My First Blog post! Welcome to Madrigal Yarns

Welcome to my Blog! My name is Eddie Knitster and I am a knitoholic.

I thought I’d start my story off with a joke about knitting, you know, to keep it light, and so I went onto Google and typed in “knitting jokes” where I was confronted with pages of memes. Most of these were cartoons that poked fun at the “tendency” (obsession) Knitters have for collecting yarn (in an over abundance) for their stash. I quickly felt at ease, and although I only chuckled at a few of these memes, it did make me feel that my addiction was not unique, and that I was in the fine company of The Fellowship of the Skein. (see what I did there, I made my own pun…) Better still, there’s even a whole book on knitting humour! (click image to go to link).

My reason for starting this blog is to support my small indie dyeing business @madrigalyarns. I started hand painting yarn a couple of years ago when I realised that the colours of knitting yarn that were available commercially were not always to my taste. After visiting Norway and spending hours in a small knitting shop there, I realised what was missing and it was COLOUR!

Sorting out some new colours for the store

Bright colours aren’t always to everyone’s taste, and I do believe they should be used carefully. Wearing hand painted yarns can be unbelievable in your wardrobe, and in this blog, I will be exploring the ways Madrigal Yarns can work into what’s in your wardrobe and on the shelves this season.

SO a bit about me. I am a young at heart chap, originating from Sydney Australia and now residing in the United Kingdom. I have been knitting my whole life, having been taught by my mother, and having had encouragement throughout my schooling years, at the local Rudolf Steiner School I attended. At this school, music, arts and crafts were a large part of our development, woven beautifully into our learning, allowing us to not only appreciate beauty in everyday encounters, but to have the skills and motivation to make and create and influence our habitats around us.

Included in this development was a deep appreciation for nature and the processes that shape our world. The ethics around the food we eat, the clothes we wear and our position in the world as consumers were concepts we explored as teenagers, and I believe this has shaped me as a person today, influencing how I live on a day to day basis.

The yarns that I source for my dyeing are produced from fleece that comes from ethical Merino studs in Australia. The Merino wool is from plain bodied Merino Sheep and farm processes are certified to the strictest of New Merino® and AWEX standards. More about all that later though…

The dyeing process is typical for an Indie Dyer. I dye in small batches of up to 20 at a time, and hold a small stock of most of the colours I sell here on my website. I DO dye to order and all it takes is to drop me a hello at knitmealife@yahoo.com and I will happily produce any of my colours specifically for your project. Alternatively, if you’d like to talk through ideas for your own bespoke colour, I’d be more than enthusiastic to bring your ideas to life.

For now though, I need to get back into the Dyeroom, because for Madrigal Yarns, March is