Inside Crochet June/July Issue 2

Feature
| INDY YARN PROFILE
has an active Ravelry group called Skein Queenery,
where members get together to have a laugh and a
joke and admire each other’s projects. Debbie also
sees plenty of her customers in person at her local
knitting group, Outcast.
Professional and personal
Debbie’s success hasn’t all been easy and there’s
been a lot of hard work and plenty of mistakes along
the way. She admits that one major, painful mistake
was when Skein Queen moved from Etsy to her own
website – the team spent a whole week building
a new site using Open Source software, but they
only used it for one update before realising it was
unfeasible and so they had to spend the next week
building a brand-new shop.
Nowadays, the business runs smoothly, aside from
Debbie’s dreaded trips to the Post Ofﬁ ce to post out
parcels and hold up the queue! On a personal level,
she’s still a keen knitter but has much less time for it,
especially since she recently took up spinning, too.
Debbie has a real passion for yarn, and an admirable,
if not excessive, stash. She admires many other indy
dyers, but her current favourite is Hedgehog Fibres
and their amazing colours, although she sometimes
feels guilty if she doesn’t use her own yarn, which
“
She has become very close to her customers,
most of whom are knitters but there are some
she knows is ridiculous.
crocheters – Debbie proudly states that some of
One of her most recent crochet obsession has
her yarn made it to the Hyperbolic Crochet Reef at
been with the Rhubarb scarf by Moonstitches,
the Hayward Gallery in London last year.
crocheted using a Catherine Wheel stitch. Debbie
was so keen on the design that she tracked down
the Japanese yarn that was used (from a shop in she introduced about six months ago, appropriately
Oregon, USA), bought a crochet stitch dictionary called Plump Plushness.
and a new set of crochet hooks, and set about trying One of Debbie’s unique talents is giving her yarns
to recreate her vision of beauty. In the end, she brilliant names, which she says comes from her
tried using her own cashmere/silk yarn, Wisp, and quirky mind. She rarely knows how she comes up
”
although she loved the colours, she just didn’t have with the names, which seem to miraculously come to
(Above)
the technical ability to ﬁ nish it, so unfortunately, it’s her during the dyeing process or when they’re drying
Some of Debbie's
now languishing at the bottom of a yarn bag. Haven’t on the rack. A few colourways have needed a bit of
yarn made its way
we all got projects like that?! research to ﬁ nd a name though, for example, if the
into the Hyperbolic
colours are similar to a bird’s plumage, she’ll look on
crochet reef.
The yarns the internet to discover which bird has that colouring.
It’s Debbie’s personal interest in yarn, plus her But she’s happy to take her time over naming.
(Below)
professional attitude, that have made Skein Queen With such a wonderful range of yarns behind her,
Debbie's Missoni-
such a success. Her company focuses on luxury Debbie plans to focus on doing more designing to
inspired baby blanket
yarns, although Debbie’s passion for yarns means support her yarns. She was recently overwhelmed
shows how beautiful
she can never resist trying a new one if she comes by the response to a Missoni-inspired baby blanket
her yarns really are..
across it, which is why you’ll often ﬁ nd guest she designed on Ravelry, so she’ll
yarns on her website. When it comes to new be devoting more time to making
yarns, inspiration can come to Debbie from almost samples so that customers can see
anywhere – vintage colours, birds, food, nature, how her yarns knit up. If her
fashion, interiors magazines, contemporary culture, designing talent is anything like
books, interesting word combinations, and places, her dyeing talent, we’re sure
especially India and China. they will be yarnelicious!
Debbie’s most popular yarn is Plushness, a blend
of lambswool, angora and cashmere that knits up Find out more about the
into a dense, cosy fabric. It’s proved so popular that Skein Queen at
Debbie's customers requested a larger skein, which www.skeinqueen.co.uk
52 | INSIDE Crochet
IC2.feat.indyyarns.FINAL.indd 52 13/5/09 11:59:09
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