After she started suffering from back problems, Amanda Moore of Charlottetown took up knitting a few years ago at the suggestion of a counselor. When the pains become more intense, Amanda had become depressed and couldn’t continue her hobby of quilting.
“It did literally save my life cause I was very much in a black hole,” she said. “I needed that creativity in life due to the depression.”
Amanda started knitting and eventually found a community of knitters in Kensington. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, Amanda was once again alone and she started feeling bad.
Amanda added:
“I decided to just start creating colors because I needed something else. My mental health was starting to lag again. So I started dyeing, and I just fell in love with it. It did amazing things for my mental health. This was my outlet.”
By discovering new colors, Amanda has found a whole new world. Sometimes her color combinations are a delightful surprise, and other times the yarn goes back into the pot to be over-dyed. She always keeps track of her original color recipes.
“When you knit with indie-dyed yarn, you should always go with at least two balls at a time — do one row with one ball, the next row with the next ball, which will make even it out,” Moore explains.
For a year now, she has been selling her products through local retailers and on her own website.