It’s clear upon entering Nancy’s home that you are entering her home studio. She has all sorts of gorgeous skeins of yarn in all sorts of colors, merino wool, Lancaster wool mixed with banana fibers, and her personal favorite, alpaca. Alpaca wool is “so soft and satisfying to spin,” she said. She has several different weaving looms, a spinning wheel, and completed and current knitting projects on display. From Nancy’s description, one hobby has lead to another and her love of spinning morphed into a desire to dye her own yarn. Indigo dyeing and Kool-Aid dyeing were two examples that she had. Yes, you heard right, Kool-Aid. For those of us old enough to remember, “Oh, yeah!”
Watch this video below of how Nancy spins yarn. Warning: It’s mesmerizing!
Her passion for fibers started at the early age of 8 when her grandma taught her to knit, and her aunt taught her to crochet all in one week. Since that time she has enjoyed crocheting with thread. As an adult, she started to knit again. Then she discovered her love of spinning through a Community Education class where she “had a blast.” You could say this triggered her hobby for the next twenty-six plus years. She first rented and then bought a spinning wheel soon after the class. After she married Mike, he learned about her fiber hobbies, and now it is a passion they share together.
Her interest allows her to connect with many others who share her love for all things yarn. Nancy is a member of several area spinning groups. She meets with a group based out of Austin, Minnesota on a monthly basis. Yearly, she attends Shepherd’s Harvest, a sheep and wool festival, in Minnesota that takes place on Mother’s Day weekend. Nancy likes to add to her yarn stash from this festival.
Nancy retired this past April from a nursing career, and since then she is busier than ever. Besides planting a large garden, she continues working on all her projects. She and her husband entered their knitted works into area county fairs. In the Olmsted County Fair, she exhibited 18 different creations. She also is giving back to the community by teaching a beginning knitting class and a fiber dyeing with Kool-Aid class through the Rochester Community education classes this fall. So if you’d like to learn more about knitting and dyeing, you can sign up for one of her classes held at Homestead Arts Farm in Pine Island.
Most of her creations she either gifts or keeps for display. She doesn’t sell any of her works as she said, “there is no way to capture the cost each item takes.” Her love of the hobby and a desire to create beautiful things spurs her on to keep making.
