Hello,

My name is Tegan, and I am an indie dyer and lover of all the fiber arts.

I started out my long journey in the world of fiber as a kid when my mom taught me counted cross stitch, embroidery, and crochet.

When I first learned to crochet, I could only do the chain stitch, but I was so proud of myself anyway. I used to see how long I could make the chain, then rip it out and start again. My mom probably had to show me a hundred times how to do the second row before it stuck with me. Now I crochet all kinds of things from cute little ornaments to intricate shawls and blankets.

I also had my first introduction to spinning as a kid at the Orleans County 4H fair. There was a woman who was spinning alpaca and she had what I felt at the time was the biggest spinning wheel. I was much smaller then and I don’t really remember if her wheel was that big or if I was just that small. She gave me some wool and she did the treadling while I drafted the wool and made yarn. It was an experience that changed me and for a long time it was a memory that felt like it came from a fantasy.

In high school, my mom and I decided we wanted to learn how to knit. I didn’t know it at the time, but learning to knit played a huge role in setting me on the path to becoming a hand spinner. When I graduated from college, I moved to Cleveland, Ohio for a job. While I was there, I found a small yarn shop that had a knitting group and decided to join. It was in that shop that I saw, for the first time, a spinning wheel for sale.

I didn’t start out with a spinning wheel. At the time that was out of my budget. Instead, I bought a drop spindle (top whirl) and a 4 oz braid of wool. I watched some YouTube videos and got myself spinning, with much difficulty, but once I got started, I couldn’t stop. A few days later I was back at the shop inquiring about more wool.

Not long after I had learned to spin, a woman at the shop told me they had just gotten in a 5 lbs. ball of wool combed top, all natural white, and asked if I wanted to buy any. I bought the whole thing and took it home like a kid taking 5 lbs. of candy home from a candy store.

Since I had 5lbs of white wool, I decided to try my hand at dyeing. I took some of the wool home and made a little dye party out of it with my family. I had heard of “hand painted” wool so I got some different size paint brushes and tried to paint my wool. I’m sure you can guess how that turned out (I’ll give you a hint, it wasn’t pretty). Luckily, I had also researched other methods of dying the wool and had some squirt bottles on hand. That method went much better, and I had several braids of lovely space dyed wool.

Since then, I have learned more about the processing of fiber and taught myself how to use hand cards, a drum carder, hand combs, and a blending board to process fiber. I have also continued my skills in embroidery and cross stitch with felt applique making ornaments, coasters, and placemats with fine stitch work. I have taken weaving classes and learned how to use pin looms and table looms. And lastly, I have branched out into the world of felting taking classes for both needle felting and wet felting. I still have a long journey ahead of me in the fiber arts, and I will love every minute of it.