Indie Spotlight: Hook & Light

Hello there beautiful humans.

I want to tell you all about the delightful sister duo at Hook & Light whose ethos is handcrafted, sustainable and naturally dyed.  Iris and Melissa both have full-time day jobs and make the magic of Hook and Light happen in their own time. And what day jobs they are! I was able to get some exclusive insight to their world through an interview with Iris. 

Iris works as a postdoctoral research scientist (so yes, you may refer to her as Dr Iris) at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, arguably the home of molecular biology. She is a neuroscientist, trying to understand the brain working with these tiny microscopic worms called C. elegans, that have only 302 neurons compared to the 3 billion us humans have and were the first animal to have their genome sequenced. Yet they are surprisingly clever; they can find their way in simple mazes and even learn to associate food with positive or negative stimuli, so by understanding these little creatures better we can learn more about our own brains. Iris clearly has a pure love for these as she says
they are cute and it’s super fun to play with worms! 

Melissa is a primary school teacher so she is working hard to enthuse all the little kids out there to achieve their best, and maybe training the new generation of worm biologists! Baring in mind their careers, I was curious to know what inspired them to launch their indie business. Iris only got into fibre crafts fairly recently, but once she did her love affair spiralled out of control very rapidly. She crochets and knits, including writing patterns. Her afternoon tea sweater pattern is BEAUTIFUL, yes, I know, another garment on my 'when I can knit' list. 

I’ve always loved nature and tried to be more environmentally conscious, so I avoided using synthetic fibres early on in my journey. I had then started to see all these gorgeous naturally dyed yarns on Instagram and had to give it a go myself. I’m one of those people that just goes for it as soon as an idea pops into my head. I’ve not stopped dyeing since and now half of my allotment is taken up by dye plants!

So there are two things that are clearly important here to be natural and earth friendly, both the fibre itself and the colouring. Hook & Light make sure they are all natural products and reducing our impact on the environment so all of their yarn is made from 100% natural fibres and is non-superwash. The superwash process, although having improved in many places, uses harsh chemicals and vast amounts of water to remove the outer scales of the fibres in order to make them smooth and resistant to felting at high temperatures. Not only does this come with a heavy environmental footprint, it also removes the natural texture and volume of the wool leaving it flat, without character and in my opinion a bit sad. So in return for gently hand washing your precious crafted items, you get a super soft and squishy yarn that’s full of character and you’re reducing your environmental impact, so it’s a win-win! They have also recently published a blog about the superwash process which is a fascinating read - check it out here.

And we already know about the allotment flower dye takeover, which I imagine to be either a wildflower paradise or organised bloom heaven, either way it sounds amazing! So its safe to say nature is their biggest inspiration for their colour ways. All of their colours are made 100% with natural materials, many of which we they grow themselves.
I love to create colourways, with lots of fun colour changes that keep you engaged in the project and create one of a kind pieces. I am keen to show that natural dyes can also be fun and colourful and don’t always need to be taken too seriously.

They are just beautiful, I am so happy to have been able to collaborate with them for the Wildflower crochet top pattern using their Wildflower and Sprinkles colourways. There will be a yarn and pattern kit launching at the end of the month and I am very excited.

So, who do Hook & Light love to follow?

On Instagram @boneandbirch & @fuzzzygreenfibres (over in the US) who share my passion for a sustainable approach to yarn and yarn dyes, who together also run a Ravelry group focused on natural yarns called @rustbelthippies. I started following Cristina from @boneandbirch a few years ago and her gorgeous natural dyes are what inspired me to start dyeing yarn and I continue to admire her work! Larissa who runs @fuzzzygreenfibres makes stunning colourways with synthetic dyes but with a real focus on non-superwash, local yarns and without using toxic dye materials, and I hope many others in the industry will follow suit. I’m always on the lookout for new dyers and crafters to fall in love with!
And finally, as you know, I am a strong advocate of the mental health and well-being benefits of fibre crafts. Iris was happy to share her experience, and even though I haven't done a PhD myself, I can totally relate to it finding solace and peace from a busy mind. 

I first started crocheting while writing my PhD thesis, as I’m sure anyone who has done a PhD will tell you, it’s a particularly hard time in life. Being able to just sit quietly and allow your problems to melt away is the gift of fibrecrafts. For me in particular, I always feel like I haven’t achieved enough, and any time spent not producing anything makes me feel down, without knitting and crochet this meant I constantly felt like I needed to be doing work and I never found time to relax. Now I can happily spend a few hours knitting or crocheting and feel a sense of achievement when I look at the gorgeous project taking shape, meaning I’ve finally found a space in which I can actually relax and recover from all the various stresses in life!

Pottering about the wildflowers crochet top pattern is available in my Etsy, Love Crafts and Ravelry now. 

Much love and stay safe.

Lou x

PS - Iris' guilty pleasure is chocolate