The Amazing, Awesome Countess Ablaze
Countess Ablaze has been on our wish list since we opened, but they didn’t sell their fabulously hand dyed yarn to other stores. Very understandable for Lyndsey and her team, but then Brexit came along and the Manchester based studio opened its doors to wholesale – so we jumped in feet first!
Countess Ablaze has been dyeing since 2011 and has built up what can only be called a cult following. The Countess and her Blazin’ Squad dye Rebel Batches ( amongst other collections) these are non repeatable colourways so when they sell out we can’t reorder them ! Making each colour unique to each yarn store that sell Countess Ablaze and it means if you like a colour buy it – it will never come back!
We decided on the theme of “Amsterdam” and dyer’s choice! The colours were bound to be vibrant, outrageous, different and we weren’t let down.
The names are as crazy as the colours – fritessaus, keep away from the drunken Brits, the blunt talk is kinda refreshing, pancake party boat. And the lovely BFL (bluefaced Leicester wool) together with nylon makes the perfect sock yarn, or sweater or shawl yarn!
The Countess AKA Lynsdey has high functioning autism, and so have many of the Blazin’ Squad (her team). She has other invisible illnesses and she has built a business that she is rightfully proud of. Her mission is to ensure that other people, regardless of disability or ability, skin colour, sexuality, gender, ethnicity, or religion feel that they can be a part of what Countess Ablaze offers in terms of community, products and employment here. She pays all her staff a living wage and donates 5% of the sales from her store and online store to a micro loans to finance other small business.
The tits out collective in 2018 was also one of her brain waves – when a local business approached her for a collaboration involving her donating yarn and her time (to the tune of £800) in exchange for exposure! Where the crowd would be “middle aged women and their girlfriends and they would serve shit tea and traybakes”. The Countess’ response was “if i need exposure i’ll get my tits out.” As a further response she dyed two colourways – if i want exposure i’ll get my tits out and shit tea and tray bakes. £3 of each skein was donated to Women’s Aid to show that misogyny is not acceptable. The idea was picked up by 278 indie dyers, designers and many others in the knitting/crochet world in 22 countries and the Tits Out Collective was created. The Countess give dyers her colourways and they created their own take on the colours. Everyone taking part had to donate a % of their takings to their local women’s support charities. An amazing amount was raised in just 1 month – more than £55,000 !!!
You can’t help but love and admire Countess Ablaze!
You can find Countess Ablaze here
