Evie Phelps: Yarn Dyer?

I find it cliche to start my story this way, but there is so much truth to it that I have to. 2020, amiright? I had started the year thinking I would write patterns and craft little crocheted chickens for money. I thought that we would be going to markets, going to craft shows and selling all that we could. Until March. 

I remembered making a joke about COVID-19 that it would be like ebola, a large news flash and simmer down. Then the shortages started and there was a really surprising one: yarn.  Yarn imports were difficult to get and my local JoAnn store was running low. We went into full lockdown and I noticed that friends and family suddenly were knitters, crocheters and weavers. I started making videos of crafts you could do from home. They really helped me mentally process the first few months of lockdown.

A year later, we emerged with the 17-year cicadas. Lockdown had been hard on my mental health and I didn’t really want to crochet or knit for a living. I was tired and wanted to create in a different way. That’s when I started dyeing yarn. It was one of the last snows of the spring and I ran outside to snow dye some yarn. It sparked an excitement in me that I hadn’t felt in a while. It felt good to create yarn that inspires others to create. So using my chemistry minor and lots of wool, Evie’s Craft Room was born!