About Us

The Unique Sheep is an independent yarn dyeing business started by Laura Bullins. A life-long fiber artist, Laura was inspired by the owner of her LYS (Knit Picky) to start selling her handpainted yarn. The response of local knitters to her yarn blew her away and so now shes branching out and offering her yarn to everyone!

At the start of 2008, Laura was joined by Kelly Eells. Kelly has had years of experience dyeing under the name "Liisu Yarns" but saw a good match with Laura and The Unique Sheep.

To contact Laura or Kelly, email them at Laura@theuniquesheep.com or Kelly@theuniquesheep.com. If you are on Ravelry you can track them down under the names "TheUniqueSheep" and "Painty"!

The Unique Sheep and Our World

Kelly has plans to one day save the world. But until we figure out how to make that happen, we are trying to lessen our impact on the environment and improve the lives of our fellow humans, one skein of yarn at a time.

To lessen our negative impact on our environment we:

re-use water multiple times in our dyeing process
use recycled boxes and bags to pack and ship our yarn whenever possible
use recycled paper for printing our patterns, ball bands and other paper work when we can
conserve energy by winding our yarns by hand and drying them in the open air

We have considered using natural dyes, but it is our experience that natural dyes aren't necessarily better for the environment. Natural dyeing often requires more water and energy and uses chemical mordants that can be dangerous to the dyer and the environment. We feel confident that the dyes we use are the most environmentally responsible option as well as safe for us to work with and for you and your loved ones to knit with and wear.

All of our yarns and fibers are moth proofed with a mild chemical agent- Mitin FF. Mitin FF adheres to the yarn in a similar way as the dye does which means that, like the dye, the chemical will not rub off or wash off in normal cleaning and wearing. Mitin FF is used exclusively by the textile industry for mothproofing wool and laboratory tests have found the chemical to have low toxicity to humans (and other mammals). You can find out more about Mitin FF on the EPA's fact sheet. If you would prefer that we dye your yarn without moth proofing, please let us know when you place an order.

The environment is important, but so are the other people sharing it with us. We try to do our little bit to help others by donating at least 5% of our net profit to charities. Two of our favorites are Doctors without Borders and the Amani Children's Foundation. We have created colorways inspired by each of these organizations; 50% of our sales of these colorways are donated to the organizations!

To learn more about our designers, click here!




	About Us The Unique Sheep is an independent yarn dyeing business started by Laura Bullins. A life-long fiber artist, Laura was inspired by the owner of her LYS (Knit Picky) to start selling her handpainted yarn. The response of local knitters to her yarn blew her away and so now shes branching out and offering her yarn to everyone! At the start of 2008, Laura was joined by Kelly Eells. Kelly has had years of experience dyeing under the name "Liisu Yarns" but saw a good match with Laura and The Unique Sheep. To contact Laura or Kelly, email them at Laura@theuniquesheep.com or Kelly@theuniquesheep.com. If you are on Ravelry you can track them down under the names "TheUniqueSheep" and "Painty"! The Unique Sheep and Our World Kelly has plans to one day save the world. But until we figure out how to make that happen, we are trying to lessen our impact on the environment and improve the lives of our fellow humans, one skein of yarn at a time. To lessen our negative impact on our environment we: re-use water multiple times in our dyeing process use recycled boxes and bags to pack and ship our yarn whenever possible use recycled paper for printing our patterns, ball bands and other paper work when we can conserve energy by winding our yarns by hand and drying them in the open air We have considered using natural dyes, but it is our experience that natural dyes aren't necessarily better for the environment. Natural dyeing often requires more water and energy and uses chemical mordants that can be dangerous to the dyer and the environment. We feel confident that the dyes we use are the most environmentally responsible option as well as safe for us to work with and for you and your loved ones to knit with and wear. All of our yarns and fibers are moth proofed with a mild chemical agent- Mitin FF. Mitin FF adheres to the yarn in a similar way as the dye does which means that, like the dye, the chemical will not rub off or wash off in normal cleaning and wearing. Mitin FF is used exclusively by the textile industry for mothproofing wool and laboratory tests have found the chemical to have low toxicity to humans (and other mammals). You can find out more about Mitin FF on the EPA's fact sheet. If you would prefer that we dye your yarn without moth proofing, please let us know when you place an order. The environment is important, but so are the other people sharing it with us. We try to do our little bit to help others by donating at least 5% of our net profit to charities. Two of our favorites are Doctors without Borders and the Amani Children's Foundation. We have created colorways inspired by each of these organizations; 50% of our sales of these colorways are donated to the organizations! To learn more about our designers, click here!
	kelly@theuniquesheep.com