88 In side Cr och et

RACHEL’S TOP 3

HAND-DYED

All abou tRACH EL

N ATUR AL M ATER IALS

Cr aftin g star ted ear ly for Rach el Mou tr ie,

lear n in g h ow to m ake bobbin lace wh ile sat

on h er m oth er ’s kn ee. “I took u p kn ittin g

again wh en I was at u n iver sity an d I h aven ’t

stopped sin ce,” sh e says. Rach el discover ed

cr och et later , wh en sh e, h er h usban d Mike

an d th eir two ch ildr en m oved an d sh e join ed a

cr aft gr ou p in Newbur y. “Th at’s wh er e I lear n t

th e little cr och et I can m an age th an ks to som e

patien t fr ien ds,” sh e laugh s. “Th e gr ou p is also

wh er e I lear n t to spin an d th at was wh en I got

in ter ested in th e yar n at a deeper level.”

After a car eer in softwar e en gin eer in g,

wh en sh e was r eady to r etu r n to wor k after

h avin g ch ildr en , Rach el star ted to wor k for

Debbie Or r at Skein Qu een in J an u ar y 20 18.

“I fell in love with th e job. I loved th e ways

th e colou r ways tell th eir own stor ies an d

th ey n ever tu r n out iden tical.” In Apr il 20 19,

Rach el took over th e Skein Queen br an d.

Wh en it com es to cr eative in spir ation ,

Rach el is a self-con fessed scien ce n er d, wh o

com pleted a geosien ce degr ee in h er spar e

tim e. “I h ave a love of n atu r e an d th e plan et

so m y yar n colou r ways ar e often in spir ed by

n atu r al th in gs – fr om r ocks to wildlife.”

s k e i n q u e e n y a r n s. c o. u k , @ s k e i n q u e e n

We use acid dyes to dye our yarn so we only dye protein fi bres, which are those that

com e fr om an im als, bu t th er e is plen ty of ch oice and we ten d to pr efer u n u su al an d

soft fi bres.

We stock a lot of bases featu r in g cash m er e or silk for special pr ojects an d we also

have some proper woolly yarns that are spun especially for us. As well as diff erent

fi bres we have yarns that are

suited to diff erent types of

pr ojects fr om sin gles to h igh

twist yar n s th at m ake good

socks am on gst oth er th in gs.

Ou r m ost r ecen t n ew yar n

base th at I’m com pletely in

love with is a DK ver sion of

m y favou r ite yar n Flockly. It’s

a Blu e-Faced Leicester , silk

an d cash m er e blen d th at is so

deliciou s I can ’t stop squ ish in g

it! Th e BFL is Br itish an d h as a

lovely com bin ation of str en gth

an d dr ape. I’m a big fan!

exper

ts

WE CHAT WITH FANTASTIC HAND-DYER RACHEL MOUTRIE OF SKEIN

QUEEN ABOUT A COMPLETE CAREER CHANGE, AND THE JOYS OF

SPINNING, BEING A SCIENCE NERD, AND WORKING WITH SPECKLES.

➻I’ve picked three of my favourite colourways – Fairy Dust (left), Speckled Tanager

(right) and Snow Fields (back). I really enjoy dyeing these three, and Snowfi elds and

Fairy Dust were two of the fi rst colourways I learnt. I’m obsessed with bright green at the

moment so Speckled Tanager is defi nitely a favourite.

I also love the way the speckles work up. I’ve been knitting and crocheting squares in

the repeatable colourways to show what they look like in a fi nished piece and I eventually

hope to make a blanket to take with us to shows. Working with the speckles always

makes me happy when you get that stitch that’s a bright pop of colour. Maybe when I’ve

completed the squares I’ll make socks – that would be fabulous to have bright happy

socks and they would keep my feet warm when I’m dyeing.

RACHEL

MOUTRIE