Tuesday on the YarnThing Podcast with Marly Bird: Miss Babs Ausherman of Miss Babs Hand Dyed Yarns and Fiber

In addition to all the awesome announcements for the great things coming from Marly (listen in below for all the details), Miss Babs joins Marly to talk about the company she started.

Babs comes from a very creative family; her siblings range from glassblowers to sculptors to potters (as well as an engineer for good measure). She herself is both a knitter and a crocheter.  She learned to knit from her mother, who also knit, and learned to crochet in her teens.  While she didn't knit and crochet for many years, she always did some kind of handwork like needlework with her mother.  She and her family moved to Tennessee and Babs was no longer working 60 hours a week so she took knitting back up.  After a while she started to spin which lead to dying the yarn.  She took a class learning about natural dying and started dying everything.  At this point, she had too much yarn for herself and started selling it at local shops.  In 2005, she stopped working as an adjunct at a local college and made the yarn dying her full time business.

The business really started going in part due to necessity.  Babs' husband became disabled in 2006 and Babs became the breadwinner for the family.  After a rough first few years and a lot of hard work, Miss Babs Hand Dyed Yarns and Fiber is the thriving business it is today.  Miss Babs started as a kitchen dying operation.  She took over the workshop area from her husband in around 2005 and they have recently expanded to double their space.

Now to talk about the yarns!  Miss Babs dyes and sells five yarn weights; lace, fingering, sport, DK, and worsted, and fiber.  Each yarn weight and fiber comes in several fiber contents including merino wool, alpaca, silk and bluefaced leicester wool.  And the best part is the colors!  Miss Babs does several repeatable monochromatic colors.  These are the same every time she dyes them.  Miss Babs also does what she calls Babettes.  Babettes are one-of-a-kind, unrepeatable color combinations that are different every time.  A few are somewhat repeatable in that she will use the same colors in a similar way to get a relatively repeatable result.  You can see just a taste below, go to the Miss Babs website to see every color available now!

Repeatable Plum                                        Uberraschung Babette

Naughty Fairy Babette

You can find Miss Babs on: their website MissBabs.com, Facebook, Ravelry, Twitter, and Pintrest.

And we can't forget the Giveaway!  Leave a comment below that includes Miss Babs' keyword for your chance to win!

Let’s give some love to our sponsors! 
XRX Books, Knitter’s Magazine, STITCHES Expos
Craftsy.com/yarnthing
Indian  Lake Artisans
Fiesta Yarns
Drew Emborsky
Love of Knitting and Love of Crochet
Bijou Basin Ranch

Frequently Asked Questions

How did Miss Babs get started with dyeing yarn?

So here's the thing… Babs started spinning yarn, which naturally led her to dyeing it! After taking a class on natural dyeing, she got hooked and started experimenting with all sorts of colors. When she had way too much yarn for herself, she started selling it locally, and it just grew from there!

What kinds of yarn weights does Miss Babs offer?

Honestly… Miss Babs has you covered with five different yarn weights! You can find her yarns in lace, fingering, sport, DK, and worsted weights, plus she offers fiber too. It's wonderful how many options there are for all sorts of projects!

Are Miss Babs's colors repeatable?

Yes! Miss Babs actually does two types of colors. She has some that she calls repeatable monochromatic colors, meaning they come out the same every time she dyes them. Then there are her “Babettes,” which are totally unique, one-of-a-kind color combinations that you can't replicate, though some are *somewhat* repeatable.

What fiber contents can I find in Miss Babs's yarns?

You're in luck because she works with a variety of lovely fibers! Her yarns come in merino wool, alpaca, silk, and Bluefaced Leicester wool. So many beautiful choices for whatever you're dreaming up!

Where can I find Miss Babs yarn or connect with her online?

Oh, you can find her all over the place! Check out her website at MissBabs.com, and you can also connect with her on Facebook, Ravelry, Twitter, and Pinterest. It's so fun to see all the gorgeous colors and projects!

Today, Jen Lucas joined Marly to talk about how she started knitting, designing, and her new book Sock-Yarn Shawls.  Don't miss their discussion about being a new designer and all that goes along with it.

Jen Lucas is a relatively new designer in the knitting scene.  She learned to knit just a few years ago after she graduated from college.  A friend gave her booklet and yarn and she basically taught herself from there.  Her first projects were, like a lot of new knitters, scarves.  She progressed from those first scarves to socks and then shawls.  After her first few patterns on Ravelry, she decided to propose a book to Martingale which eventually became Sock-Yarn Shawls.

The book has 15 shawl patterns all made with sock yarn.  The first section has simple triangular shawls that start with garter or stockinette stitch and end with lace borders.  The second section expands on the first with more complicated all-over lace. The last section goes beyond the triangular shape and explores other shapes.  You can get the book on Ravelry, Martingale, and Amazon.

You can find Jen on her website, Knitting Like Crazy, Facebook and Ravelry.  She has also done a few videos with DailyCraftTV, the first of which is up now.  Check out her How to Knit (a shawl from the book) video and keep a look out for more in the future.

And last but not least, the GIVEAWAY! Leave a comment below with today's keyword for your chance to win you own copy of Sock-Yarn Shawls!

Let’s give some love to our sponsors! 
XRX Books, Knitter’s Magazine, STITCHES Expos

Craftsy.com/yarnthing

Indian  Lake Artisans
Fiesta Yarns
Drew Emborsky
Love of Knitting and Love of Crochet
Bijou Basin Ranch