About

Who I am and what I do

Rachael wearing a texture time shawl

Hello!  I'm Rachael.  I have been spinning and dyeing fibre and yarn since 2012, and I can't imagine doing anything else. My life is filled with colours and textures, and I create beautiful colour mixes and fibre blends that makers love to look at, touch and transform.

Cat & Sparrow started in Australia in 2013, where Cathy, my business partner and I met and bonded over a shared love of spinning.  We built it together until I left Australia to return to the UK in 2014.  Cathy still runs Cat & Sparrow in Australia. You can find her here.

On the site you can find my hand-dyed fibres and yarns. I dye these in my home/studio using non-toxic acid dyes, which produce the most wonderful, rich colours.  You can also find blended fibres, which I design and are made for me by a mill up in Yorkshire. I also stock beautiful imported silks which I get from India, including golden Muga silk and rich natural red-gold Eri or Peace silk.

I'm a huge fan of great tools - I think that the making experience is enhanced by beautiful equipment, so I am really pleased to stock 3D-printed Turkish spindles by Turtlemade and also Lykke birch knitting needles and hooks, which are things of beauty both in form and function.