Spotlight Sunday featuring Birch Hollow Fibers

I haven’t done a spotlight in quite a while. I am super excited to shine my light on Robin, the dyer behind Birch Hollow Fibers. If you have been watching Vlogmas 2018 you have seen her fabulous yarns. She was kind enough to gift me some of her beautiful yarns, with hints of orange of course 🙂

The Spotlight

Robin was kind enough to answer a few questions for us, lets get into it

1. So tell me your story. What is your name? Where do you dye from?  I am Robin, and I am a dyer out of the Hudson Valley in New York.  I am not too far from Rhinebeck.
2. Ahh so getting to Rhinebeck is a breeze for you, nice! What is your craft of choice? Do you knit, crochet or both? Who taught you and how long have you been creating? I am a knitter. I am hoping to learn to crochet; that is on my never-ending to learn list. My mom is a knitter, and I kept asking her to make me scarves, or I would ask her for items she made. Both my mother and her friend taught me how to knit. It actually saved me in a way. I was going through a very tough time, had taken time off from school, and was just very lost. The act of creating, being able to see something through from beginning to end was very healing for me, still is. That was about 9 – 10 years ago, and I haven’t stopped. 
3. Oh we have similar stories. You have a company and you sell hand dyed yarn. How did that come about? How is it going? My husband is actually the reason I got into dyeing.  I had been looking for a rusty orange yarn to make a gift for a friend; she loves orange, but when I went looking for yarn, everyone seemed to have purchased all of the rusty orange yarn. It was at this point that my husband suggested I dye it myself.  At the time it seemed utterly insane, and I thought he was being ridiculous, but a long weekend later, and I fell in love with dyeing. It was also my husband who encouraged me to open up a shop, and see how things go. He has been very supportive, and I can’t really express how  much that means to me.                                                                                                                                                                      Things are going pretty well. I look at where I was last year, and I feel like each year I am doing better, growing more. This year I did my first show, and when I started I would have never imagined getting into a show, let alone people coming to my booth, and petting yarn. Everyone was so kind and encouraging.

4. Yay for growth!! Double yay for Hubby!! Do you have a studio? I don’t currently have a studio, but I have taken over a room in basement. This summer I am hoping to convert one of the out buildings we have into studio. 

5. What is your best selling color? There is a tie for best selling color-way: Ice Berg on sock and Sojourner on MCN DK.

6. What advice would you give someone looking to start a business in this field? My advice for someone wanting to get into this business would be to do your research, but go for it. I would tell them to be confident; if you like a color-way you dyed up, chances are that there is someone out there that will like it, if not love it. People say the market is saturated, but one of the beautiful things about this community is that we love our yarn. There is not such thing as too much yarn.

7. Amen to that last statement, too much yarn…whatever! LOL! How can my readers find you in this cyber world? 

I can be found on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/BirchHollowFibers

IG: https://www.instagram.com/birchhollowfibers/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/BirchHollowFibers/

Thank you Robin for taking the time to talk to me. Here’s to a yarn filled 2019

Knit on my fibers friends….knit on

GG