name: Rebecca Shepler
business name: Dusty Tree Soap
website(s): Dusty Tree Soap

What kind of items do you make?
Handcrafted in small batches – all natural – cold processed – vegan – unscented SOAP!

How long have you been in indie artist?
I’ve knit for as long as I can remember, but honestly this is my first craft show and I am so excited to be a part of it. Even though I’m the odd one out with a non-fiber related business – soap. The fiber community is such a warm (pun intended) and welcome host…thanks for letting me be a part of it.

What got you interested in your art of choice?
I’ve always been drawn to the idea of soap making and once I got over my fear of working with lye my soaping took off quickly.

What do you most enjoy about what you do?
It really is just soap, but each one is so different and unique. I love being able to chose the oils, herbs and styling techniques and create such different bars.

What most inspires you?
My kids and their imagination, friends and family.

What makes your creations unique?
No two bars can ever be exactly the same so it is always so much fun to experiment. The first cut on every soap loaf is my favorite moment…the ‘Oh, what is it going to look like..”

Do you have a favorite item or colorway?
I love my Chocolate Mint Soap. All of my soaps are unscented but I love the smell and look of this one the most…such a contrast between dark and light with the beautiful swirls.

What is something you strive to offer the fiber arts community?
I want to get them squeaky clean with gentle vegan soap.

Does being an indie fiber artist affect other aspects of your life?
I’m a knitter, so all of my family and friends know to expect yarny goodness gifts from me for most celebrations. So yes, everyone is warm in my wooly gifts…oh, and their skin is clean and healthy with my soap.

How is the fiber arts world different for you today than it was five years ago?
Fiber is everywhere; people’s perceptions have been changed. What an inspiration…..I love it!

name: Stephanie
business name: SpaceCadet Creations
website(s): spacecadetcreations.com

What kind of items do you make?
I hand-dye yarn for knitters, crocheters, and fiber artists

How long have you been in indie artist?
I distinctly remember waking up in my parents’ house on a Thanksgiving morning when I was 19 years old, lying there looking up at the ceiling and thinking, “I want to learn to knit”. No one I knew knew how to knit — even my mother had forgotten how to cast on — so I had to go to the library and get a book and teach myself. After that, I learned to spin, weave, felt, and finally dye. And even though I love all the fiber arts, it’s been dyeing that really felt the most exciting and freeing to me.

What do you most enjoy about what you do?
I love the solitude, when it’s just me and the yarn and the dyepots, and something magical happens. And love the camaraderie when I get together with knitters, crocheters, and other dyers at shows, and we share our love of colour and fiber! I love that my job has both those aspects, and both feed my creativity.

What is something you strive to offer the fiber arts community?
I love collaborating with other fiber artists — working with designers, with other dyers, with shops, and with knitters and crocheters. I honestly feel that the more we work together, the bigger this community grows and the more people we can introduce to that quiet peacefulness that comes from working with yarn and your hands. It blows my mind that most people haven’t had that experience, and I really want to be a part of spreading that as far and wide as we can.

Does being an indie fiber artist affect other aspects of your life?
Yes, being involved in the fiber arts is so central to my life that it’s really impossible for any part of my life to not be touched by it. There’s yarn all over my house, yarn all in my mind. And I wouldn’t have it any other way!

name: Ana Brito
business name: Wren & Rita
website(s): Wren & Rita & facebook page

What kind of items do you make?
I sew just about anything, such as pouches to store all those miscellaneous knitting gadgets, needle rolls, circular organizers, small draw string project bags, tote bags, large project bags.

How long have you been in indie artist?
I’ve been an indie artist for many years but my business was created during the summer of 2009

What got you interested in your art of choice?
Yarn is my passion and I’m a knitter at heart but I just never had much interest in designing items since everyone else does it so well. I’ve been interested in sewing for many years but was always “scared” of the machine. One day, after moving to Pittsburgh in 2005, an idea for a circular needle organizer popped in my head and the rest is history.

What do you most enjoy about what you do?
Knowing that I’m creating items that are useful as well as appealing to the eye.

What most inspires you?
All my crafty friends.

What makes your creations unique?
Face it, I haven’t invented the wheel but my items are well thought out and well made. I take great pride in creating pieces that you will use for many years.

Do you have a favorite item or colorway?
Typically, it depends on the time of the years, but I love my earthy tones and colors.

What is something you strive to offer the fiber arts community?
Organization! Don’t you want to know where those size 7 needles are rather than buying another set?

Does being an indie fiber artist affect other aspects of your life?
I’m much more aware of where I buy things. I believe in supporting local artists and local shops whenever possible.

What is your fiber arts superpower?
Project monogomy!

How is the fiber arts world different for you today than it was five years ago?
I continue to work on my spinning technique and have fallen in love with my turkish spindle.

name: Jennifer Gallentine
business name: Willow Mist Acres Farm Boutique
website(s): Willow Mist Acres

What kind of items do you make?
Hand spun traditional and artisan yarns, hand painted tops, art batts, wet felted scarves, Woven triangle scarves, crocheted hats from hand dyed, hand spun, goat milk soap, lavender sachets, felted soaps, crocheted handspun, hand dyed scarves, art yarn hair bands, fiber jewelry, felted wool dryer balls

How long have you been in indie artist?
2 years

What got you interested in your art of choice?
We started an alpaca farm, with the intention of me focusing primarily on the fiber aspect of farming.

What do you most enjoy about what you do?
I like freedom that it gives me to express my creativity, and the ability to work at home, surrounded by our critters and be able to be a stay at home mom to our 2 year old daughter.

What most inspires you?
the vivid colors in nature, the ones that are so vibrant that they almost don’t seem natural…

What makes your creations unique?
My choices of color, textures, and lots of sparkle!

Do you have a favorite item or colorway?
I am really favoring jewel tones at the moment

What is something you strive to offer the fiber arts community?
I strive to make fiber, batts and yarn that make fellow fiberistas SQUEE! I love to share my techniques, I am all about educating when at all possible. Everybody does things their own way, and I am here to help.

Does being an indie fiber artist affect other aspects of your life?
It helps keep me relatively sane!! I don’t need anxiety meds, I need to spin and create!! :-)

What is your fiber arts superpower?
perfect, consistently even, corespun singles, I am a freak about that.

How is the fiber arts world different for you today than it was five years ago?
When I first started, I only wanted to use natural, 100% alpaca. Today, that alpaca is being blended with recycled prison uniforms and plastic bottles along with silk, yak and camel. I love the mix of textures that each fiber adds and how each fiber out there takes color in a different way. I just took my original mode of thinking and went gang-busters.

name: Cosette Cornelius-Bates
business name: CosyKnits (literally) aka cosymakes
website(s): cosymakes and the shop

What kind of items do you make?
I dye 6 lines of semi-solid wool and wool/mohair yarns, hand dyed falkland top for spinners, and I write patterns. I also have a book – Knit One, Embellish Too.

How long have you been in indie artist?
I started making art hats 6 years ago! And shortly thereafter started an etsy shop and a blog about my thesis. It has morphed into what I do now.

What got you interested in your art of choice?
I started knitting after college. When I moved to go to graduate school, the yarn shop near my house offered spinning and dyeing lessons. It went downhill (or uphill) from there. I have an undergraduate degree in art, so color, texture, history and so many things make knitting, spinning, dyeing and designing pleasing and deep to me.

What is something you strive to offer the fiber arts community?
Besides offering the things I make up and dye up, I am also attempting to offer a space for more community – both through cosymakes studio and through Indie Knit and Spin.

Does being an indie fiber artist affect other aspects of your life?
Right now it means I can work around my husband’s schedule and my baby’s schedule and still keep my business even thought I’m no longer doing it full time. In short, it’s an awesome job for me as a young mama.

What is your fiber arts superpower?
I wind balls by hand at the speed of light.
I encourage and empower others to do fiber arts.
I have never failed at teaching someone to knit. We’ll see how long that lasts ;)

Artist: Eileen Hotham

What kind of items do you make?
I make glass beads and use the finished beads in stitch markers (I also knit!)

What got you interested in your art of choice?
I saw a demonstration of glass bead making at an arts fair and was fascinated.
I took a class in Glass bead making at the Pittsburgh Glass Center and was hooked.

What do you most enjoy about what you do?
I love making things and I especially love making beautiful things.

Do you have a favorite item or colorway?
I love all color, but I keep going back to purples and blues. I’m also very fond of iridescents and metallics (shiny!)

What is something you strive to offer the fiber arts community?
One of a kind stitch markers (can be used as pendants!)

What is your fiber arts superpower?
Even though I’m not doing fiber for this show, I will say that I am very good picking the right yarn for a project.

name: Laurel McWilliams
business name: SpinningFates
website(s): Shop

What kind of items do you make?
I hand dye semi solid and self striping yarn

How long have you been in indie artist?
Since the January of 2011

What got you interested in your art of choice?
I love to knit, and was having a hard time find the colors I wanted, so I decided to try and dye some myself. I enjoy the process, and fell in love with the end result.

What do you most enjoy about what you do?
Seeing an idea transform into reality.

What most inspires you?
Anything! Books, movies, things my kids say/do, a fallen leaf on the road!

name: Jane Koburger
business name: Splashdoodles
website(s): Etsy shop coming soon

What kind of items do you make?
I have made so many things in my life as I have that need to create and be creative. Since recently moving to Pittsburgh the thriving fiber arts community here has really been an inspiration to me. I grew up in a family of knitters so I come by my interest honestly. All this local, glorious hand spun and hand dyed yarn is just too yummy! Always having a fascination for bags and boxes, I started creating them to keep all my projects in. It is so much fun I am expanding into all kinds of bags and carryalls as well as fiber arts related tools and toys.

How long have you been in indie artist?
Ever since I can remember!

What got you interested in your art of choice?
my need for fun, interesting and exciting place for all my projects

What do you most enjoy about what you do?
I love color and playing with color. And I love the process of taking fabrics, materials, and trims and putting them together in a fun, creative yet very useful way. My bags are not just colorful and fun but really fill a purpose.

What most inspires you?
Color. My greatest inspiration comes from seeing color in nature. Having spent 33 years in SE Florida with a love of the ocean and the flora and fauna there, I am very in tune to nature’s palette.

What makes your creations unique?
the way I put color and fibers together makes each unique piece

Do you have a favorite item or colorway?
the blues and greens of the ocean

What is something you strive to offer the fiber arts community?
a creation that fiber artists can appreciate in the use and care of their projects

Does being an indie fiber artist affect other aspects of your life?
Yes. As it is my creative outlet, I am happier in everything I do.

What is your fiber arts superpower?
nature

How is the fiber arts world different for you today than it was five years ago?
For me, I find it to be thriving and more available to the general public.

name: Jess Pflueger
business name: Fiddlehead Fibers
website(s): Fiddlehead Fibers Shop

What kind of items do you make?
Washed wool locks/fleece

What got you interested in your art of choice?
I’ve been an avid knitter for a while…knitting led to spinning; and spinning eventually led to working with wool right off the sheep.

What do you most enjoy about what you do?
I really enjoy the opportunity to work with the wools from different breeds of sheep. Each fleece is a new adventure.

What makes your creations unique?
The wool I offer is in a “raw” (but washed) state – the lock structure is retained. So you can still get the experience of working with a specific breed’s wool in its raw form without having to get an entire fleece or having to do the dirty job of washing and sorting the fleece.

What is something you strive to offer the fiber arts community?
The opportunity to use wool from different breeds of sheep in its “raw” state. There are so many different textures and natural colors available from breed-specific wool.

Artist: Maggie Broderick
Website: Burgh Baby Gear Shop

What kind of items do you make?
Hand-painted and hand-dyed yarns, hand-knitted wool diaper covers, my book “Knitting Wool Diaper Covers from Start to Finish,” and kits for learning to knit and dye.

How long have you been in indie artist? Since 2006

What got you interested in your art of choice?
I’ve been crafting all of my life, mostly with yarn and fabric. My grandmother and aunt taught me to knit and crochet when I was a young child, but I became completely obsessed with knitting around the time I became pregnant with my first child. Now that I’m a mother to three daughters, I’ve combined my love of fiber arts with my love of my family and the environment by starting my own business related to wool diaper covers and yarn dyeing.

What do you most enjoy about what you do?
I love combining color, texture, and style into something that I’ve created completely by hand.

What most inspires you? My children :)

Does being an indie fiber artist affect other aspects of your life?
I consider myself foremost as a teacher in all aspects of my life. I have a Ph.D. in Education, and have loved teaching others for as long as I can remember. Teaching is a part of my parenting, my career (outside of being a fiber artist), and my work as a fiber artist. It gives me great joy showing others how to do the things that I enjoy doing and seeing the looks of pride on their faces when they learn something new.

What is your fiber arts superpower?
Teaching others to knit and dye

How is the fiber arts world different for you today than it was five years ago?
I’m so excited to see the Indie fiber arts scene opening up so beautifully in Pittsburgh. Five years ago all of my sales were online, but now I get to meet many more of my customers in person.