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fibre space

a yarn universe

Meet Ridgely Schantz, aka Astral Bath Yarns

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With a background in both science, studio art, and art history, it’s no wonder Ridgely found her way to dyeing yarn, and we are so glad that she did! She’s always been interested in painting, and you can see some of her works here. Unfortunately, paintings are hard to price, but dyeing yarn is a great alternative. She is fortunate to make this her full time job now out in Portland, Maine. I took a second to ask Ridgely some questions about her yarns and colors, so join me in learning a little about the newest addition to the fibre space hand dyer family!

Lesley: I hate to be cliche, but I always have to ask, what made you decide to start dyeing?

Ridgely: Last April I signed up for a one-day workshop at Portland Fiber Gallery. I was the only one who showed but they had it anyway. Picked up the basics, and the instructor pronounced me “unafraid of color”. Which is true, Went home, ordered some yarn, dye and a cheap stockpot and went to work.
Lesley: Truer words were never spoken, your colors are amazing! I can’t believe that you have only been dyeing for a year. So, where does the inspiration for your colors come from?
Ridgely: Happy accidents. Flowers. Pigments. Watching my cat. Paintings, Pretty much anything I can see is fair game. I’ve always painted and drawn, so translating observation into color and shape is second nature.
Lesley: I am suddenly inspired to go watch my cat…! I have to say, sometimes even more than a color, a great color name makes me want to take a yarn home, and your colors have some pretty unique names! How do you come up with them?
Ridgely: I read a bunch so there are references to mythology, fairy tales, medieval bestiaries, alchemy, science, history. Also, places I’ve lived, the ocean. Always the ocean. Flower names. Movies. Titles of my favorite books. The color is an abstraction of a story, so the trick is to find the right story or to invent a new one if I need to.
Lesley: Astral Bath is a great name too, where did that come from?
Ridgely: Long meandering evolution, but basically I was thinking about the intensive Ancient Egyptian embalming processes, where the spirit has left the body, so the body must be “put away” neatly in case it’s needed later. In my case, I’m preparing a body (yarn) to accept a new spirit (color). Plus, it was snappy. I could dance to it.
Lesley: That’s….amazing. So, you can’t dye all the time, can you? What is your favorite thing to knit, or are you interested in any other fibre art?
Ridgely: I’m a really slow knitter, but I enjoy triangular shawls. I like the weird math and involvement that knitted lace provides. Right now I have a triangular shawl and a Guernsey wrap on my needles. The shawl is going faster. I’d like to graduate to sweaters soon; I have a bad habit of already stashing sweater quantities.  For all those sweaters I’ve never knit.
Lesley: Sweaters are not so scary. Seeing all the sweater quantities pile up might be….! Thank you so much for sharing your inspiration with us, I can’t wait to start knitting with your yarns!

Just Landed!

Astraea and Astraea DK- limited edition: 432 yards (fingering $38) and 225 yards (DK $32) of 50% Falkland Merino and 50% silk. This is part of a limited edition run of Falkland merino from her mill and will not be available again. This yarn is GORGEOUS.

Vesper: 70% Superwash Bluefaced Leicester, 20% Silk and 10% Cashmere. OOH LA LA! This fingering weight is amazing. 438 yards per skein. ($45)