North Texas Daily

Jessica Smith / Intern Writer

The room was filled with vibrant blues, yellows, reds and greens all strewn about in a tapestry in Jimenez’s house.

Jimenez dyes yarn for a living. She takes plain yarn and applies a dye to give it one or more colors. The yarn can then be used for crotchet, knitting and other fiber arts to create garments and items.

“In college I really learned how to think creatively by looking at something artistically and coming up with different concepts from it,” Jimenez said.

Jimenez began knitting when she was 15 years old and she always knew she wanted to turn her hobby into a career someday. She knew her creative aspirations stretched beyond knitting, though.

She began college at UNT in 2008, where she attended various weaving and surface design classes, which helped develop her passion for dyeing yarn.

“I like playing with yarn all day,” Jimenez said. “I love color, and I love coming up with different color combinations.”

She began to dye yarn in her spare time. She ended up accumulating so much yarn that she couldn’t keep all of it, which is when she decided to sell it. In 2009, she started making T-shirts and selling them on Etsy, a website for artists to sell their work.

“Laura provides quality yarns with a good eye for color. She picks good, durable yarns that are easy to knit with,” said Amy Castillo, writer of the blog ‘Compositions of wool,’ who purchased and reviewed Jimenez’s pieces.

The year 2011 brought Jimenez many successes as she graduated from UNT with a bachelor’s degree in fiber arts in December and started her own business, Gynx Yarn.

“It takes a lot of courage to start a business in your twenties,” said Barbara Aaker, one of Jimenez’s loyal customers. “It’s nice to support a local business.”

With more than 600 items sold and hundreds of five-star ratings on Etsy, Jimenez’s business is booming.

Along with her Etsy profile, she also hosts a podcast called the “Dyer’s notebook” through her website at Gynx.blogspot.com. She is also on Ravelry.com, a website for knitters and crocheters to find different patterns and ideas, under the username Gynx Yarn. In addition to these sites, you can find Jimenez on twitter @GynxYarns, and on Facebook under the same name.

Jimenez’s work can also be purchased at the Dime Store at 510 S. Locust St.

Freshly dyed yarn layed out to dry. Photo by Au’Janae Roberts / Contributing Photographer

Freshly dyed yarn spun onto a rack during the dying process. Photo by Au’Janae Roberts / Contributing Photographer

Laura Jimenez creates uniquely hand dyed yarn by combining a variety of dyes together. Photo by Au’Janae Roberts / Contributing Photographer

Jimenez sells her hand dyed yarn on her Etsy site as “Gynx Yarn” by the bundle. Photo by Au’Janae Roberts / Contributing Photographer

Feature photo: UNT alumna Laura Jimenez sells hand dyed yarn on her Etsy site. Her yarn bundles range in prince from $23 to $30. Photo courtesy of Laura Jimenez