Finding herself on a farm in Greece with ample time after all the chores were done, Kelli Thoumsin was taught how to knit by the female farmer who ran the place. As fiber artists know, it doesn't take long for one facet of the trade to snowball into another. Soon Kelli was also spinning, weaving, and natural dyeing. Through farming she learned about the importance of sustainability and tending to the soil, so when she found herself in Eugene, Oregon with an incredible food bounty surrounding her, she started investigating ways to utilize food waste. Natural dyeing was the perfect solution to the sad forgotten purple cabbage in the back of the fridge, avocado pits, and onion skins that could be given a new life before heading to the compost. She honed her foraging skills and not only found mushrooms and foraged forest foods to be delicious, but that many also yield colors! She was hooked, and hasn't looked back since. In 2017 she founded bedhead fiber, a naturally dyed fiber and textile company utilizing plants, flowers, mushrooms, and lichen--much of which she grows in her garden in Seattle and foraged in the surrounding mountains. She supplements her raw materials with dyes from fair trade or organic farms. She sources her fiber only from the US, with a focus on the PNW, as she believes that supporting local farms and farmers is imperative in order to have a healthy community. When she is not dyeing yarn or knitting, you can find her in her garden as her love of farming never left.

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