There are few things in life that I enjoy more than starting a new project with beautiful indie-dyed yarn. The yarn itself comes in a wide variety of luxurious fiber blends including, but not limited to, Merino wool, Suri Alpaca, Cashmere, and sparkly Stellina. Even though the feel of the yarn is often as soft as a cloud, what really draws us indie-dyed yarn-obsessed hookers in, are the dreamy, magical colorways these yarn artists come up with. Like any great artist, they start with an idea and a passion and the end result is beautiful. I have compiled a list of my top five favorite yarn dyers, and I assure you, this was no simple task. Go forth my fellow fiber fanatics, and your yarn stash can thank me later!
1.) Mace of Skeins
If you frequent the halls of YouTube searching for fiber casts as much as I do, surely you have happened upon Macy of Mace of Skeins. She is a Texas based indie dyer whose personality is as fun and bright as her yarn collections. Macy has taken the hand-dyed yarn world by the horns and has earned a loyal fan base. You can get to know Macy and her beautiful yarn in her monthly podcast on her YouTube channel which is also named Mace of Skeins. I find the way Macy keeps her shop fresh quite clever, as she is a one-woman show. Her yarn colors become available as seasonal collections. Each new season she busts on the scene with a new collection, based around a timely theme. Right now, her Peachy Beachy collection is available, and you do not want to miss this one! As of right now, you can find Mace of Skeins on Etsy, but soon she is opening her own website. I enthusiastically recommend following this seller on YouTube and Instagram because one of the most exciting things Mace of Skeins loyal customers look forward to is her holiday boxes. The holiday boxes usually include a 100g skein of her hand-dyed yarn in two different color themes, a candle, hand-picked stitch markers, and the highly coveted special-edition shop sticker. But, if you hope to catch one of these amazing boxes, you must act fast because they always sell out. If you find that you are as crazy about Mace of Skeins yarn as I am, you should consider subscribing to her on Patreon. As a member of the VIP level of Macy’s Patreon, I am lucky enough to receive monthly coupon codes, behind the scenes footage, and early access to her products as well as all the insider information I need to plan my purchases ahead of time to ensure that I don’t miss out. Oh, and if all of that wasn’t enough to seal the deal, she offers hand-dyed yarn in a brand new worsted weight base. Yes my fellow crocheters, it does exist.
The amazing Macy has been kind enough to offer my readers a coupon code for her shop. When you go to check out enter MOSCrochetLibra15 and you will get 15% off your order! Go forth my fellow crochet lovers, indulge in some hand-dyed yarn from Mace of Skeins, and make all of the beautiful things your heart can imagine.
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/MaceOfSkeinsYarn?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=984911160
2.) Jane Doe Yarn Co
One of the most exciting things as a dedicated supporter of small businesses is to find a well-kept secret, a hidden gem if you will. Well, that is exactly what happened when I made an impulse purchase of a couple of skeins of yarn from this indie dyer, recommended to me by Etsy. The yarn itself was seriously gorgeous. The colorway was called Twinkling Lights and it boasted the most amazing assortment of red, green, blue, and yellow speckles all over them. I mean, this yarn’s speckle game was on a whole new level! How could I resist? The yarn arrived really fast and when I took it out of the cute little decorative mailer, I fell in love all over again. This yarn was so soft! The packaging itself was adorable. This is one thing I absolutely love about shopping small business. There is never any doubt about how much you are appreciated as a customer because they take great care in the quality of the product, even down to the packaging! I am also happy to report that the shop owner of Jane Doe Yarn Co is super friendly, helpful, and highly talented! Kirsten, the colorful mastermind behind Jane Doe Yarn Co has some of the best color saturation I have ever seen. She finds this beautiful harmony between colors that you would not think to combine, and does it in a way that is all her own. You have to see the way she manipulates reds to elicit the exact emotion she is going for. For example, the way she pairs the red with the deep brown/black in her colorway Eat The Rude makes me want to blast some heavy metal and crochet a whole sweater in a day! And the crimson, fire red tons in her colorway Red Dragon, I can envision crocheting the most beautiful hooded cardigan just so that I can wear it while going for an early morning walk in the woods, while there is still dew on the grass. This is why we love hand-dyed yarn though, isn’t it? The colors and the fabric they make elicit such exciting inspiration for crafters and designers of both crochet and knit.
The lovely Kirsten, owner and artist of Jane Doe Yarn Co has offered us a coupon code!! Type CROCHETLIBRA into the coupon box at check out and you can save 15% on any of her ready-to-ship yarns through the end of August! Also, keep an eye out on Jane Doe Yarn Co’s shop, found on Etsy because Kirsten let me know that her fall collection will be dropping around the second week of August. This will be the perfect time to stock up or to get your sweater’s quantity of her delicious yarn!
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JaneDoeYarnCo
3.) Lillith Rose Fibers
This next shop stands out from the crowd because she is the only all-natural dyer on the list. The Lillith Rose Fibers yarn shop has the most beautiful natural dyed yarn I have ever seen. The colors are seriously impressive. They have a depth and vibrance that make it hard to believe that there are no chemicals used in the dyeing process. Before finding Lillith Rose Fibers, I pictured a lot of beige tones and maybe a very washed out pink or green here and there. That can not be further from the truth! Her colorways have a whimsical, magic forest feel to them. There are purples and teals and pinks and grays… really a huge variety to choose from. I used the colorway Electric Love to design my pattern for The Wanderer phone sock and it worked up in the most perfectly electric stripes ever! The yarn is a self-striping steel blue and lightning yellow (lightning yellow is a thing now and it is everything!). The bold, clean color change of this yarn just worked so perfectly for this simple little introductory lesson in learning to crochet from measurements. If you have not made The Wanderer phone bag, grab a skein of this fabulous yarn and get started right away. The shop owner, Bri is wonderfully helpful and friendly. And I can’t believe how fast her yarn ships. Within days I have fabulously fluffy happy mail waiting for me in my mailbox every time I order from Lillith Rose Fibers. I recently snagged a skein of Motley Drama and Knit Me Up With That Bi Stitch, both in her 100% Baby Alpaca sport. Listen! If you ever wondered how a cloud feels, I think this is it. Silky, fluffy, fuzzy, so soft it almost pours out of your hand. Seriously, treat yourself to some of this yarn. If you need someone to enable you, consider yourself enabled! You will not regret this purchase. One of the cool things about ordering from Lillith Rose Fibers is that Bri includes a really cute stitch marker and a handwritten thank you note with your purchase. I really do look forward to finding the special little treasure hidden in my hank of yarn. And the sentiment of a personalized thank you note can not be met. I will keep you all updated on the shawl that I have lined up for this beautiful yarn. Hint, it may be a spider web meets crochet lace vibe ( think Halloweb shawl by Amanda Mannas).
If you were thinking that you would like to join me in crocheting your very own Halloweb shawl, or anything else for that matter, hop over to Lillith Rose Fibers on Etsy and enjoy 10% off with this generously offered coupon code COZYCROCHET. I happen to know that the sweet dyer behind this amazing yarn (who is a talented knitter) is looking forward to seeing your beautiful crochet projects worked up in her yarn. Who else is up for a game of show and tell?
https://www.etsy.com/shop/LilithRoseFibers
4.) Misfit Yarns
The next indie dyer is one whose yarns are super fun, in your face, unafraid to go all out colorways. I am especially fond of the different themed collections Misfit Yarns has to offer. I am collecting the Star Trek Next Generation collection, and I only have a couple more characters to purchase. Another of her collections, the 80s mixed tape set, is really everything good that came from 80s music, starring exciting colorways such as Materials Girl and Hungry Like the Wolf. Most Misfit Yarns colorways feature bright neon colors, mixed to perfection that make you want to crochet all summer long, at the beach, while drinking a fruity drink with an umbrella on top! They make you feel young again and carefree while you are stitching up the most amazing shawls and socks and garments… oh my!! I must say that I am looking forward to completing the Star Trek collection so that I can grab up a few hanks of the Girl Gang. Those neon pinks and yellow are calling my name! If you are planning to crochet a gift for a little girl or a teenager, you should start your yarn shopping at Misfit Yarns. You guys! The twist on this yarn is really something to behold! High twist wool like this would work perfectly for crocheting socks. It will be durable and will naturally allow for a little more stretch. (Check out J. Hook Crochet on Etsy to pick up a new crochet sock pattern!) I seriously can’t think of anything more fun than some hot pink and neon yellow crochet socks. So, my fellow crochet creatures, if you are looking for a change from the same old drab pastels that lurk on the shelves of your local big box store, do your hook a favor and switch it up with a wild and crazy colorway or 2 (or 12, I won’t judge) from Misfit Yarns.
You should know what the second paragraph means by now. You guessed it! The amazing dyer behind Misfit Yarn has been so kind enough to offer us a discount code for her shop! Type LIBRA5 into the coupon code bar to save $5.00 on your next order from her website. I personally recommend you start a collection of your own. It has been really fun collecting the characters that make up the Star Trek collection..
5.) Trilogy Yarns
The last indie dyer on my list today is actually the first dyer I ever bought yarn from. I kept seeing yarn from this shop on all the different fibercasts that I frequently binge, I mean watch on YouTube, such as Needles At The Ready and Ross on Smells Like Yarn, and decided I had to get some, just to try. Well, friends, that was all she wrote. I dove headfirst into hand-dyed yarn and I never looked back. I remember pulling up the Trilogy Yarn website and crying my eyes out after reading her origin story (highly recommend). I browsed through her huge inventory and carefully made my selections. Trilogy Yarn is like my LYS. I am down here in the muggy swampland that Americans call Florida. There are no Little Yarn Shops anywhere near me, so I have adopted Trilogy Yarns as my LYS. Her inventory is reliable and she offers a huge variety of colorways. She has a lot of calm, muted tones in the most beautiful honey browns and avocado greens you can imagine with colors like Whiskey and Little Nugget and Leaky Pipes, all the way to bright pinks and neons like Llamas in Drag and I love You Because. Nancy is famous for her consistently great monthly surprise yarn boxes. She usually has several options to choose from. She is currently running 4 different yarn clubs- Happy Hour, Pride and Prejudice, The Princess Bride, and Discovery of Witches. When you are shopping on her site, make sure to stop by the Discontinued Items section. Nancy often lists colorways that are discontinuing here for a discounted price. Also, if you are in the market for abeautiful tonal, you have got to check out her Crayola line. There is an impressive amount of colors available to choose from. I like to grab a contrasting color from the Crayola line to use with one of her speckled or variagated colorways, as the colors usually contrast or compliment each other quite perfectly. So, if you are a displaced crocheter, like me, who does not have an LYS to call home, you can share mine! Just don’t forget to read the About Me section of her homepage. It really adds to the preciousness of this shop.
OK gang. There you have it. The top 5 indie dyers that have me hooked. I hope that I have properly motivated you all to go buy some luxurious hand-dyed yarn. You will absolutely want to stock your stash because the next blog post just so happens to be the Top 5 Modern Crochet Designers That Have Me Hooked. You are going to want to be ready for these patterns!