As it’s March, it’s time for March Meet The Maker! On Instagram, Joanna Hawker runs a challenge using #MarchMeetTheMaker to post every day in March. I’ve decided to not only post across social media using these prompts, I thought I’d expand on the ideas for the blog!
Day 1’s prompt is “Brand Origin”.
I thought for this prompt that it’d be fun to do a little collage of some of Bluebell Yarns’ early work. First we have the wonderful picture of bluebells my dad took, which I’ve used as the base of my branding since the beginning. I initially used it to create my first logo before my sister-in-law created my current one. If I need to leave a note in an order I use cards with this photograph.
The socks in the middle top are the first time I dyed and used my own yarn. They were knitted in 2014 for the Sock Madness competition, and I decided I’d try out dyeing with food colouring for the brighter stripes. I wasn’t even in my own house as my husband (then boyfriend) and I were dog sitting for his family. I bought a single skein of some 50/50 Wool/Nylon sock yarn from the local yarn shop. It was a very pale blue with darker areas, hence the darker bits in the dyed yarn! I separated it into mini-skeins and dyed it in the microwave.
In 2014 we moved into our own house (we were sharing with a friend previously) and during the next year or so I practiced dyeing with acid dyes. By the middle of 2015 I was more practiced with dyeing and happy with the results so I released my first yarn Advent Calendar. There were only a few people doing them at that point. I think I only made 8, but I’ve done a calendar every year since!
The green skein in the middle is one of the first skeins I dyed to sell, not just for personal use.
The 2016 skein is one of the first variegated yarns I dyed, and I was really happy with it! I have no idea how I did it as I hadn’t learned to write down every recipe at that point (and still haven’t, sometimes!)
The skein from 2018 shows how far I progressed in a couple of years. I believe this colourway was called Watercolour Scene and it was quite popular!
So that’s the brand origin of Bluebell Yarns! Make sure to check back tomorrow as I’ll be posting every week day!