I'm back!

What's happening with Neblina Wool in the new year

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Leer en español aquí.

My main goal for Neblina Wool in 2025 is for it to still exist. I miss dyeing yarn, I especially miss going to shows, I miss writing this newsletter and having projects and learning to share.

But I love being a mom. I was reluctant, before getting pregnant, knowing how completely a baby would change my life, but I always knew if I did it that I would want to spend most of my time with the baby, prioritizing that above work and hobbies, and that’s what I’ve been doing while Neblina Wool has been on pause since last July. Every day I have ideas of things I would like to do, and on some days I do some of those things and on some days I do almost nothing besides hold my baby, feed my baby, play with my baby.

Making time for dyeing has felt daunting. I truly enjoy and cherish this time with my baby, this is not really a complaint I have about motherhood, I love being with my baby even as I miss having time for other things, but if I’m not with my baby there is my day job (I started teaching English classes again in November), there is laundry and cleaning, or even just eating or sleeping or taking a shower… all of these feel like they should be a higher priority than dyeing. But this is important to me, and so as the new year began I decided that I just need to prioritize it higher than other things sometimes. I really do love natural dyeing, and having my tiny business.

With the new year I resolved to just start, to dye SOMETHING. A small project, to make it easy for myself. I lost my freezer stash of flowers when we moved and I don’t have the time or the ability to forage like I used to, so I set myself up for an easy win by purchasing extracts. I haven’t really used extracts since I first started learning, so it feels like going back to basics. I got some baby clothes to dye: a small project, minimal mess, for personal use so no need to uphold the standards required for something to sell, if I make a mistake the baby will outgrow it in a few months anyway. Simple, low stakes. Then at the last second I decided I should try making discharge paste and mordant paste and try painting on fabric first the first time. At least reading up on new techniques is something I can do while my baby naps.

Hanging to dry after applying discharge paste. It’s just barely visible when painting but basically invisible once it dries.

Despite my extremely amateur painting skills I’m pleased with my results. I made a discharge paste with citric acid and guar gum and then an iron paste with ferrous sulfate and guar gum. I followed the procedure in the Dogwood Dyer tutorials (here and here) exactly so I’m not going to share the recipe here. I highly recommend the tutorials, they contain all the information you need to get good results. I used the only paintbrushes I had which were watercolor brushes, and they worked fine but I’m interested in trying different application materials to see if I could get more precise results. Some of the imprecision comes from hurrying to finish before returning to baby care, and so I’m fine with the imperfection, since this is how I fit natural dyeing in my life at this stage.

Logwood with discharge paste, madder with discharge paste, weld with discharge paste overdyed with madder, logwood with discharge paste and iron paste.

I used logwood extract, madder extract, and weld extract. The orange romper was dyed with weld, and when yellow and white turned out to be not enough contrast to see the design, I overdyed with madder and got this orangey golden color. I love how the designs turned pink, it’s kind of eye-searing, but in an appealing way. The designs might fade since the paste discharges the mordant, or maybe they’ll stay around just long enough for my baby to outgrow these clothes anyway.

I have no idea what this year will hold, how much I’ll share on social media (I’m even less enthused than usual about sharing on Meta platforms), how often I’ll send a newsletter, how much yarn I can dye, if I’ll be able to do any shows… but for now I’m back and I will be doing my best to keep Neblina Wool going.

News

Here’s where things are now:

I still have some yarn in stock. The website is not up to date so if you’d like to see what’s available you can reply to this email or message me on Instagram.

I’m working on new silk scarves! They should be ready within a couple weeks. It’ll take a little longer to have a yarn update but it’s definitely in my plans.

Sneak peak of silk in a madder dye bath

I’m not sure yet if I’ll be at Expo Teje or any other shows this year. I love doing shows but it’s logistically complicated now. Neblina Wool has always been just me, but being away from my baby for an entire weekend isn’t possible yet, so to do any shows I would need an assistant and a place to stay in Santiago, plus a car rental since I can’t bring all my yarn and a baby on the bus, and to be honest I don’t know if I could absorb those additional costs and still make a profit. If attending shows isn’t feasible this year, I’ll probably still send some yarn with La nube, but I would really like to go so I don’t want to rule it out yet!

Even if I don’t do any shows this year, I know this stage is temporary. I can already see how fast my baby is growing and changing, and I’m enjoying her so much that I know the most important thing to me is to be present with her in this time that will seem so short when I look back on it someday. If not this year, I’ll be back at shows someday. And I’m still dyeing, so I will probably be relying on online sales more for the near future.

I plan to start sending this newsletter more regularly again too, so thank you for still reading after my hiatus and I hope I’ll still have lots to share this year!