hello dear friends!
i've read and reread (and reread) your beautiful comments on my
leaves of grass shawl post, you are so kind, thank you so very much. i wanted to let you know that no harm came to the shawl when i
gingerly placed it over the barbed wire fence for photos, even if there were breath holding moments! (there were understandable comments and emails, how could you!?)
on to the giveaway! jackie of
luna grey fiber arts, has generously offered one skein of her hand dyed merino wool to one lucky winner. jackie is a very talented and creative mother of two young boys, if you haven't yet met her let me introduce this lovely knitting mama...
Tell me a little about yourself
I am a midwestern girl who dreamed of living in Key West, Florida after a trip there as a teen. As fate would have it...Just out of college, I moved from Nebraska to the Keys for a job with Nature Conservancy doing rare plant monitoring and prescribed burning on two small preserves. I eventually married my husband there, bought a house and had a baby. After our son was born, we realized that we were much too far from our families. We decided to move to Colorado where my husband's parents had recently settled. We have always loved the mountains - skiing, hiking, camping, fishing were passions we both shared as kids. The move meant that we were now able to afford for me to stay home with our son. I have since had another son and I have been lucky enough to be home with him as well. While I love being so present in my kids' lives, the long days of childcare often left me frazzled. Enter knitting. I picked up the book, "Stitch and Bitch" on a whim at a bookstore. I bought myself a cheap pair of aluminum needles and some discount wool yarn. I read that book from cover to cover more times than I care to admit. And, just like that...I was a knitter! Knitting became my sanity break at the end of each day. It didn't really matter what I was working on. The rhythmic click of my needles and the soft yarn in my hands magically calmed my nerves and soothed my mind. I was hooked!
Tell me about Luna Grey Fiber Arts
After several years of knitting with cheap yarn, I discovered an adorable little hole-in-the-wall yarn shop here in Grand Junction, Colorado owned by a young, hipster mom. She had a passion for yarn that was contagious and a shop filled with awe inspiring colors and textures. I loved all of the hand dyed yarn, especially Malabrigo. Her shop opened up a whole new world for me and really solidified my passion for the craft. I began attending fiber festivals each summer and eventually picked up a couple jars of dye at the Wool Market in Taos, New Mexico. I had so much fun combining colors on different yarn bases. My first attempts at dyeing were pretty dismal. But, I caught on relatively quickly. My yarn started getting attention at my weekly knitting group and I was encouraged to start selling my yarn. Everything sort of took off from there.
What's been the hardest part about starting a small business?
You hear a lot about start-up home business owners struggling with time management. I must say that I fully understand this now. My primary job remains mother to my two young boys. Their school and social schedules often mean that I have had to get creative in finding time to work on my shop. My eight year old is in school Monday through Thursday. And, my four-year-old attends a Pre-Kindergarten program four mornings a week. Those mornings go so quickly! But, I manage to get the majority of my dyeing, packaging, shipping and marketing done during that time. I have found that weekends can be tricky as I must balance time spent together as a family with time dyeing yarn and completing custom orders.
What do you love most about running your shop?
Where do I start? I love seeing photos of the things that people have created with my yarn. While I am primarily a knitter, my customers are talented weavers, crocheters, and mixed media artists. I also love that my yarn is making it's way around the world! I have customers in Alaska, France, Canada, Germany, and Australia! I love that pattern designers have been inspired by my yarn to create beautiful knitting patterns. Mostly, I love connecting with other fiber artists. While being an at-home mom can be isolating. My shop has allowed me to create lasting friendships with my customers and women whose blogs I sponsor.
(all photos courtesy of luna grey fiber arts)
thank you for sharing jackie, it is so interesting to learn about the person behind the creative work, very impressive. your story is inspiring and your wool, beautiful (and her
shop, oh my)
jackie has offered to giveaway one skein of her thick and thin merino wool, "Titan" in the colorway, "Tidepool", she said 'It's been a great seller and is really fun to work with'. to win just leave a comment on this post and a name will be chosen in one week, next thursday february 14th. the winner will be posted here so remember to check back!
she has also included a coupon code that will give you 15% off your entire order at
luna grey fiber arts, good through the end of the month 2-28-13. just enter WoolLuv15. thank you so much jackie! good luck everyone and happy knitting!
