Hello my fiber friends!! It is that time of the week to shine a light on another super talented person. Today I would like to introduce you to Ingrid Reimers, owner of Caress Luxury Yarns. I met this lovely woman when I first started hunted for the super bulky, super thick yarn. I stumbled across her on Etsy and I am so very happy I did. I remember being impressed with her response time, whether that was answering my annoying questions or getting the product to me quickly. Between her yarn and my baby Giants a romance like no other was formed. Here is the first thing I created with her yarn, I call this Holy Cowl! I made 4 in a night and they all SOLD instantly!
I reached out and she was gracious enough to spend a bit of her time with me, Check it out!
Hi Gaye, I want to thank you for thinking of me for one of your Spotlights. Honestly, you were one of my motivators when I was just starting out at the mill trying to create new yarns and colors. Your energy is contagious! Between you and Go-Girl I felt like I had a team working with me.
So far Caress Luxury Yarns is on Facebook and Instagram for social media, as well as Etsy for sales www.etsy.com/shop/CaressLuxuryYarns
My yarn sales started in 1998 after shearing the first clip from the alpacas I purchased. It wasn’t much as the herd size was only 2! Over the 15 years that I had the privilege of raising alpacas I spent a lot of time working with the local fiber mills. Most of the yarns we offered then were natural colored alpaca in various weighs.
The years of experience breeding for fine fleece and working with the local fiber mills gave me a strong base of knowledge going into the next stage life… my own fiber mill. One of the mills I worked with decided they would sell their mill and train me. Having a seasoned mill owner available for training was so helpful. The learning curve for milling is quite large, so all the hands on training was beyond helpful.
Sadly I no longer own alpacas. We live in the city now, but I get my fiber fix at the mill. Alpacas are wonderful creatures and will always have a place in my heart.
To create the Chunky Stitch Merino we have an amazing supplier for our colored merino. Their dyed wools have fabulous vivid colors; much more consistent and deeper than we would be able to dye in-house. We take their high-end merino and blend the colors to produce our own yarns and colorways. The Chunky Stitch Alpaca colors depend on what we are able to find from our local alpaca breeders. Alpaca comes in 22 natural colors, and every shade in between. The alpaca yarns are often unique as each fleece has its own characteristics and colors.
I’ve always loved working with my hands. I learned to knit at age 6 and picked up some crochet about 10 years ago.
One of my biggest challenges has been learning about machinery and how to keep it running. I knew nothing about mechanics when I started the mill, but I’m getting there!
I get a great feeling of accomplishment working with new colors and coming up with something that just feels right. But, I must say that the biggest successes are the relationships that have formed with this new endeavor. It is very satisfying to have a customer share photos of a project they created with our yarns. The creativity out there is amazing.
So there she is, isn’t she just Awesome? Well let me show you some more pics of this beautiful yarn she sells. Make sure you go check her out and tell her GG sent you! 🙂
