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One skein at a time: Dagmar Beinenz-Byrd turned hand dyeing yarn into a thriving venture
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Silky skeins of merino wool dangle from a drying rack outside the sun-soaked studio.
They say turn your passion into your profession.
So Albuquerque artist Dagmar Beinenz-Byrd founded ZiaWoolz, a hand-dyed yarn company with herself as the dyer.
One skein at a time: Dagmar Beinenz-Byrd turned hand dyeing yarn into a thriving venture
Beinenz-Byrd had been a social worker in Maryland before she moved to Albuquerque 17 years ago. By the time her two children were independent, she was looking more to do.
She was raised in Germany by a family of women, where creating useful things from yarn and fabric was part of daily life.
She began spinning her own yarn and knitting garments in her early 20s and never stopped.
鈥淚 never took lessons,鈥� Beinenz-Byrd said. 鈥淚 got into dyeing through the back door.鈥�
鈥淚n Germany, you learn how to knit in school,鈥� she added.
She started dyeing with the aid of a Crock-Pot and Kool-Aid.
She spun the fibers into yarn and knitted sweaters for her children. After those first skeins, there was no turning back.
That talent practiced in the artist鈥檚 home kitchen led to the building of a dye studio in her garage, where she now works to create multicolored yarn, one skein at a time.
A glimpse of Beinenz-Byrd鈥檚 studio reveals a whiteboard scribbled with potential colorway names such as 鈥淐olorado Cowgirl鈥� and 鈥淏urlesqueme,鈥� as yarn simmers in dye on the stove beneath it.
She sold the results at her first craft show in Bosque Farms. People liked the yarn enough to buy it.
Bottles of powdered dye line shelves above her counter like spices.
鈥淭he yarn should be presoaked, then it goes into the pan for dyeing,鈥� Beinenz-Byrd explained, moving long skeins of merino/cashmere/silk in place with a stick. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 go by color theory. I dye by guts.鈥�
She writes every 鈥渞ecipe鈥� down on index cards, reserving three stars for her favorites. The cards help her when customers call asking for a favorite colorway that is sold out.
The process begins as she blends an aqua blue dye with water in a reused yogurt cup before pouring it into the warming pan.
鈥淭he beauty of it is if you don鈥檛 like it, you can just over dye it,鈥� she said.
She checks to make sure the yarn has absorbed the blue dye before repeating the process with purple pigment. The result is a waving wash of the two colors. Next, she embellishes it with speckles. She shakes powdered tobacco-colored dye across the center of the skeins like salt.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want the dyes to hit and disperse immediately,鈥� Beinenz-Byrd said.
A multicolored shawl and a sky blue shrug hang from her living room vigas with a sweeping postcard view of her garden and the Sandia Mountains.
Today, Beinenz-Byrd sells her yarn online, at The Yarn Store in Nob Hill and at various knitting retreats, including one at Ghost Ranch and another in Winslow, Arizona.
鈥淚 love to talk to the people who knit with my yarn,鈥� she said.
She knits her own garments at night.
鈥淚 have eight shawls right now in progress,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 love feeling the yarns, feeling the fibers. I also love creating something with my hands.鈥�
People often ask her if she misses Germany. She doesn鈥檛.
鈥淣ew Mexico is really my happy place,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e immediately made wonderful friends. I鈥檓 in a circle of knitters and friends.鈥�
A knitted child鈥檚 toy resembling a clown hangs from the ceiling in the middle of her studio.
鈥淚t鈥檚 called 鈥榢asperle,鈥� the jester,鈥� she said. 鈥淗e was one of my early mistakes,鈥� she added with a giggle.
