Jeane DeCoster and Brooke Sinnes- Fiberside Chat!

Under the Covers at 2 Dye Studios: Sincere Sheep & Elemental Affects

Sunday April 18, 2021 at 4pm

Brooke and Jeane have been working together separately for over 10 years. Brooke's specialty is natural dyes, while Jeane is focused on using the more  commercial acid dyes.

It's not easy taking a small yarn and dye company from dream to reality. In the beginning, they operated as sounding boards for each other. Questions that would often be discussed would be things like .... How to produce quality hand-dyed yarn in larger quantities? How to be efficient without losing control of the process? How to stay cost effective? How to source the raw materials we needed from small producers? Where to get the yarn made? And, of course... What the heck are they doing?

In addition to their distinctly different dye backgrounds, Brooke and Jeane have loads of experience working with their fibers as they come straight off the sheep's back to buying in larger quantities from some of our remaining U.S. wool co-ops; not to mention to the knitty gritty of "how much does it cost?" 

Please join us as they share their journey with Fiberside Chats!

Brooke Sinnes

   In 2003, I moved back to the Napa Valley and founded Sincere Sheep based on principles I translated from the slow food movement, a concept that was gaining regional momentum. Applying the ideas of traditional and regionally sourced ingredients to textiles, our early products were made from wool from bay area family farms and processed at a local mill into carded roving and yarn. They were initially labeled with both the name of the farm and animal.
     Now, still located in the wine-growing region of Napa, CA, Sincere Sheep continues to be inspired and guided by the concept of terroir. Both wool and natural dyes are agricultural products that depend upon and reflect their environment. Factors during the annual growing cycle such as water, grass, weather and stewardship all impact the quality of the wool clip and plant harvest. You will see the effects in the subtle variation of colors and textures of yarn from year to year. 

Jeane deCoster

   In 2005, I returned from living in New York City to settle back in Southern California low desert area of Desert Hot Springs.  I retired from the corporate world and decided that I wanted to make and dye yarn for a living.  I know -- those two things don’t necessarily go with each other, especially in the summer when I am in the dye shed with the burners on ... and the outside temperature is 120 degrees Fahrenheit!  (We won’t discuss the temperature IN the dye shed!)
But I am stubborn that way. My dream was (and is) to create beautiful yarns from natural fibers in the U.S. ... and then dye them in wonderful colors.
     During my stay on the East Coast, I worked in a yarn store between professional gigs and I was struck by how few nice yarns were made in the U.S.  I was struck by what a nice job Peggy Wells (Brown Sheep) was doing with domestically produced yarns, but couldn’t find anything else.
     Time passed. Airplanes hit buildings and I decided it was time to go home and do something I really wanted to do.
Elemental Affects was born.
Register Now!
This is a one-time live Zoom Event on Sunday, April 18th at 4:00pm Eastern, 3:00pm Central, 2:00pm Mountain, 1:00pm Pacific.