06/14/2026
These photos are from May 2013, when I got to visit Portland, and hang with Tina Newton, the legendary goddess behind Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Today I learned Tina has died and the knitting world, online and off, is so much the poorer for losing her.
Tina was smart and creative to a degree I don't know that many of her peers could match. And if you're knitting with hand dyed yarn in this century, you owe much to her and the path she laid for indie dyers worldwide. Take a moment and search Ravelry's yarn archives for her yarns. Her Socks that Rock accompanied and buoyed the sock revolution to unbelievable heights, and the lineups at Rhinebeck (where The Fold had a booth full of her gorgeousness) were out the door and down the hill. Everyone had to have some. Her colorways were beyond legendary. I even got to work with some, as she dyed Sock Candy for non-wool knitters like me, and it's *still* my favorite yarn.
On this trip, which was the last time I got to see Tina, I stayed at her home for a few days and we just hung out. We talked about everything, finding special common ground (unfortunately for us) in partnerships falling apart and how to survive when marriages go in the toilet.
She took me into her sacred space, her dye studio, and I came up with a clumsy colorway she named ESS – a beautiful yellowy green with all sorts of dark speckles. ("ESS" stands for *effervescent s**t stain*, and that in itself tells you all you need to know about the glory that was Tina.) She sent me on my way with a big bag of returned skeins of Sock Candy that had knots in them (who cares?) or were just last-ofs a specific colorway. I'm still working through those treasures, and I always think of Tina every time I pick up the bag or wear the sweater I made with them.
I left Tina the following weekend, hoping I'd get to see her again soon. But back home, the toilet won and I spent the next few years working through a divorce, my uterus calling it quits, 3 surgeries in one year, and finding my undiagnosed AuDHD taking over my life and making functioning like a normal person difficult.
I reached out to Tina a few months ago over text, mea-culpa-ing over my radio silence since we last messaged, and telling her I missed her and was here if she wanted to connect. Today I learned that she had died.
If you never knew her but you use hand-dyed yarn, Tina has likely touched someone who made that yarn who did. If you were knitting or crocheting when she was actively making beautiful things every day, you know how special she was.
I have already missed her for a long time, but I treasure the time I got to spend with her. I hope she knew how much she was loved...by so many.
