Crocheting with a Passion

So as you know I have been crocheting for many years now and I think it will always be my favorite method for working with yarn.  I have crocheted a variety of items from blankets to hats and scarves.  I have even made a few cute shirts and shawls as well.  My go to item is usually hats because my goal with them is ultimately to sell them.  It has never been too difficult to find someone willing to pay for one of my hats and I will even make them custom colors if asked.

My latest endeavor in the hat making department has been to make the yarn before I make the hat.  I have discovered that I enjoy spinning nearly as much as I enjoy crocheting (now that I can spin a even thickness yarn).  Spinning adds a whole new dimension to crocheting.  Now I can mix any colors I want in a single length of yarn which allows me to make thinner hats that are just as colorful (if not more so) than what I was making before.  I also like the fact that I can work with a wider variety of fibers than what I could find at the store which opens the door to all different types of textures for my work.

I generally like to use the softest materials I can find which usually means that I use alot of alpaca fiber in my work, but I am slowly discovering the wonderful world of fiber blends.  One of my new favorite blends to work with is a merino/ tussah mix which is basically sheep's wool blended with silk.  It spins up unbelievably soft and is easy to keep even when spinning, not to mention the shine that is present in the final product.  I like these blends because they also seem less itchy than the straight wool that most people seem bothered by.  I also like the wool or alpaca blends because they are so much warmer than most manufactured yarns.

I think in this day and age the natural theme in my products is a big selling point as people are starting to pull away from artificial materials in their lives.  I am learning more about using natural dyes and hope to become proficient in dying my own fiber using natural methods as well.  It is amazing what colors you can find in nature, though undyed fiber is beautiful in it's own right.