Hi, my name is Diana Story and 2013 is going to be an exciting and rewarding New Year. Most exciting for me is my new creative endeavor.  My very talented sister-in-law, Kitman Figueroa, proposed to me a while back that we learn to hand dye yarns.  Kitman is an accomplished knitter and designer and was interested in broadening her knowledge of her craft.  She has been fortunate to work with some very high quality yarns in a glorious array of colors.  I love to hear her talk excitedly about a new skein of yarn. I remember her referring to one skein as the queen of her collection.  I wonder what that skein will turn into one day. Maybe it will remain, as it is, a little piece of art unto itself.

I myself am a jack of many trades. I have always had a love of the arts and have been fortunate enough to work all my adult life in creative occupations.  Most recently I was a high school theatre teacher for 12 years.  Before that, I was a professional costume designer.  Materials, and more importantly color, have been a love in my life for a long time.  Kitman thought our combined talents should give birth to our new business of hand dyeing yarns.  So Tumbleweed Yarn was born. We named our business Tumbleweed Yarn because of where we live.  We are both transplanted Texans.  Kitman is from the exotic country of Malaysia and I am originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Not so exotic but very different from Texas. We wanted a name that was reflective of our adoptive new land.  I remember as a child moving from Wisconsin and not knowing much about Texas, I expected a Texas that I had seen in the TV shows—cowboys on horses and tumbleweeds blowing across the dry lands.  A little naïve of me, after all I was moving to the big city of Dallas where there is nary a tumbleweed.

Because of our new business, the last few months have been a wonderful time of learning and growing for us.  A photograph taken by a friend named Ylva Forsten inspired our first three yarn colors. We wanted colors to reflect the natural beauty of where we live.  Even though Kitman and I live in big cities we do not have to travel far to see what Ylva has captured in her photo. We not only want to provide a quality product but we want to help inspire your projects.  Working in the theatre has given me the chance to work with wonderful artists and has shown me how exciting collaborating on a project with other talented people can be.  We want to bring that same collaboration to our business.  In fact, every month or so we would like to feature a photograph that one of you have sent us that will inspire our new line of colors.  The photograph should be reflective of what you consider home. It could be a landscape or a favorite old chair.  It will be so exciting to see your interpretations of home. The person who has their photograph selected will be featured and they will receive a fabulous door prize. So email us your photos and lets work to inspire each other.