I created Blue Barn Fiber Arts in my last year of college at the University of Idaho in 2013, where I was studying microbiology and environmental science. My studies (and also my ADHD hyper-fixation on things that interest me) led me to learning how to spin and dye yarn and fiber, process raw fleece, knit, crochet, weave, and needle felt. I am a life long artist in many different mediums, and this business is extra special to me because I get to paint colors onto yarn every single day (often with an actual paint brush). It's not what I thought I would end up doing for a living, but it was meant to be, as working in a lab never would have worked with our daughter.
I am a huge plant lover with a frog obsession, and my favorite colors are turquoise and blue-violet. You might see those colors in my yarn rather frequently, though I try to mix it up a much as I can. I love most music, but especially Sleep Token, Twenty One Pilots, and Taylor Swift. Our family believes that Black Lives Matter, and we also support the LGBTQIA+ community, which I am also a part of. I love to collect rocks, crystals, and seashells, and my favorite smell (besides my daughter's head) is the smell of the forest when you walk through it. I call that smell "forest fairies."
As a huge animal lover, I am very careful to only select yarn that comes from cruelty free sources. Wool is good for the environment (very important to me as a former environment scientist major), and most of the yarn that I dye has been Superwash treated so it's very easy to care for. I have very sensitive skin, so I only work with very soft yarn.
In 2019, Dan (also known as "Chef") and I became parents of an amazing tiny human named Mirabelle, who we call "Miss." Mirabelle has a rare condition called Dup15q, which means that she has an extra copy of part of her 15th chromosome. This caused a severe developmental delay, and she is non-verbal and is very different from other kids. She's the most amazing little person in the whole world, and we cherish her exactly as she is, though of course our life looks very different from other families and we have daily struggles. Thankfully, working from home allows me to stay with her all the time, which is essential. She has multiple seizures a day, and we can't send her to school with her high needs and medical issues.
Every order that you place directly impacts her life and helps us make it better.
