Ottawa Valley Fiber Arts

April '10 Canadian Fibre Box

So here it is, the last official monthly Canadian Fibre Box. What a riot these past 9 months have been. Thanks for being part of the Canadian Fibre Box! This month, we have an amazing indie dyer from out West, and another from close to me here in Gatineau (just across the Ottawa river). Both can be found on Etsy. Finally there is a sample of superwash BFL from a Canadian mill...we almost always think of merino for superwash, but who wouldn't want to be able to wash up a BFL project? If you like it, more can be ordered from OVFA.

Rocky Mountain Dyeworks

written by Hasmi Ferguson

 Rocky Mountain Dyeworks is a small dye studio located in Banff, Alberta, Canada. We are surrounded by forest, wild flowers, shale covered mountains, Grizzlies, Eagles, Elk and Deer -and lots of what the Elk and Deer leave behind. We love to work with textiles – yarns, fibres, silk scarves, rug hooking wool and quilting cotton. While we do not currently sell the rug hooking wool or the quilting cotton we may do so in the future. Our scarves, yarns and fibres are dyed with weak acid dyes (the acid being the citric acid or vinegar used to set the colour). In the future we will add natural plant dyed yarns and fibres to our line. Our Learn to Spin Kit came about due to disappointment with other kits on the market – they all offer neutral, undyed fibre to work with. We have found that as spinners, we have progressed faster with colour moving through our hands. It excites and encourages practice – who can resist spinning just a bit longer to see what happens as the colours change. Visit the Blog link for notes on the dye sessions.

About the Dye Artist

I am a fibre artist who started by making my own dowry! Born to immigrant parents who still believed in the old ways, I was encouraged from a young age to learn all “women’s work” and to create enough product to show off my skills as marriageable material. Although I argued I would only marry for love (and I finally did!) I didn’t give up working on my dowry. I learned to sew, knit, crochet (badly), cross stitch, do beadwork, quilt, etc. By the time I decided I’d rather buy my dowry, I was hooked on textile crafts. After trying many different textile genres and techniques, I found that my passion was creating colour. I have been dyeing since 2005 and selling my hand-dyed products since 2007. I have been a member of The Textile Museum since moving to Toronto to go to university, which was some time in the mid-80’s. -
You can visit Rocky Mountain Dyeworks on Etsy, here. The main site is still under construction, but you can find it here. I'm thrilled that we were able to sneak Hasmi in before the monthly boxes stopped!

Turtlepurl Yarns

Genevieve is local to my area and has a great eye for colour. She's also the creator of Charteze, which are portable magnet strips that will keep your place on a chart while you knit, crochet or cross-stitch. Her sock and lace yarns are in high demand, and she has an awesome range of colours. You can find her on Etsy, here.

Share your projects

Come join us on Ravelry at the Ottawa Valley Fiber Arts group, to share your projects and ideas! If you haven't joined Ravelry yet, it's free and an amazing resource for fibre fanatics.