bts: at dragonfly fibers

Behind the Scenes again! I'm just going to warn you, many distracting yarn photos follow.  I was at Dragonfly Fibers studio in Maryland last month, for the loveliest of jobs, helping them set up a permanent photo studio at their workshop and business.

Kate and Nancye make stunning yarn which, distractingly, was everywhere in their headquarters. My head was swiveling around like an owl's the whole day oooh oooh ooooh.

Their yarn is  gorgeously dyed on beautiful bases, with brilliant and subtle colors.  So their photos need to be reliably lit and consistent, to share the goodness online. I love love love consulting jobs like this, where I can apply my little slice of nerdy-photo- knowhow with talented people.  It's mindboggling to look at all the parts to running a successful yarn business.

There's sourcing and ordering miles and miles of naked yarn--and then winding it into dye-able skeins. 

And of course the logistics of dyeing and drying  large quantities, and reproducing great colors time after time.  That blue with black in it, in the photo above this one,  just kills me. 

Then it all has to be patted and  twisted and tagged before it goes out into the world. Which seems like no big deal when you've just got ten skeins in a basket.  Scale that up to hundreds and hundreds of skeins...and there's a whole lotta twisting going on.

It's the organizational side that would kill me, personally. (That and choosing names for the yarns, which Kate has amongst her super powers). So many laundry baskets and storage bins ready to roll. Obvs prepping for Rhinebeck NY Sheep & Wool is going to require many many many bins.

Dragonfly Fibers doesn't have a retail shop at their studios but there is an area that is set up store-like, if you happen to be by on a studio visit. That's their colorway Beaches, which stopped me in my tracks.  Though I didn't bring those home with me, you'll be glad to know I didn't leave empty handed,. And I managed to control my chronic indecisiveness by choosing one skein and asking Kate to choose a second for me.  I'll share it in another post. Oh, ok... spoiler: my beauties are Low Tide and Poseidon, which tickles the mermaid in me no end.

A very very good version of  Christmas ? 

I swear this was just sitting around. Love love love love love.  We used their yarn in a couple of projects in our book , and I've since knit my favorite hat from Drop Dead Easy Knits, my Sidekick in their yarn.  Dragonfly Fibers yarn is stocked in many shops, and of course they sell online,  but if you happen to be at  festivals  this season...definitely stop by. 
PS. They are killing it with the new photo studio we set up, as seen on Instagram yesterday. When they launch a new website, prepare to be wowed!

finding models to pose for you

Follow my blog with Bloglovin(a quick post till I catch up with myself!)

Steph, a professional model I adore working with.

I was interviewed by Abby Glassenberg for her Craft Industry Alliance blog, about finding and working with models. It's a really good helpful piece.. As is Abby's newsletter, helpful and interesting. If you own or are considering having any kind of a small handmade/crafty related business, you want to subscribe. (it pops up when you follow that link to her blog).
FYI Steph , above, is wearing  the Tobay Top from the Tahki Sea Breezes collection.

Josephine, a real person model I also truly adore.  

FYI Josephine is wearing  Holland, a fab sweater design from Maureen Clark of Green Mountain Spinnery. Rav linked from pattern name

I hope you find the article useful-or at least interesting! It's kind of fun to know the details of other peoples' work, even if you have no need to hire a model evah. 
I should be back in this space soon with lots of swoon-y sheep and lamb photos from the Nash Island shearing earlier this month, and blab and other yarn-related  goodness I have been up to. Like,... um, knitting.