A Merry Fluffy Christmas Spotlight- Laines Magnifiques

Welcome to our November spotlights on the wonderful people sponsoring Adventures in Green Living for the upcoming A Merry Fluffy Christmas! Please take a moment to read about each sponsor and visit their shop.

Hoot

Have I been very vocal about how much we love wool in the Crazy Green Home? Well, we do! And even if you haven't tried it before you're going to want to after checking out the dyeing talents of Nicole of Laines Magnifiques. I've often drooled (yes, drooled) over the fantastic colorways Nicole has dreamed up. Little Doggies in Quyon, Mirage, Eurobirds... I'll take 10 of each, please! Whether you want to knit up a hat for yourself, for the kids, or longies for a sweet cloth diapered babe, Laines Magnifiques has a colorway and base to suit your needs. In addition to being found on their own website, they also stock on one of my favorite congos via Hyenacart- Universal Mama. And of course Etsy!

Eurobirds knit up!

Go! Look! Drool! And let's get to know the sweet mama behind the beautiful colors:

When did you learn to dye and who taught you?

I learned how to dye yarn in the late winter/ early spring of 2007.  I'm basically self-taught, although the internet was a very good teacher on the basics of how to dye yarn.  I took a number of different styles of dyeing and created my own style that worked best for me.  However, that said, I am always reading new things about dyeing yarn, techniques and styles in order to keep things fresh and fun for me!

Atticus

Why do you create these items?

I started dyeing yarn because I really loved the look of hand-painted yarn and have always enjoyed crafting, knitting and colour, dyeing yarn was just the next step for me.

Where do you get your ideas?

I would say that most of my inspiration for colourways comes from my children.  I've dyed yarn on colour combinations my oldest son has suggested to me.  I've also used colours from their artwork to create a new colourway.  I also look to nature and my surroundings for colourway ideas and inspiration.  My family has a cottage in Northern Ontario where nature just takes over and the colours are amazing.  Some examples of colourways that were inspired from this area are TreeTops, Autumn Sunset, Grandma's Cottage and Haliburton.

Alice

What new items are you planning on adding to your shop?

I've been working on a lot of new dyeing techniques and am hoping to add them to the shop in 2011.  I'm also working on adding more luxury fibers such as silk/wool and cashmere blends. I've already started to implement this and plan to have a whole line of these yarns within the next year.  I'm also planning on offering more semi-solid colourways on my main website and some yarn clubs!

How long have you had your shop?

I've been on Hyena Cart and Etsy since 2007 but have moved to my own website www.lainesmagnifiques.com in 2008.  I mainly stock in stock yarns on my Etsy store and at Universal Mama (a congo on Hyena Cart) but am hoping to move solely to my webstore in 2011!

Do you have any other hobbies?

I love to knit and read, I'm also just getting into photography and am really enjoying it.  I would love to pursue photography on a professional level but need to learn more about it and take some classes first.

Little Doggie in Quyon knit up into newborn longies!

Would you like to share any info about your family?

I have 3 amazing children, Ryan is 7, Sarah is 4 and Benjamin is almost 7 months old.  I've been with my awesome husband for 19 years at Christmas and we've been married for 13 and 1/2 years.

Nicole has generously contributed a $30 gift certificate to use in one of her shops! Think of all the possibilities! Don't forget to check her out on facebook and her blog. There might be an extra entry or two come the event and it'll save you some time! Many thanks to Nicole for her support.