
Just make sure that you're notever going to like make chili in
it again.
Yeah.
You know, so they're not, youjust have to be very, very hyper
(37:35):
aware of your surface and whatthe acid dyes do touch.
Brittany (37:40):
Yeah.
I've heard that's a goodpractice for any type of dyeing
or any type of dye that youmight buy.
Just have a dedicated set ofsupplies, like maybe go to the
dollar store and buy a stainlesssteel pot and just stainless
steel spoon and that sort ofthing.
Oh, absolutely.
Yeah.
Definitely.
Yeah.
Okay.
So somebody getting into thismight be thinking, there's a few
(38:02):
things that I will need tohave.
So it has to be pretty wellworth it.
And I think if anybody wants totry it for the first time, they
would feel like they want to doit.
So it wouldn't be as much of arisk, we'll say, to invest in a
little bit of these things.
And I think you can probablyattest to this that When you do
(38:24):
it once, you want to do itagain.
So it's probably likely that itwill be a good investment and
that you will use these thingsagain.
I know that was certainly thecase for me.
I was a little hesitant to getrid of it.
I had an extra stainless steelpot.
I had a stainless steel spoon.
And I was still using that inthe kitchen.
(38:45):
But I thought, well, I guess Ican go ahead instead of going
out and buying something new,like just for this.
I just deemed those my yarndyeing stuff and it worked out
well because I do want to do itagain for sure.
Ashley (39:01):
Oh, absolutely.
Yeah.
So, I mean, just look aroundand see what you have and like
your suggestion of just likeheading over to the dollar store
and, you know, seeing what theyhave available.
I mean, you'd be surprised, youknow, how little of an
investment it would take just togive it a try.
Brittany (39:17):
How big of a pot do you think you need?
Now, I had a stock pot and Idon't know exactly how big it
was, but in a set of like fourstock pots, I think it was the
third size.
So it was pretty big.
I could probably put a lot ofyarn in there, but I don't think
it needs to be that big?
Ashley (39:32):
Yeah, I'm trying to think of mine.
I want to say mine are either14 or 16 quart stock pots.
But I mean, it depends onwhether or not you're using a
low water table or a high watertable.
Yeah, so you definitely don'tneed a really, really large
stock pot the first time.
(39:54):
I mean, it just kind of dependson your process and how you
want to give it a go yeah
Brittany (40:00):
now could you explain that a little bit what a low
water table versus a high watertable what that means such as
the amount of water that's inthe pot
Ashley (40:07):
yeah so a lot of my dyeing is being done using a low
water table which means thatI've got my yarn that's already
been soaked that's in the potwith probably anywhere between
it depends on the base and theweight of the yarn you know but
I've only got essentially liketwo skeins in the pot at a time
(40:28):
anywhere between maybe like onemore inch above where my yarn
is.
So that's a low water table.
A high water table would be towhere I am like fill on that pot
half full and I've only got thetwo skeins.
Okay.
Brittany (40:45):
That does.
That does.
Now, what is the difference inthe look of that when you have a
low water table?
And I think you probablyexplained this before, but just
to make it a little bit clearer,when you have a low water
table, it's more saturated?
Ashley (40:59):
Yes, it's going to be very, very highly saturated.
And then with a high watertable, it'll look totally
different.
It'll look totally different.
Even if you're using, if you'reputting the water in the same
area of the pot, if you're usingthe same exact dyes, it'll blow
your mind how different theyarn turns out.
Brittany (41:19):
Well, that's cool.
I want to experiment with thatnow, but I have to ask because
my absolute favorite kind ofhand dyed yarn, I love that
tonal look when it's all justone color but there are like
some really saturated points andthere are some really like
lighter parts to the same hang.
Yeah.
How does that, how do you dothat?
How do you get that look?
(41:40):
So
Ashley (41:41):
what's, what's super cool about that is it's super
easy.
I hope that dyers aren't goingto hate me because I'm just
telling y'all how to do it, butyou guys, it is so cool.
So what you do instead ofhaving your yarn sitting in your
pot and and then pouring dye ontop of your yarn.
This is where the zip tiesreally come in handy.
(42:01):
You're gonna grab that yarn bythe zip ties, pull it out of the
water, and you're gonna throwyour dye directly into the
water, swirl it around, makesure that it's all mixed up and
everything, and then you'regonna drop that yarn into the
pot Make sure that it totallygets saturated in that water and
(42:22):
then lift it up immediately,then throw it back in the water,
then lift it up again.
And you will watch that dyeadhere to that yarn almost
immediately.
And that's how you get a tonalcolorway.
Brittany (42:35):
Oh, wow.
That's really cool.
Well, thank you for sharingthat with me because that's
always sort of mystified me alittle bit.
I tried to do that with theHank that I dyed and it just did
not work.
There are sections where it's alittle bit more saturated.
I think just because I wasn'tdoing a great job with it but it
(42:56):
still looks pretty cool and ithink that's the bottom line
with dying of course a lot of itis experiments but i would
venture to say it's hard to becompletely disappointed with the
outcome of it would you saythat's true
Ashley (43:10):
Yeah.
I mean, unless it's a totalfail.
I mean, because trust me, I'vehad those too, where I've had
these ideas and I'm like, ooh,I'm going to try this.
And then I look at it and I'mlike, oh, wow.
Yeah, that didn't work.
But you learned from it.
So that's not time wasted.
Yeah.
And you figure out what worksand what doesn't.
And that all I think justhappens over time, you know, and
(43:33):
you've got to figure that outfor yourself.
I mean, there's no right orwrong way to do any of it,
really.
You just, you got to just seewhere it takes you.
you know
Brittany (43:44):
and I think it's with everything else in crochet and
knitting you get better the moreyou do it so maybe you try it
the first time and it's a totalwreck I'm sure when you try it
again you've learned somethingfrom that first instance and
it'll just get better from thereI mean think back to your first
project that you ever made yourstitches were like wobbly and
(44:04):
uneven and you probably had likeholes and tension was horrible
oh yeah right and now look atyour work today now granted you
might not...
die hundreds of hanks of yarn,but I'm sure you make subtle
improvements every single time.
And I would venture to say thata solid color is a really safe
(44:25):
first experiment.
It seems a lot harder to messup a single die and like be
disappointed with it because youcan see the color of the die.
The yarn pretty much looks thesame color I thought as the die
does.
And yeah, I mean, would you saythat's probably a Absolutely.
Ashley (44:46):
100%.
You're just not going to bedisappointed.
So if there are colors thatyou're drawn to naturally, you
know, maybe just invest in oneor two of those tones or shades
in regards to like your initialdyes that you purchase and
you'll be so happy.
Brittany (45:04):
Yeah.
Now, I wonder if there are anyresources available.
Let's say you buy a set of dyesthat has your main primary
colors.
Does it come with any type ofinstructions to help you mix
those together to get certaincolors?
Or is this something you haveto figure out on your own?
Ashley (45:26):
You know, I know that Dharma Trading, that's where I
get my acid dyes from.
I know that they have a starterset.
I'm pretty sure that it comeswith, of course, like the
primary colors and then like ablack and maybe a few others.
I think it comes with somecitric acid as well and like
(45:48):
very basic instructions.
But a lot of the instructionsfor acid dyes, I mean, even if
you just look on your littlepackage, it'll say, you know,
mix this much with two gallonsof water.
And a lot of the times, I mean,you're not dying that much
fiber when you're just trying itout.
(46:10):
So honestly, a lot of it, it'sjust going to be trial and
error.
Really?
Brittany (46:15):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And probably write down whatyou did so you can either
replicate it or not, notreplicate it the next time.
Oh
Ashley (46:23):
yeah.
There's, there's actually beena few times where I don't, I
don't know what happened, wheremy brain was or how I misplaced
my, oh my gosh, it was horriblewhere I've had such cool
colorways and I'm like, wait,did I not write that down?
Oh no.
Yeah.
So yeah, pretty much you wantto write everything down like it
was a recipe.
(46:44):
Like you were going to bake oryou were going to cook, write it
like a recipe.
Exactly how much you measuredand everything.
Everything that you canremember, write it down,
definitely.
Or else you'll never be able torecreate it again.
Brittany (46:58):
Yeah, yeah.
Don't trust your memory.
If you're anything like me,goodness gracious, I can't trust
my memory.
Me too.
Now I want to end on some, onthe side of, inspiration because
I know that you really drawinspiration from around you I
think that's part of how I'mable to recognize your yarn over
(47:18):
anybody else's in my Instagramfeed and I would love to just
tap into that a little bit helpsomebody try to figure out where
to find inspiration for theiryarn dyeing experiments and with
crochet projects because I knowyou're a designer as well and I
know you're probably drawingfrom different areas to help you
create those things so can Canyou walk me through sort of your
(47:41):
process from an idea toactually executing on that?
Ashley (47:47):
You know, I mean, obviously my business is Montana
Crochet.
So my inspiration comes fromMontana, where I live, where I
love.
I mean, I just, I love it here.
Born and raised, wouldn'tchange a thing.
It's so easy for me to findinspiration, whether it's from a
city, a mountain range, a lake,a stream, flowers, the prairie.
(48:12):
I mean, there's just so muchinspiration here.
So that's where I draw myinspiration from.
But when I'm feeling stuck, andI feel like this would probably
be a really good tip for yourlisteners, head to your closet.
Head to your closet and maybefind your five favorite pieces
(48:32):
that you just love to wear andlay them out on your bed and see
what they have in common.
See what pops out at you,whether that's a pattern, a
color, a texture.
and see what inspiration youcan draw from that.
Because essentially, excuse me,as makers and as creatives, We
(48:54):
want to wear our makes.
We want to be surrounded by ourmakes.
So your closet is a really,really good starting place if
you're not like me and you justimmerse yourself in nature.
Not everybody is into that kindof thing.
So the first place I would sayto go is to your closet, for
sure.
Brittany (49:12):
Yeah, I really love that tip.
And that's something that Istarted doing more of this year,
not for dyeing yarn, but for myprojects because...
The approach that I used toalways take is find whatever
yarn I thought was pretty at thetime.
I would stroll through the yarnaisle, find something that just
really jumped out at me or thatreally caught my attention, and
(49:35):
I would create a project withthat.
I would put the time into itand then realize I don't have
anything...
To wear.
And so I would go in and say,okay, these are the sweaters
(50:06):
that I really love to wear themost.
They're these colors.
When I make a scarf again, I'mgoing to try to use a yarn color
that coordinates with thissweater or better yet, two or
three sweaters in my closet so Ican wear it with just more than
one outfit.
Ashley (50:23):
Well, yeah.
And then all of a sudden yourmakes become these versatile
pieces and you find yourselfwearing them so much more often.
And people around you, too.
Well, I mean, that's the thing.
They're going to be like, oh mygosh, you made that?
Well, yes, I did.
Yeah.
Give yourself an excuse to wearyour makes, you know, and just
(50:46):
make sure that they're not justsitting in a closet somewhere.
You know, and just like yousaid, and how you used to just
go down, you know, the yarnaisle and pick out, oh my gosh,
this is gorgeous.
And then you realize you havenothing to wear with it because
you weren't centering Yeah, it'sreally
Brittany (51:10):
weird when you think about it.
I was always drawn to somethingcompletely off the wall when it
came to yarn, like reallybright, vibrant colors and stuff
like that.
And then when you look at mycloset, it is not at all like
that.
It's a lot more neutral.
I wear a lot of navy and taupeand gray are kind of like my
go-to colors, if you will.
(51:31):
Yeah.
And it works with some brightyarns, but it's just interesting
to think how a certain skein ofyarn can really catch your eye.
And it's not at all what wouldnormally catch your eye.
Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely.
Now, the other thing I wantedto tap into a little bit with
(51:52):
you, because I know you've donethis really, really well, and
this will help the makers in theaudience very much, not just
yarn dyers, but people who arealso selling goods, have blogs
or that sort of thing.
It feels like a very...
well, it's a very busycommunity, right?
I don't want to say it'soversaturated because I hate
that term.
It's not even true.
(52:12):
But there are a lot of peoplewho start blogs, who have
YouTube channels, who have Etsyshops and have all of those
things.
And it's really important tofind yourself in order to stand
out amongst all of the otherpeople.
I think the bottom line isthere is a place and a space for
(52:33):
everyone in this community.
Every single one.
Yes.
But I think we need to find ourpositioning, what we have to
inspire people with.
And I wonder if you have anytips for that.
Ashley (52:46):
You know, my biggest tip, and maybe it seems cliche
right now because I just hear itall the time, but you do you.
You have got to do you and quitthe comparison game, comparing
what you're making to what thisperson is making to what this
person is doing.
As long as you are doing whatmakes you happy and what
(53:10):
fulfills you as an artist, youare succeeding.
You're doing it right.
There is no right or wrong wayof being a maker.
The more genuine that you areand the more authentic that you
are, into what you're creating,the more that people are gonna
be drawn to that naturally.
People just love that.
Like just don't try and besomeone else, be you because you
(53:32):
are the only you that there isand people love it.
I mean, it might sound cliche,but I just think it's so, so
true.
Brittany (53:41):
I agree 100%.
You are the only one who can beyou and that's your positioning
in whatever niche you wanna getinto, whatever...
I love that.
Oh, I love that.
(54:20):
I'm actually going to writethat down like right now.
Yes, your vibe attracts yourtribe.
And I want to say that toanybody who feels like they need
to please everybody because itjust doesn't happen.
It's just not real.
Not everyone is going to loveyou.
Not everyone is going to lovewhat you do or the patterns you
create or the yarn that you dye.
(54:41):
But if you just do you, likeyou just said– What you do will
attract the people who love whatyou do.
Ashley (54:50):
Yeah, they will find you.
I mean, just being authenticand genuine, I think it's the
way to be.
And don't compare yourself toothers.
It doesn't serve you.
You know, I mean, my gosh, justdon't put your energy into
that.
Just, I mean, of all things,look at yourself as your biggest
competitor.
Do better than you didyesterday.
(55:11):
Do better than you did lastweek or last month or last year.
And as long as you're justcomparing yourself to yourself,
gosh, I just, I think there'snowhere else you can go but up.
Brittany (55:22):
Yes, I love that.
I think it's so important as abusiness owner or somebody who
has a side hustle or somebodywho's just trying to earn extra
vacation money or whatever itlooks like for you, record
everything.
Actually pay attention toeverything.
Whatever metric is importantfor what you're doing, be that
(55:44):
sales or page views or YouTubechannel views or that sort of
thing, record that and check inevery quarter and definitely
every year so that you'recomparing yourself to you.
And that way, like you said,you can go up from there.
You've got a baseline.
You know what you need to do toimprove and you have a target
(56:05):
because you have that numberwritten down and you know you
just need to beat that number.
I think that is the...
healthiest form of comparisonthat there is as a maker.
Absolutely.
The healthiest form.
I think you just hit the nailon the head, really.
Well, it's good to know that Iam not alone in that.
I feel very strongly aboutthat.
(56:25):
And it's difficult to do.
It's not easy to scroll throughand not question How you're
doing and that sort of thing.
I know for me, I really justtry to regulate who's in my
newsfeed or my Instagram feedand be surrounded by people who
make me feel good, who don'tmake me feel bad about what I'm
(56:49):
doing.
Ashley (56:50):
Oh, absolutely.
And your vibe attracts yourtribe.
Like exactly what you said, youknow, and, and surround
yourself with the people thatare going to lift you up.
Brittany (56:59):
Yeah.
Ashley (56:59):
And, and whether that's, you know, the people who are
close to you within the crochetcommunity, or just even people
that you follow, you know, makesure that that anytime you open
any form of social media orwhatever it is, that it's making
you happy.
You know, yeah, I think that'sjust so, so important.
Brittany (57:18):
It really is.
I wish I know who said that.
I heard it on another podcastsomewhere.
I don't know if that saying iscoined by anybody or if it's
just something that came about.
But if I find the source, Iwill include it in the show
notes or something because Ijust absolutely love that
saying.
Ashley (57:36):
Oh, it's wonderful.
I wrote it down.
I love it.
I just absolutely adore it.
It's perfection.
It really is.
Brittany (57:44):
Well, I'm glad I could share that with you today.
I'm also really, reallythankful for this conversation
today.
I know it's so much fun to talkabout something just slightly
different, sort of a sidestepfrom crochet and knitting.
So thank you so much forsharing so much wisdom about
yarn dyeing and being reallyopen and honest about some of
those methods.
It'll certainly help me assomebody who's just trying to do
(58:05):
it for fun I don't think you'llever see like yarn dyeing stuff
from me in the future, butmaybe through my Instagram
stories, my fails or mysuccesses when it comes to yarn
dyeing.
And certainly if I do dye myhands pink, like I did once
before, I will share that withyou.
Ashley (58:23):
Well, it has been an absolute pleasure.
I've been so happy to justvisit with you and share what
little wisdom I have with yourlisteners.
And it's just, it's just beenso much fun.
Brittany (58:33):
Well, I think it's so much more than what you
described there.
I know it's helped a lot ofpeople.
And I'm sure that somebodylistening has really made a
connection with you.
Where's a good place for themto go to connect with you after
listening today?
Ashley (58:46):
You know, honestly, head over to Instagram and look up
Montana Crochet.
That's pretty much where I livesocially anymore.
And then montanacrochet.com iswhere you can go and check out
my yarns at least once a month.
Brittany (59:03):
Yes, and they're beautiful.
If nothing else, go have a lookbecause it's gorgeous.
Hand-dyed yarn is somewhat of asplurge at some points.
Yes.
It is one of those purchases Iknow for me that is for a
special project.
I wouldn't just go buy handdyed yarn to play with or to do
(59:23):
just random projects with.
I like to be really, reallyintentional about it.
So if you're ever feeling likeyou need to have a special
project, maybe start with handdyed yarn and definitely check
out Ashley's shop and the stuffthat she has.
It's really beautiful.
Well, thank you so much,Brittany.
I really appreciate it.
All right, that was Ashley fromMontana Crochet.
(59:44):
Ashley, thank you so much todayfor sharing all of that with
us.
I can't wait to go dye anotherhank of yarn, play with a little
experiment, and maybe see if Ican get a really tonal look out
of some yarn that I can make ahat this fall.
So thank you so much for that.
If you want to connect withAshley after hearing today's
episode, Again, she likes tohang out on Instagram.
(01:00:05):
You can find her atmontana.crochet.
I'll have that in the shownotes, as well as a link to her
website if you do want to checkthat out.
And of course, those resourceswe talked about.
Now, the show notes, onceagain, are bhooked.com slash
139.
And the last thing I want tomention before I go is that
today's episode was brought toyou by my blueprint course,
(01:00:26):
Tunisian Crochet for Beginners.
Now, perhaps dyeing yarn isn'tan experiment you want to try
right now, but let's say you dowant to learn something new.
And if you haven't triedTunisian crochet, it's close
enough to the craft I think youprobably already love, but it's
just different enough to feellike you're learning something
new and you can do even morewith Tunisian crochet than you
(01:00:49):
can with regular crochet.
crochet.
If it's something you've neverheard of before, think about a
hybrid between crochet andknitting.
Honestly, what drew me toTunisian crochet in the first
place was because I heard thatyou could create stitches that
looked like knitting, but useyour crochet hook.
And that's exactly why I triedit because at the time I did not
(01:01:11):
know how to knit, but I really,really loved the look of it.
So Tunisian crochet forbeginners will walk you through
all the basics of Tunisiancrochet.
So if you've never triedTunisian before, this is a great
class for you.
If you already are familiarwith Tunisian crochet, it's
probably not the right thing foryou.
It was really designed to walksomebody through start to
(01:01:33):
finish.
So you get an idea of what itis and the types of tools that
you need to have in order to doit.
It's really just a differenttype of crochet hook.
And then I'll walk you throughyour first three projects all
wrapped up in that course.
So if you want to get moreinformation about Tunisian
crochet for beginners, just headover to behooked.com slash
(01:01:57):
TCFV.
That'll just redirect you toBlueprint's website where you
can see all the courseinformation and sign up there.
All right, that'll wrap up thisweek's episode of the Be Hooked
podcast.
Thank you so much for joiningme today.
I really, really appreciate it.
I'm so grateful for you.
I'm so grateful for all ofthose reviews.
This podcast has made it up toa five-star review and that just
(01:02:22):
warms my heart.
It makes me so incredibly happybecause I have only ever asked
for your honest rating And so Iknow that's an honest rating.
And gosh, that just means theworld to me to know that you
love what we're doing here onthe show.
And that fuels me through it.
So thank you so much.
And I'll see you next week.
(01:02:42):
Bye-bye.
You're listening to the Be Hooked Podcast, episode
139, with Brittany.
Well, hey there.
(00:32):
Welcome to episode 139 of theBe Oaked podcast.
Thank you so much for joiningme today.
I have a real special treatagain for you this week.
I am always so excited aboutthe people in the community that
I'm able to share with you hereon the podcast, and this one is
no exception.
I have been looking forward totalking to her for a couple of
(00:53):
weeks now and share some of herwisdom with you about dyeing
yarn.
We've talked about yarn dyeinga couple times before and I know
it's something that reallypiques your interest as a
crocheter and a knitter.
I know for me it's alwaysreally interesting to see how
that comes about and how you canapply your skills as an artist
(01:16):
and your creativity to takingyour projects one step further.
I know for me, crochet is soimportant to me because of the
process.
I actually like the processalmost more than the finished
project sometimes, although Ireally do enjoy gifting and
seeing people's faces when I'mable to do that.
And of course, wearing thethings that I make definitely
(01:39):
makes me feel proud, but Ireally, really love the process
of creating the thing.
I've been a little moreinterested in dyeing yarn in the
past couple of months, and itreally started here on the
podcast because I invited aguest on the show to talk about
dyeing yarn, but this episodereally takes it to the next
(01:59):
level.
I wanted to get some ideas andsome tips from Ashley about
dyeing yarn for the first timebecause I know you may not have
ever dyed yarn before, so Iwanted to keep it relevant for
you in that sense, but if youheard that first episode about
dyeing yarn You gave it a try.
Ashley gave us a lot of reallygood next level tips.
(02:21):
So that's what you can lookforward to hearing today.
I have Ashley from MontanaCrochet.
She's got some beautiful yarnin her shop.
I would definitely encourageyou to check out her Instagram
page so that you can see this inaction so you can sort of put
an image to what you're going tohear.
She talks about some of thecolorways and how those
(02:42):
colorways come about.
It's super interesting.
I know I'm really excited toget my dye pot out again and try
a couple more hanks of yarn.
And I hope that we can inspireyou to do the same.
So before we get started, thereare a couple of different
resources that Ashley mentionedin terms of where you can get
some yarn and where you can getsome dye in order to try out
(03:05):
some of the things that shetalks about.
I will have that linked in theshow notes page.
I will also have all ofAshley's information there so
you can connect with her afterhearing the episode if you want
to.
And the show notes for thisepisode are located at
behooked.com slash 139.
All right, here we go.
Here's Ashley from MontanaCrochet.
(03:25):
Well, Ashley, welcome to the BeYolked podcast.
Thank you so much for joiningme today.
Well, thank you so much forhaving me.
I'm so happy to be here.
It is an absolute pleasure.
I have been an admirer of yourInstagram account for so, so
long, and I'm just so excited tofinally have you on the show to
tap into some of your wisdom.
(03:47):
I mean, you do a lot of things,so I know you sort of have a
lot of things going on andthings that you're really great
at, and I'm just pumped to beable to share that with the
audience today.
Ashley (03:57):
Oh
Brittany (03:57):
my gosh.
Well, thank you so much.
Those are such big complimentscoming from you.
Seriously.
Well, I mean, I mean it everysingle word of it.
Your Instagram account isbeautiful.
I mean, it's, it's a veryinspirational place for somebody
to go if they're looking forinspiration, which is really
wonderful.
I know that's a really big perkto Instagram as a community,
(04:19):
but you're also doing thingslike designing.
So you've got a talk aboutbecause I actually the last time
I had somebody on the showabout dyeing yarn I hadn't tried
it for myself aside from like areally bad Kool-Aid experiment
gone completely wrong but Iwould I can't remember exactly
(04:43):
when it was I think it was abouta month ago I dyed yarn for the
first time and it was so muchfun that I have to get back to
it so I'm gonna I'm gonna be alittle bit selfish and and
probably ask some questionsabout dyeing yarn to help me and
certainly help the people inthe audience as well.
Ashley (05:02):
Well, absolutely.
Fire away.
I love to talk about dyeing andthe science behind it and my
process and what I use.
I'm so excited that you'vetried it.
I swear, anybody who gives it ago, they just can't keep
themselves away from it.
It is just so much fun.
It really is.
It is.
Brittany (05:21):
It is.
I spent an entire daycompletely devoted to it, and I
was really sad when everythingwas finished, mostly because I
didn't have another, like, woolskein of yarn that was a natural
color that I could dye again.
So I had to put everythingaway, and I just need to get
more fiber.
I do have the dye.
(05:42):
I just need to make it happen.
Ashley (05:45):
Well, I think you need to definitely be doing some
shopping.
A little pre-Christmas shoppingand maybe getting yourself some
bear yarn to play around withfor sure.
Brittany (05:56):
Yeah.
Now that might actually be agood place to start, but I'm
going to put a little bookmarkthere for a second because I
want to give people a chance toget to know you a little bit
better.
Like I said, I've been sort ofInsta-stalking you for a while,
but for somebody who hasn'theard of you yet, tell us a
little bit about you and wherethey can find your beautiful
work on Instagram and how yougot into this whole world of
(06:17):
fiber arts.
Ashley (06:19):
Well, you can check me out on Instagram.
My handle is Montana.crochet.
I really kind of got into this.
Well, the very first time thatI started dyeing or that I tried
dyeing was July of 2018.
So just a little over a yearago, really.
I'll never forget that firsttime.
(06:41):
I think I had about 20 skeinsto play with.
And I think I ended up likingonly one of them.
Oh, yeah?
Well, because it's just, youknow, you're experimenting and
you really kind of don't knowwhat you're doing when you're
first, you know, trying to giveit a go.
And everything that I kind oflearned had been just from
(07:03):
scouring YouTube and, you know,seeing what other people were
using and their techniques.
And so I really just kind ofstarted playing.
And then from there, I honed inon...
really like my inspiration andwhat colors I was drawn to.
And at that point, it just, itkind of exploded.
(07:27):
And I realized how much of apassion I had for it and how
much I really loved dyeing.
And I just can't imagine doinganything else.
Brittany (07:35):
Yeah.
So did you start dyeing firstor did you know how to crochet
beforehand?
Ashley (07:42):
Oh, I've been crocheting since I was nine.
My grandma taught me, you know,one weekend when we were
staying with grandma andgrandpa, and she gave me my
first ever crochet hook, which Istill have.
It's just this, it's a littletreasure of mine.
It's an H hook, a little boyhook.
And yeah, I've been crocheting,you know, probably there is...
(08:04):
about a six or seven yearperiod, just kind of growing up
and into high school where Ididn't do much of it.
But after I graduated highschool, I've really just been
crocheting solid ever sincethen.
Brittany (08:16):
Super cool.
What is your favorite thing tocrochet?
I know you do like a lot ofdifferent things, but I feel
like we all sort of have ourgo-to project.
If you had to put your fingeron like one project, what would
be like the thing you would goto when you want to relax and
just sort of zone out?
Ashley (08:34):
Oh my gosh.
Um, you know, I'm, I'm a totalshawl addict right now.
I don't even know how manyshawls I've crocheted in the
last like year and a half, butwhen I just want to like, when I
really want to chill and likezone out, it's making Afghans
and blankets and throws.
There's just something reallylike, you know, like those
(08:57):
repetitive stitches that, youknow, you can just put on the
Netflix and chill and And yeah,there's just something about
blankets.
Plus, I mean, they make greatgifts, you know, for like, you
know, people getting married orpeople having babies.
I mean, I've made more blanketsfor more family members.
And that's like the one thing Iget requests from my kids.
(09:19):
Mom, when are you going to makeme another blanket?
Brittany (09:23):
Yeah, that's true.
You know, now that I thinkabout it, that's the thing that
a lot of people request of me.
too I wonder if it's just likethe thing that people associate
with homey cozy like the all thethe nice things that people
love about crochet and knitstuff as well who yeah who like
don't necessarily do it but theywant to have that and what you
(09:47):
see on tv all the time I don'tknow how many times I have like
pointed out to my husband lookat that afghan like thrown over
the back of the couch just inthis tv show
Ashley (09:58):
Well, yeah, I think that's that it's probably the
most prevalent part of likecrochet or knit culture that
people see on a regular basis.
You know what I mean?
Is seeing that crocheted Afghanor knit, you know, knit blanket
or whatever it is.
Brittany (10:13):
Yeah.
So how many of those do youthink that you've made?
Oh, my gosh.
Probably a lot of years there,right?
I'm generally good for one totwo per year.
Any more than that is just,it's a little rough.
Ashley (10:29):
Well, yeah, because they're such big projects.
You know, I've honestly, overthe years, I bet you I've made
at least 50.
Wow, yeah.
At least.
I mean, I just think of alllike just the babies being born
in like the last 10 years.
I've made, you know, more babyblankets, but then like
graduations and weddings andthings like that too.
(10:51):
I mean, definitely, I'd have tosay at least 50.
Brittany (10:54):
Yeah.
Ashley (10:55):
That's impressive.
Brittany (10:57):
That's a lot of blankets to make.
Ashley (10:59):
Right.
What about you?
How many, how many you thinkyou've made then?
Brittany (11:04):
Oh gosh.
If I had to put my finger onit, I would say, and we're
including baby blankets in thistoo.
Oh gosh.
I would say probably at least30.
Right.
I mean, it's a lot.
It is a lot.
Yeah, because I'm thinking ofall of those that I have gifted
(11:25):
and the patterns that I havecreated.
I still have a lot of those.
We have several in our housetoo.
That's the one thing my husbandis always like requesting I
make.
Can you make a really, reallysoft afghan, like a really soft
blanket that we can throw overthe back of the couch?
So we have several of them.
He's really like keen on that.
on like furry yarns or thebellocks or you know that sort
(11:49):
of stuff which is fun it's Ireally love making blankets out
of that kind of stuff
Ashley (11:55):
oh yeah just that cozy like you just can't get enough
of it
Brittany (11:59):
oh for sure love cuddling under that so anyways
bringing it into today um Whendid Montana Crochet come about?
I'm guessing it didn't startright away, but you sort of led
into it, and now you have abusiness that you're working
full-time on.
I think that's really cool.
I would love to hear just atiny bit of that story.
Ashley (12:19):
You know, I guess what kind of happened is I was so
nervous about you know, putting,putting my own hand dyed yarn
into my Instagram feed for thefirst time.
I just, cause I, I didn't knowwhat other people were going to
think.
Um, but it was, I want to saylate August or early September
(12:41):
when I posted I guess I showedoff my first hand dyed skeins
and, and people, people reallywere just so receptive to it.
Like, Oh my gosh, you did that.
It's beautiful.
And I, and I decided, well, youknow, like, Hey, I, I've, I
bought Montana crochet.com, um,months before just thinking,
(13:04):
well, who knows?
I don't know what I'm going todo with this, but I wanted to at
least kind of put it out thereto the universe that maybe
Montana crochet could become athing at the time but I didn't
know what that looked like so sothen late August early
September is when I had my firsttechnical like shop update and
(13:26):
I sold out in like two hours andwow I I couldn't believe it and
at the time I think I only hadjust over like a thousand
followers and I just thoughtthat was the most amazing thing
I'm like oh my gosh these peoplelike like what I do And I
couldn't believe it.
It was just so magical to me.
(13:47):
And then the whole process of,you know, just dyeing the yarn,
you know, hanking it up,labeling it, packaging it, you
know, the whole process, I loveevery little bit of it.
I honestly do.
Brittany (14:02):
Well, that's really cool.
So how often do you thinkyou're doing shop updates now?
Ashley (14:07):
You know, honestly, it's been once a month is kind of,
is where I like to sit at.
Sometimes, like in November,I'll have two just because it's
a really busy month.
But yeah, for the most part, Ijust try and keep it at once a
month.
That's about enough for me.
I'm kind of maxed out at thatpoint.
Brittany (14:28):
Yeah, well, it seems like, well, I mean, I sort of
have a tiny, tiny bit ofexperience with the process and
how long it takes, but I can'teven imagine doing that twice to
the magnitude that you arewhere you're creating stock.
So you're creating more thanone of every color and you're
doing multiple hangs at once.
(14:48):
If you had to guess, what doyou say is kind of like what you
can do in a batch?
Are we looking at like, I don'tknow, five or six hangs or like
50 hangs?
Well,
Ashley (14:59):
when I'm dyeing for an update, I try to dye anywhere
between 100 and 120 a day.
Oh,
Brittany (15:06):
wow.
Ashley (15:08):
That that's about any, any more than that.
And it, and I'm, and I'm dyingfor like 16 hours straight.
So, you know, it's, it's kindof good because, because I'm a
small batch dyer and I'm notdying 10 skeins at a time in a
pot.
I typically it's anywherebetween two and maybe four at
the max.
(15:28):
That's why my process takes somuch longer is because I only
die two to maybe four at a time.
Brittany (15:35):
Gotcha.
Okay.
And I think that really showsthrough in your product because
you have some really gorgeous,unique items.
I can scroll through Instagram.
I can see a project that'sbeing crocheted with your yarn,
not know that it's you postingit and know exactly who that is
because your yarn, to me, itjust, it feels signature.
(15:57):
It just has a look to it thatsays Ashley.
Ashley (16:00):
Well, thank you.
You know, a lot of, a lot of myyarns too, which it kind of
blows people's minds when I tellthem about it.
A lot of them are over dyed.
And what that means is thatit's, it's not just being dyed
once.
Sometimes there's certainskeins or colorways like Nebula,
for instance, it's a reallypopular colorway that gets dyed
(16:22):
anywhere between three and fourseparate times.
So if I have to dye 10 Nebula,technically it's it feels like
30 or 40, but in order to getcertain depth to certain
colorways and make sure that thecolor saturation goes all the
way through, um, the yarn,whatever base that is, sometimes
(16:46):
it does require being dyedthree or four different times.
Brittany (16:49):
Okay.
Now is that for the colorwaysthat are like more tonal where
you have the same, um, You'reusing the same color, but it
looks different like shades?
Or is it more like themulticolored hanks that we've
seen from you?
Ashley (17:06):
It's more the multicolored ones.
Some of my multicolored oneshave anywhere between four and
six different colors that I dyewith in the pot.
But depending on the weight ofthe yarn...
it's going to take a fewdifferent tries to make sure
that it gets, that every singlecolor gets saturated into the
(17:30):
entire scheme.
So like the more, more tonalyarns, those, those only get
dyed once and you know, it just,it comes out how it comes out
and I love it.
And those are quick and thoseare easy.
It's the ones that, that have alot of extra effort in them
that can be tiring sometimes,but they're gorgeous.
And they crochet and knit upjust, oh, I can't get enough of
(17:54):
it.
Brittany (17:55):
Yeah.
And since we're over audiohere, let's try to put a picture
in the audience's mind here.
When we're talking about thesemulticolors, would you say that
they're more like striped orombre or more like variegated,
spotty, if you will?
Ashley (18:11):
I would say they're more variegated, but what's really
unique about some of them is theway that they fade into the
next color.
So if it's something like,let's take larkspur, for
example.
Larkspur is named after, it'sthis beautiful, beautiful, deep
(18:32):
purple flower that blooms in themountains near my cabin.
And It's very blue and it'svery purple, but it's not just
blue and purple.
So when you're crocheting oryou're knitting with it, you're
fading from the blue into thepurple as you use it.
There's not just this clear cutlike shift and change in the
(18:55):
color as you use it.
I don't know, I mean, if that'sa good way of describing it or
not.
Brittany (19:01):
Yeah, yeah, I think it is.
Now, my mind here is going inthe direction of how on earth do
you do that?
The yarn...
dyeing experiment that I didwas just a single color.
I put it in a single dye pot,but I know that hand painting
exists.
I know a little bit about that.
Is that more the techniqueyou're using for these or are
(19:22):
you dyeing sections in a pot orhow does that work?
Ashley (19:26):
Yeah, it depends on the colorway, but really I do
everything in the pot.
And it all depends on how muchwater you have.
There's certain ways of dyeingwhere you have like a low water
table or you have a high watertable.
So a lot of these, they'rebeing dyed with a low water
table so that I can control, youknow, in sections in the pot,
(19:49):
how the color takes.
Does that make sense?
So I'll take something likeLarkspur, which actually uses
three different colors, and Iplace them in three different
areas in the pot.
And then I use like a stainlesssteel spoon, you know, in order
to kind of press the yarn downinto the dye and let the dye
(20:09):
kind of come together and createits own, it's like new color.
Oh my
Brittany (20:15):
gosh, it's so hard to describe.
Yeah.
So are there multiple differentcolors in the pot at the same
time and they're just not okaysee that makes that makes sense
so the the different dyes are inthe same pot but they're just
not mixed together
Ashley (20:32):
They will mix together, but that's where I control that
by using like a spoon to say,okay, well, I want to see what
happens when these ones cometogether.
Ah, okay.
But you want to make sure thatyou're using, that's where like
color theory, knowledge of colortheory really comes in.
Because, you know, if you use ared and a blue together, when
(20:54):
those two colors come togetherin the same pot, they're going
to create a purple.
You know what I mean?
So you want to be careful aboutwhich colors you're putting in
the pot at the same time.
But that's what's so cool aboutit is the science behind it and
seeing those colors shift andchange, you know.
Brittany (21:13):
Yeah.
So you can get really, reallydetailed with this.
But I'm going to venture toguess that most of the people
listening have either died maybeonce or two just for fun or
they haven't tried it at allbefore.
So let's help that person out.
I know you have a lot ofexperience with dyeing, like,
obviously some very intricatehanks of yarn, but also some
(21:37):
really basic and simple.
So let's sort of break it intosteps of what somebody would
need to do.
We'll kind of go back to thatbookmark because I think the
first thing you need is you haveto have some yarn to dye.
So a lot of people, I wouldsay, may not– go to an online
store and order a bunch ofpremium animal fiber yarn to dye
(22:02):
with for an experiment.
Do you think it's reasonable orokay to just walk into your
yarn store, find something thatis wool in a light color and use
that?
Or what would yourrecommendation be as far as
finding a couple of hanks toplay around with?
Ashley (22:19):
Oh my gosh.
I'm, I'm totally, I wouldtotally say yes to that.
Go to your, you know, whetherit's Michael's, Joanne's, Hobby
Lobby, find something that, youknow, the, the more wool, the
better and pick it up and giveit a go.
Definitely.
The first place that I went to,and it, you know, I didn't go
to my local yarn store.
(22:40):
I went to Knit Picks and theyhave an amazing selection of
bare wools.
And what's really, really niceis they're very reasonably
priced and you can buy it byjust one or two skeins at a time
you know so it's not thismassive investment I mean you
know you don't have to buy 10 2040 at a time I mean when you're
(23:03):
when you're just wanting toplay around and try it out you
know a lot of people just can'tafford to do that I mean I know
I couldn't you know
Brittany (23:11):
And for an experiment, you probably wouldn't want to
invest.
I know I wouldn't.
If I'm just trying to figuresomething out just to say that
I've done it or maybe see if Iwant to do more of it, I'm
probably going to take theeasier, less expensive route.
Ashley (23:25):
Oh, of course.
Brittany (23:26):
But that's good to know about...
Yeah, I've heard that before,that they're a great resource.
So I will have that included inthe show notes.
So if you do want to try thatand you do want to grab just
maybe one or two.
Now they are online, so thatwould be an order that you'd
have to put in.
I haven't personally orderedfrom them before.
(23:47):
Do you know if they have apretty quick turnaround as far
as shipping?
Ashley (23:51):
Oh my goodness, yes.
I believe it's two days istypically.
Yeah, I mean, they have itright out the door.
So I mean, if you're reallyhankering to give it a try, Knit
Picks is definitely a greatresource and place to go.
Brittany (24:06):
Okay, perfect.
Now, before you said the morewool, the better, does that mean
that you could potentially, orlet's say somebody has in their
stash, like I'm thinking an80-20 blend, will that take up
the dye?
I know acrylic is always alittle bit weird and finicky
from a bad past experience.
So can you actually dye an80-20 blend and it work out and
(24:28):
it not bleed off all over yourhands?
Ashley (24:31):
Yes.
So the 80% is wool, correct?
Brittany (24:35):
Yes.
Ashley (24:36):
Okay, so the wool is what's going to take the dye.
The acrylic will not take it atall, zero.
So yes, it'll definitely work.
However, it will be differentif you had done the same exact
color on 100% wool.
(24:57):
So it'll come out just a littlebit different.
Brittany (25:02):
Do you know what I mean?
Yeah, I'm thinking maybelighter and it might be easier
to spot the wool versus theacrylic.
Ashley (25:11):
Yeah, it'd actually kind of be interesting.
Like now that I'm thinkingabout it, I'm like, huh, I
wonder how that would work out.
Brittany (25:17):
Yeah, well, we might have to give that a try just to
see what happens.
I do have some dye here.
But is there a fiber that'sgood for beginners or like a
wool that you would recommend oris it kind of all pretty much
the same?
Ashley (25:32):
Honestly, 100% superwash merino is definitely my, it's
my absolute favorite.
You know, you can get Highlandwools, I know, but they just
tend, they're not, they're notas soft.
I mean, I know that, I knowthat they're really good for
like knitting sweaters andthings like that.
(25:52):
But personally, you know, Ireally want something soft
against my skin.
So that's where, that's where Igo with the 100% superwash
merino.
Brittany (26:01):
Gotcha.
I'm 100% with you on that one.
I can do a sweater, like a lesssoft sweater if I knew I'm
going to have the long sleeveshirt on underneath it.
But I am a little bit of anitch-a-phobe for sure.
Oh,
Ashley (26:13):
I know.
And gosh, you know, you spendso much time creating something
and you want to make sure thatyou love it.
Brittany (26:20):
Yes, definitely.
And I think that's what's sogreat about this process,
because think about howwonderful it is to create
project a crochet thing likefrom a little ball of yarn or
multiple balls of yarn intosomething that you can wear or
that you can drape over you tokeep you warm on the couch that
process is I think what so manyof us are drawn to but this
(26:43):
takes it to the next level whenyou hand select your yarn when
you hand dye your yarn and thencreate it into a thing I just
feel like that's so much morethan than just the project
itself
Ashley (26:58):
Well, it's a totally different immersion into it.
You know, just that creativeprocess of, you know, we're all
makers and we love, weabsolutely love to crochet.
We love to knit, but, you know,to, to take it to that next
level, it, It is really, reallymagical.
There's nothing like it whenyou've been through that entire
(27:19):
process from beginning to endwhen it's drying and then you're
getting it all caked up andthen you're creating this
beautiful piece with it.
It is really something special.
Brittany (27:30):
Yeah, for sure.
Now let's talk a little bitabout dyes because that's
probably the next thing thatyou'll need.
Okay.
Do you have a recommendationfor where to get a hold of dyes?
Maybe what is easier to workwith that might be good for
somebody who's just startingout?
Ashley (27:48):
You know, it depends on whether or not you want to...
work with natural dyes orwhether you're up for trying
acid dyes.
I mean, they're totallydifferent worlds and you need
entirely different supplies,whether or not you're going to
be doing natural dyeing or aciddyeing.
So I use acid dyes and I go toDharmaTrading.com to get mine.
(28:11):
I use Dharma acid dyes almostexclusively.
They're amazing.
The saturation that they giveis just out of this world.
They're shipping, they're,they're entire company.
They've just been absolutelywonderful.
So Dharma Trading is where Iwould go for acid dyes.
And they do have a really,really great selection of
(28:32):
natural dyes as well.
I just haven't really gone thatroute myself.
Brittany (28:37):
Yeah.
Okay.
So the acid dyes, I'm sittinghere thinking and knowing what I
know from this first tank thatI dyed recently, I know you have
to have a mordant, which isreally just like an acid.
Right.
You can use vinegar.
There are a couple of otherthings.
When you use an acid dye, doesthat take the place of a
mordant?
So it kind of makes you haveone less supply you need?
(28:59):
Or do you still have to have
Ashley (29:01):
that?
No, absolutely.
I feel like I should justinvest in citric acid stock for
how much I buy.
I use citric acid.
And what that does is...
when you're getting ready todye yarn, you need to soak it.
So that's the first step aboveanything else.
You need to soak your yarn in,like you're saying, your
(29:25):
mordant.
So especially people who usenatural dyes, they like to use
vinegar.
And people who are using aciddyes, they use what is, it's
just food grade citric acid.
You find it all over in ourfoods.
So it's completely safe.
And what that does is it allowsthe fiber to open up and accept
the dye.
And the longer that you soakyour yarn, the better.
(29:49):
I mean, I'm even thinking rightnow, I've got a few tubs right
now where yarn has been soakingfor over a week at least.
Oh, wow, really?
Yeah, and citric acid,something that people don't
necessarily know about it isthat it's like a softener.
So you take something likesuperwash merino wool, which is
(30:12):
already soft in its own nature.
And then the longer that yougive it in that citric acid, the
softer it becomes.
It is just, it's magic,absolute magic.
So citric acid is where I'm atin regards to the mordant,
definitely.
Brittany (30:30):
Okay, all right.
Well, that's a good little tipthere.
I know with this kit that I wasusing, there was a lot less
soaking and so not having doneit before that's really
interesting to know that you cansoak it for a long like a
really long time and the longerthe better I'm wondering if
that's why I mean I'm sure it'spart of the reason why your yarn
(30:53):
is so vibrant and so prettyyeah
Ashley (30:57):
I mean and and I've I've tried to where I'm like oh my
gosh you know I'm kind of I'm ina rush.
I need to get these skeinssoaking, but I only have an hour
to let them soak.
There is a clear differencebetween just giving, you know,
yarn an hour to soak incomparison to a day in
comparison to three plus days.
(31:18):
And I've just learned thelonger, the better.
And the more time that I cangive and plan in advance, I
think the better that it turnsout and the less work that I
need to put into it because thatyarn is just, it is ready for
that color.
It's like, ooh, give it to me.
Yes.
Brittany (31:35):
Yeah.
Now, are there any cautionsthat you have to go through with
soaking the wool that long?
Because I know wool is reallyfinicky.
It doesn't like to be really...
you know, stirred or squeezedor anything like that.
Is there any precautionary tipsthat you might have with
handling it and soaking it thatlong?
Ashley (31:56):
Honestly, I haven't had any issues with it like at all.
I do know once it gets soakedin a tub, I don't mess with it.
I don't touch it.
Also a really, really good tipis to, when you get your bear
yarn, put a zip tie on it Sothat when you grab it out of,
you know, whether you're soakingit in a tub or in a bin or in a
(32:18):
bucket or whatever, it's notgoing to get tangled.
Because I mean, oh my gosh, Itell you what, you do not want
wet wool tangled up in a bunchof, you know, like 30 or 40.
So I always make sure to ziptie mine that way when I pull it
out of the water, I'm justgrabbing it by the zip tie and
I'm not messing with that skein.
(32:39):
You know what I mean?
Brittany (32:40):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So are you, soaking and dyeing,I'm guessing, in a big long
loop.
Like if you were to take a hankand unwind it, you're left with
a really long loop.
Is that how you're soaking itand dyeing it or do you do
something different?
Ashley (32:57):
Nope, that's exactly what I'm doing.
So once you unwind a hank andyou've got your one big loop,
that's when I attach the zip tieand that's how I soak it and
that's how I dye it.
And yeah, it stays, that ziptie stays on until after it's
dry.
Brittany (33:11):
Okay.
And just to clarify forsomebody listening, if you do
end up buying some yarn that'salready in a skein or a cake or
something like that, it reallyis a good practice, right?
To get it in this state whereyou have it in one big long
loop.
Do you have any tips for doingthat for somebody who doesn't
have a yarn swift?
You know, before I had aswift...
Ashley (33:34):
I use the back of a chair honestly I do too it's I I
think it's like the best trickbecause otherwise I just don't
know how you do it you'd havethis oh my gosh it would just be
a nightmare and I and I do haveto tell you before I figured
out the back of the chair trickthere was a point in time when I
had when I had an anchor yarnyou know that it was hand dyed
(33:57):
and I was like oh my gosh thisis just so special and I spent
you know like four hours tryingit was just trailing all over my
I'm like, oh my gosh, how do Ido this?
So yeah, the back of the chairtrick.
Brittany (34:10):
Yeah, the first time I bought a hank of yarn from a
local yarn shop, it was really,really early in the game.
And I had no clue of how thathank actually became a hank or
what it looks like when youundid it.
So I get this hank of yarnhome.
It was actually for mybirthday.
I went there on my birthday andI bought some Malabrigo.
(34:33):
I think it was, gosh, I don'tremember the name of it.
But anyways, it was so gorgeousand I wanted to make a hat out
of it so bad.
I get it home.
And I undo it and I'm like,what, what do I do here?
I had no idea.
So I had this big loop sort ofset out on the table and I'm
(34:53):
thinking, okay, I don't have aball winder or anything like
that because I was so new to it.
I didn't even know that existedreally.
And so I'm just rolling it in alittle ball, like on my fingers
and in my hands and just likewalking around this table,
trying to wind it into a ball.
And by the time I finally hadit, It didn't really get
(35:14):
tangled, but it wants to sort ofstick together a little bit.
So it kind of did get a littlemessy.
By the time I was done with it,I was like, I'm exhausted.
I don't feel like crochetinganymore.
It was not fun.
So yarn swifts, although it isan extra purchase and a yarn
ball winder, cause you kind ofhave to use the two of them
(35:34):
together are a good investment.
But if you can't make thatinvestment, ask the people at
the yarn store to put it in acake for you, because I didn't
know that, but they will do thatfor you.
Ashley (35:46):
Oh, they will.
And they have no problem, youknow, doing so.
So, and really, Really,honestly, your local yarn store,
even if it's something that youhand dye yourself and you still
don't have a swift and awinder, head down there and ask,
hey, I just hand dyed this forthe first time.
(36:06):
Can I use your winder?
They are more than happy tohelp.
you know, I'm sure of it.
Brittany (36:13):
Yeah, that's a good tip too.
Now I'm thinking here, I'm justtrying to think about the
process here.
So we have, we have the yarn,we've talked about dyes a little
bit.
We've talked about some of theprocess.
Is there anything else thatsomebody would need to know to
get into this?
Especially when it comes
Ashley (36:31):
to using acid dyes, it's very important when you use
acid dyes that you're usingstainless steel because So
you're using a stainless steelpot or a stainless steel
restaurant pan, stainless steelspoons, stainless steel
measuring utensils, and that thesurface that you're working on
is non-porous, which means thatit's going to repel that acid
(36:54):
dye should any of the dyes spillonto your work surface.
Acid dyes, they're notexactly...
safe to work with, shall I say.
You know, you want to make surethat you're wearing a mask so
that you're not inhaling any ofthe dyes into your lungs.
But it is just, it's soimportant.
(37:15):
I know I've seen before wherepeople will try and dye for the
first time and they're doing itin their crock pot.
And it's like, okay, well, holdon.
That's a really great idea.
Just make sure that you're notever going to like make chili in
it again.
Yeah.
You know, so they're not, youjust have to be very, very hyper
(37:35):
aware of your surface and whatthe acid dyes do touch.
Brittany (37:40):
Yeah.
I've heard that's a goodpractice for any type of dyeing
or any type of dye that youmight buy.
Just have a dedicated set ofsupplies, like maybe go to the
dollar store and buy a stainlesssteel pot and just stainless
steel spoon and that sort ofthing.
Oh, absolutely.
Yeah.
Definitely.
Yeah.
Okay.
So somebody getting into thismight be thinking, there's a few
(38:02):
things that I will need tohave.
So it has to be pretty wellworth it.
And I think if anybody wants totry it for the first time, they
would feel like they want to doit.
So it wouldn't be as much of arisk, we'll say, to invest in a
little bit of these things.
And I think you can probablyattest to this that When you do
(38:24):
it once, you want to do itagain.
So it's probably likely that itwill be a good investment and
that you will use these thingsagain.
I know that was certainly thecase for me.
I was a little hesitant to getrid of it.
I had an extra stainless steelpot.
I had a stainless steel spoon.
And I was still using that inthe kitchen.
(38:45):
But I thought, well, I guess Ican go ahead instead of going
out and buying something new,like just for this.
I just deemed those my yarndyeing stuff and it worked out
well because I do want to do itagain for sure.
Ashley (39:01):
Oh, absolutely.
Yeah.
So, I mean, just look aroundand see what you have and like
your suggestion of just likeheading over to the dollar store
and, you know, seeing what theyhave available.
I mean, you'd be surprised, youknow, how little of an
investment it would take just togive it a try.
Brittany (39:17):
How big of a pot do you think you need?
Now, I had a stock pot and Idon't know exactly how big it
was, but in a set of like fourstock pots, I think it was the
third size.
So it was pretty big.
I could probably put a lot ofyarn in there, but I don't think
it needs to be that big?
Ashley (39:32):
Yeah, I'm trying to think of mine.
I want to say mine are either14 or 16 quart stock pots.
But I mean, it depends onwhether or not you're using a
low water table or a high watertable.
Yeah, so you definitely don'tneed a really, really large
stock pot the first time.
(39:54):
I mean, it just kind of dependson your process and how you
want to give it a go yeah
Brittany (40:00):
now could you explain that a little bit what a low
water table versus a high watertable what that means such as
the amount of water that's inthe pot
Ashley (40:07):
yeah so a lot of my dyeing is being done using a low
water table which means thatI've got my yarn that's already
been soaked that's in the potwith probably anywhere between
it depends on the base and theweight of the yarn you know but
I've only got essentially liketwo skeins in the pot at a time
(40:28):
anywhere between maybe like onemore inch above where my yarn
is.
So that's a low water table.
A high water table would be towhere I am like fill on that pot
half full and I've only got thetwo skeins.
Okay.
Brittany (40:45):
That does.
That does.
Now, what is the difference inthe look of that when you have a
low water table?
And I think you probablyexplained this before, but just
to make it a little bit clearer,when you have a low water
table, it's more saturated?
Ashley (40:59):
Yes, it's going to be very, very highly saturated.
And then with a high watertable, it'll look totally
different.
It'll look totally different.
Even if you're using, if you'reputting the water in the same
area of the pot, if you're usingthe same exact dyes, it'll blow
your mind how different theyarn turns out.
Brittany (41:19):
Well, that's cool.
I want to experiment with thatnow, but I have to ask because
my absolute favorite kind ofhand dyed yarn, I love that
tonal look when it's all justone color but there are like
some really saturated points andthere are some really like
lighter parts to the same hang.
Yeah.
How does that, how do you dothat?
How do you get that look?
(41:40):
So
Ashley (41:41):
what's, what's super cool about that is it's super
easy.
I hope that dyers aren't goingto hate me because I'm just
telling y'all how to do it, butyou guys, it is so cool.
So what you do instead ofhaving your yarn sitting in your
pot and and then pouring dye ontop of your yarn.
This is where the zip tiesreally come in handy.
(42:01):
You're gonna grab that yarn bythe zip ties, pull it out of the
water, and you're gonna throwyour dye directly into the
water, swirl it around, makesure that it's all mixed up and
everything, and then you'regonna drop that yarn into the
pot Make sure that it totallygets saturated in that water and
(42:22):
then lift it up immediately,then throw it back in the water,
then lift it up again.
And you will watch that dyeadhere to that yarn almost
immediately.
And that's how you get a tonalcolorway.
Brittany (42:35):
Oh, wow.
That's really cool.
Well, thank you for sharingthat with me because that's
always sort of mystified me alittle bit.
I tried to do that with theHank that I dyed and it just did
not work.
There are sections where it's alittle bit more saturated.
I think just because I wasn'tdoing a great job with it but it
(42:56):
still looks pretty cool and ithink that's the bottom line
with dying of course a lot of itis experiments but i would
venture to say it's hard to becompletely disappointed with the
outcome of it would you saythat's true
Ashley (43:10):
Yeah.
I mean, unless it's a totalfail.
I mean, because trust me, I'vehad those too, where I've had
these ideas and I'm like, ooh,I'm going to try this.
And then I look at it and I'mlike, oh, wow.
Yeah, that didn't work.
But you learned from it.
So that's not time wasted.
Yeah.
And you figure out what worksand what doesn't.
And that all I think justhappens over time, you know, and
(43:33):
you've got to figure that outfor yourself.
I mean, there's no right orwrong way to do any of it,
really.
You just, you got to just seewhere it takes you.
you know
Brittany (43:44):
and I think it's with everything else in crochet and
knitting you get better the moreyou do it so maybe you try it
the first time and it's a totalwreck I'm sure when you try it
again you've learned somethingfrom that first instance and
it'll just get better from thereI mean think back to your first
project that you ever made yourstitches were like wobbly and
(44:04):
uneven and you probably had likeholes and tension was horrible
oh yeah right and now look atyour work today now granted you
might not...
die hundreds of hanks of yarn,but I'm sure you make subtle
improvements every single time.
And I would venture to say thata solid color is a really safe
(44:25):
first experiment.
It seems a lot harder to messup a single die and like be
disappointed with it because youcan see the color of the die.
The yarn pretty much looks thesame color I thought as the die
does.
And yeah, I mean, would you saythat's probably a Absolutely.
Ashley (44:46):
100%.
You're just not going to bedisappointed.
So if there are colors thatyou're drawn to naturally, you
know, maybe just invest in oneor two of those tones or shades
in regards to like your initialdyes that you purchase and
you'll be so happy.
Brittany (45:04):
Yeah.
Now, I wonder if there are anyresources available.
Let's say you buy a set of dyesthat has your main primary
colors.
Does it come with any type ofinstructions to help you mix
those together to get certaincolors?
Or is this something you haveto figure out on your own?
Ashley (45:26):
You know, I know that Dharma Trading, that's where I
get my acid dyes from.
I know that they have a starterset.
I'm pretty sure that it comeswith, of course, like the
primary colors and then like ablack and maybe a few others.
I think it comes with somecitric acid as well and like
(45:48):
very basic instructions.
But a lot of the instructionsfor acid dyes, I mean, even if
you just look on your littlepackage, it'll say, you know,
mix this much with two gallonsof water.
And a lot of the times, I mean,you're not dying that much
fiber when you're just trying itout.
(46:10):
So honestly, a lot of it, it'sjust going to be trial and
error.
Really?
Brittany (46:15):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And probably write down whatyou did so you can either
replicate it or not, notreplicate it the next time.
Oh
Ashley (46:23):
yeah.
There's, there's actually beena few times where I don't, I
don't know what happened, wheremy brain was or how I misplaced
my, oh my gosh, it was horriblewhere I've had such cool
colorways and I'm like, wait,did I not write that down?
Oh no.
Yeah.
So yeah, pretty much you wantto write everything down like it
was a recipe.
(46:44):
Like you were going to bake oryou were going to cook, write it
like a recipe.
Exactly how much you measuredand everything.
Everything that you canremember, write it down,
definitely.
Or else you'll never be able torecreate it again.
Brittany (46:58):
Yeah, yeah.
Don't trust your memory.
If you're anything like me,goodness gracious, I can't trust
my memory.
Me too.
Now I want to end on some, onthe side of, inspiration because
I know that you really drawinspiration from around you I
think that's part of how I'mable to recognize your yarn over
(47:18):
anybody else's in my Instagramfeed and I would love to just
tap into that a little bit helpsomebody try to figure out where
to find inspiration for theiryarn dyeing experiments and with
crochet projects because I knowyou're a designer as well and I
know you're probably drawingfrom different areas to help you
create those things so can Canyou walk me through sort of your
(47:41):
process from an idea toactually executing on that?
Ashley (47:47):
You know, I mean, obviously my business is Montana
Crochet.
So my inspiration comes fromMontana, where I live, where I
love.
I mean, I just, I love it here.
Born and raised, wouldn'tchange a thing.
It's so easy for me to findinspiration, whether it's from a
city, a mountain range, a lake,a stream, flowers, the prairie.
(48:12):
I mean, there's just so muchinspiration here.
So that's where I draw myinspiration from.
But when I'm feeling stuck, andI feel like this would probably
be a really good tip for yourlisteners, head to your closet.
Head to your closet and maybefind your five favorite pieces
(48:32):
that you just love to wear andlay them out on your bed and see
what they have in common.
See what pops out at you,whether that's a pattern, a
color, a texture.
and see what inspiration youcan draw from that.
Because essentially, excuse me,as makers and as creatives, We
(48:54):
want to wear our makes.
We want to be surrounded by ourmakes.
So your closet is a really,really good starting place if
you're not like me and you justimmerse yourself in nature.
Not everybody is into that kindof thing.
So the first place I would sayto go is to your closet, for
sure.
Brittany (49:12):
Yeah, I really love that tip.
And that's something that Istarted doing more of this year,
not for dyeing yarn, but for myprojects because...
The approach that I used toalways take is find whatever
yarn I thought was pretty at thetime.
I would stroll through the yarnaisle, find something that just
really jumped out at me or thatreally caught my attention, and
(49:35):
I would create a project withthat.
I would put the time into itand then realize I don't have
anything...
To wear.
And so I would go in and say,okay, these are the sweaters
(50:06):
that I really love to wear themost.
They're these colors.
When I make a scarf again, I'mgoing to try to use a yarn color
that coordinates with thissweater or better yet, two or
three sweaters in my closet so Ican wear it with just more than
one outfit.
Ashley (50:23):
Well, yeah.
And then all of a sudden yourmakes become these versatile
pieces and you find yourselfwearing them so much more often.
And people around you, too.
Well, I mean, that's the thing.
They're going to be like, oh mygosh, you made that?
Well, yes, I did.
Yeah.
Give yourself an excuse to wearyour makes, you know, and just
(50:46):
make sure that they're not justsitting in a closet somewhere.
You know, and just like yousaid, and how you used to just
go down, you know, the yarnaisle and pick out, oh my gosh,
this is gorgeous.
And then you realize you havenothing to wear with it because
you weren't centering Yeah, it'sreally
Brittany (51:10):
weird when you think about it.
I was always drawn to somethingcompletely off the wall when it
came to yarn, like reallybright, vibrant colors and stuff
like that.
And then when you look at mycloset, it is not at all like
that.
It's a lot more neutral.
I wear a lot of navy and taupeand gray are kind of like my
go-to colors, if you will.
(51:31):
Yeah.
And it works with some brightyarns, but it's just interesting
to think how a certain skein ofyarn can really catch your eye.
And it's not at all what wouldnormally catch your eye.
Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely.
Now, the other thing I wantedto tap into a little bit with
(51:52):
you, because I know you've donethis really, really well, and
this will help the makers in theaudience very much, not just
yarn dyers, but people who arealso selling goods, have blogs
or that sort of thing.
It feels like a very...
well, it's a very busycommunity, right?
I don't want to say it'soversaturated because I hate
that term.
It's not even true.
(52:12):
But there are a lot of peoplewho start blogs, who have
YouTube channels, who have Etsyshops and have all of those
things.
And it's really important tofind yourself in order to stand
out amongst all of the otherpeople.
I think the bottom line isthere is a place and a space for
(52:33):
everyone in this community.
Every single one.
Yes.
But I think we need to find ourpositioning, what we have to
inspire people with.
And I wonder if you have anytips for that.
Ashley (52:46):
You know, my biggest tip, and maybe it seems cliche
right now because I just hear itall the time, but you do you.
You have got to do you and quitthe comparison game, comparing
what you're making to what thisperson is making to what this
person is doing.
As long as you are doing whatmakes you happy and what
(53:10):
fulfills you as an artist, youare succeeding.
You're doing it right.
There is no right or wrong wayof being a maker.
The more genuine that you areand the more authentic that you
are, into what you're creating,the more that people are gonna
be drawn to that naturally.
People just love that.
Like just don't try and besomeone else, be you because you
(53:32):
are the only you that there isand people love it.
I mean, it might sound cliche,but I just think it's so, so
true.
Brittany (53:41):
I agree 100%.
You are the only one who can beyou and that's your positioning
in whatever niche you wanna getinto, whatever...
I love that.
Oh, I love that.
(54:20):
I'm actually going to writethat down like right now.
Yes, your vibe attracts yourtribe.
And I want to say that toanybody who feels like they need
to please everybody because itjust doesn't happen.
It's just not real.
Not everyone is going to loveyou.
Not everyone is going to lovewhat you do or the patterns you
create or the yarn that you dye.
(54:41):
But if you just do you, likeyou just said– What you do will
attract the people who love whatyou do.
Ashley (54:50):
Yeah, they will find you.
I mean, just being authenticand genuine, I think it's the
way to be.
And don't compare yourself toothers.
It doesn't serve you.
You know, I mean, my gosh, justdon't put your energy into
that.
Just, I mean, of all things,look at yourself as your biggest
competitor.
Do better than you didyesterday.
(55:11):
Do better than you did lastweek or last month or last year.
And as long as you're justcomparing yourself to yourself,
gosh, I just, I think there'snowhere else you can go but up.
Brittany (55:22):
Yes, I love that.
I think it's so important as abusiness owner or somebody who
has a side hustle or somebodywho's just trying to earn extra
vacation money or whatever itlooks like for you, record
everything.
Actually pay attention toeverything.
Whatever metric is importantfor what you're doing, be that
(55:44):
sales or page views or YouTubechannel views or that sort of
thing, record that and check inevery quarter and definitely
every year so that you'recomparing yourself to you.
And that way, like you said,you can go up from there.
You've got a baseline.
You know what you need to do toimprove and you have a target
(56:05):
because you have that numberwritten down and you know you
just need to beat that number.
I think that is the...
healthiest form of comparisonthat there is as a maker.
Absolutely.
The healthiest form.
I think you just hit the nailon the head, really.
Well, it's good to know that Iam not alone in that.
I feel very strongly aboutthat.
(56:25):
And it's difficult to do.
It's not easy to scroll throughand not question How you're
doing and that sort of thing.
I know for me, I really justtry to regulate who's in my
newsfeed or my Instagram feedand be surrounded by people who
make me feel good, who don'tmake me feel bad about what I'm
(56:49):
doing.
Ashley (56:50):
Oh, absolutely.
And your vibe attracts yourtribe.
Like exactly what you said, youknow, and, and surround
yourself with the people thatare going to lift you up.
Brittany (56:59):
Yeah.
Ashley (56:59):
And, and whether that's, you know, the people who are
close to you within the crochetcommunity, or just even people
that you follow, you know, makesure that that anytime you open
any form of social media orwhatever it is, that it's making
you happy.
You know, yeah, I think that'sjust so, so important.
Brittany (57:18):
It really is.
I wish I know who said that.
I heard it on another podcastsomewhere.
I don't know if that saying iscoined by anybody or if it's
just something that came about.
But if I find the source, Iwill include it in the show
notes or something because Ijust absolutely love that
saying.
Ashley (57:36):
Oh, it's wonderful.
I wrote it down.
I love it.
I just absolutely adore it.
It's perfection.
It really is.
Brittany (57:44):
Well, I'm glad I could share that with you today.
I'm also really, reallythankful for this conversation
today.
I know it's so much fun to talkabout something just slightly
different, sort of a sidestepfrom crochet and knitting.
So thank you so much forsharing so much wisdom about
yarn dyeing and being reallyopen and honest about some of
those methods.
It'll certainly help me assomebody who's just trying to do
(58:05):
it for fun I don't think you'llever see like yarn dyeing stuff
from me in the future, butmaybe through my Instagram
stories, my fails or mysuccesses when it comes to yarn
dyeing.
And certainly if I do dye myhands pink, like I did once
before, I will share that withyou.
Ashley (58:23):
Well, it has been an absolute pleasure.
I've been so happy to justvisit with you and share what
little wisdom I have with yourlisteners.
And it's just, it's just beenso much fun.
Brittany (58:33):
Well, I think it's so much more than what you
described there.
I know it's helped a lot ofpeople.
And I'm sure that somebodylistening has really made a
connection with you.
Where's a good place for themto go to connect with you after
listening today?
Ashley (58:46):
You know, honestly, head over to Instagram and look up
Montana Crochet.
That's pretty much where I livesocially anymore.
And then montanacrochet.com iswhere you can go and check out
my yarns at least once a month.
Brittany (59:03):
Yes, and they're beautiful.
If nothing else, go have a lookbecause it's gorgeous.
Hand-dyed yarn is somewhat of asplurge at some points.
Yes.
It is one of those purchases Iknow for me that is for a
special project.
I wouldn't just go buy handdyed yarn to play with or to do
(59:23):
just random projects with.
I like to be really, reallyintentional about it.
So if you're ever feeling likeyou need to have a special
project, maybe start with handdyed yarn and definitely check
out Ashley's shop and the stuffthat she has.
It's really beautiful.
Well, thank you so much,Brittany.
I really appreciate it.
All right, that was Ashley fromMontana Crochet.
(59:44):
Ashley, thank you so much todayfor sharing all of that with
us.
I can't wait to go dye anotherhank of yarn, play with a little
experiment, and maybe see if Ican get a really tonal look out
of some yarn that I can make ahat this fall.
So thank you so much for that.
If you want to connect withAshley after hearing today's
episode, Again, she likes tohang out on Instagram.
(01:00:05):
You can find her atmontana.crochet.
I'll have that in the shownotes, as well as a link to her
website if you do want to checkthat out.
And of course, those resourceswe talked about.
Now, the show notes, onceagain, are bhooked.com slash
139.
And the last thing I want tomention before I go is that
today's episode was brought toyou by my blueprint course,
(01:00:26):
Tunisian Crochet for Beginners.
Now, perhaps dyeing yarn isn'tan experiment you want to try
right now, but let's say you dowant to learn something new.
And if you haven't triedTunisian crochet, it's close
enough to the craft I think youprobably already love, but it's
just different enough to feellike you're learning something
new and you can do even morewith Tunisian crochet than you
(01:00:49):
can with regular crochet.
crochet.
If it's something you've neverheard of before, think about a
hybrid between crochet andknitting.
Honestly, what drew me toTunisian crochet in the first
place was because I heard thatyou could create stitches that
looked like knitting, but useyour crochet hook.
And that's exactly why I triedit because at the time I did not
(01:01:11):
know how to knit, but I really,really loved the look of it.
So Tunisian crochet forbeginners will walk you through
all the basics of Tunisiancrochet.
So if you've never triedTunisian before, this is a great
class for you.
If you already are familiarwith Tunisian crochet, it's
probably not the right thing foryou.
It was really designed to walksomebody through start to
(01:01:33):
finish.
So you get an idea of what itis and the types of tools that
you need to have in order to doit.
It's really just a differenttype of crochet hook.
And then I'll walk you throughyour first three projects all
wrapped up in that course.
So if you want to get moreinformation about Tunisian
crochet for beginners, just headover to behooked.com slash
(01:01:57):
TCFV.
That'll just redirect you toBlueprint's website where you
can see all the courseinformation and sign up there.
All right, that'll wrap up thisweek's episode of the Be Hooked
podcast.
Thank you so much for joiningme today.
I really, really appreciate it.
I'm so grateful for you.
I'm so grateful for all ofthose reviews.
This podcast has made it up toa five-star review and that just
(01:02:22):
warms my heart.
It makes me so incredibly happybecause I have only ever asked
for your honest rating And so Iknow that's an honest rating.
And gosh, that just means theworld to me to know that you
love what we're doing here onthe show.
And that fuels me through it.
So thank you so much.
And I'll see you next week.
(01:02:42):
Bye-bye.
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