Feature
| INDY YARN PROFILE
INDY YARN PROFILE:
SKEIN
Queen
Inside Crochet heads to Berkshire to
meet Debbie Orr, otherwise known as
the Skein Queen…
hen Debbie Orr first considered a lot of time online, keeping up with customers via
W
setting up a shop on Etsy, Ravelry, Facebook and Twitter. She also joined the
selling her gorgeous skeins of local Spinners, Dyers and Weavers’ Guild, which
yarn, there were a few raised offers a wealth of experience and knowledge, and
eyebrows, not least from her husband. He soon she’s attended a couple of small shows, which she
came around to the idea when her first skein of found incredible, making lots of friends who share a
cashmere/silk was snapped up within 24 hours, passion for yarn and fi bre.
by an American customer. Two years and many Last summer, the family converted the garage
more sales later, Debbie’s company, Skein into a workshop, which Debbie admits she couldn’t
Queen, is still growing in popularity and her survive without now. Although, she confesses that it’s
husband has been very supportive, helping with already feeling too small for her and she needs more
the website and the accounts. storage for the new range of Lotus Yarns’ cashmere
Debbie has been a keen knitter since childhood, and bamboo that she’s now selling.
taught by her mum when she was just four years old. Debbie just adores getting out into her workshop
It wasn’t until she was around ten that she learned to to splash about with different colours and yarn bases
crochet, from a kooky nun who was a teacher in her and it seems that her customers can’t get enough of
primary school. In her class, Debbie loved making her yarn either. She has become very close to her
a scrapbook of swatches of all the major crochet customers, most of whom are knitters but there are
stitches, and took great pride in a luminous pink some crocheters – Debbie proudly states that some
shoe-bag, made in double crochet! of her yarn made it to the Hyperbolic Crochet Reef at
Many years later, Debbie happened upon an the Hayward Gallery in London last year.
”
article on Kool-Aid dyeing by Debbie Tomkies in For Debbie, one of the best bits about her job is
a knitting magazine, and decided to give it a try on seeing what customers create with the yarn, so she
»
some rough merino yarn found on eBay. She fell
in love immediately and was bitten by the bug!
Doing something that involved texture and colour,
Debbie was in her element. It took her three months
Debbie’s most popular yarn is
of searching on the internet to fi nd a supplier of
Plushness, a blend of lambswool,
cashmere and silk, with whom she’s built up an
angora and cashmere that knits
excellent relationship. Debbie then progressed onto
professional dyes and went on a dyeing course to
up into a dense, cosy fabric. It’s
ensure she was using the correct methods.
proved so popular that customers
Sharing success
requested a larger skein, which
Debbie now works seven days a week, fi tting
she introduced about six months
the business around family life and her part-time
ago, called Plump Plushness…
job, which she plans to give up in the summer to
concentrate on Skein Queen full time. She spends
50 | INSIDE Crochet
”
IC2.feat.indyyarns.FINAL.indd 50 13/5/09 11:58:09
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