Featured Creator- SpazSpun

Here is my next featured creator SpazSpun.  She creates yarns that are out of this world.  I loved that I had a lot of fun while looking through her shop.  I realized that she had to be my next feature!  Have fun reading her responses, and check out her shop at http://www.spazspun.etsy.com

How did you get into spinning yarn? Did you have a healthy crochet or knitting obsession beforehand?
I came to hand spinning through the back door, you might say. One day I was at the bookstore looking over the quilt books, and I saw a little tome about Hand spinning your dog’s hair. I thought it was interesting and glanced through it, set it back, and promptly forgot about it.
Fast forward a few years. It’s spring, my lab/chow mix is shedding her winter coat. I’m desperately trying to brush as much of it out as I can. And then, I remember that book. So now -I’m on a mission. I get on the internet, learn how to make a drop spindle with a CD and a dowel, and suddenly, I’m grossing out my kids with the dog’s hair in yarn form! After brushing the poor dog to near baldness, I set out on a quest to find the “normal” spinning fibers. I got involved with my local hand spinning guild where I met my fiber pimp. It was also there that I learned you should start spinning with wool, NOT dog hair, and then work your way up to other fibers. Really? Oh. Well. I’ve never done anything in a normal fashion before. Why start now? It was there at the spinning guild where I was christened “the Spaz” for my fearless attack on anything that had spinning potential. 

It was then that i realized i should learn how to knit.....


You get wool from sheep around your community. I think that makes your yarn special- you have a relationship with people around you, and that fuels your wool supply. How did this come about?
Most of my fiber “pimps” I met through the local spinning guild. There are actually quite a few people around here growing all kinds of different sheep fibers. I can get just about any fiber I want to locally. Others I’ve found just by being out and letting people know what I do. I was at dog school with my puppy earlier this spring, and my trainer mentioned that she had a friend with some sheep that needed to be sheared. A few emails later, I had 3 gorgeous fleeces in the trunk of my car. My therapist has alpaca.... I’m working on getting my grubby little hands on those fleeces...

Do you ever hear back from people telling you what they made with your yarns? Any specific memorable stories?
Sometimes I hear back, sometimes I don’t. It’s cool to follow up with other etsy sellers that have bought my yarn or rovings and see a finished product in their shops. I had a customer that would send me her dog’s hair (akita) every few months, and I would spin it up and send it back to her. She was making a shawl with it, and I like to think about that. One day, that dog will no longer be with her, but I had a hand in providing her with something that she will always remember him by, and something that she will always cherish.

What color of yarn sells the best?
All colors!! Not really one over the other. If I spun and dyed based on what I thought might sell, I’d never get anything made! I dye what I like, and hope that somebody else will like it as well. You never know what‘s going to grab a customer’s eye, so you just have to make what you love. At least, that’s what I do....