She turned her knitting passion right into a hand-dyed yarn biz, profitable US & Canada followers.

Parkour Kitties Fibers claims to be one of many first hand-dyed yarn companies in Singapore

Mentioning “parkour” to anybody typically evokes a psychological picture of a very athletic particular person, overcoming boundaries and obstacles with ease. Or, perhaps that particular scene from The Workplace could come to thoughts.

For 55-year-old Lois Teo, nevertheless, parkour is just what her three relentlessly playful rescue cats had been always as much as. Their states of perpetual movement led Lois to label her felines as “parkour kitties”.

As an homage, Lois determined to call her enterprise Parkour Kitties Fibers. Just like the kittens, the model would come to embody curiosity and a refusal to remain inside inflexible boundaries. In the present day, Parkour Kitties Fibers is recognised as considered one of Singapore’s earliest hand-dyed yarn companies, working in a distinct segment that hardly existed regionally beforehand.

We spoke with indie yarn dyer Lois to seek out out what it means to be considered one of Singapore’s first hand-dyers.

Stitching by means of restoration

Since her teenage years, Lois had knitted and crocheted, studying from a knitting ebook she inherited from her sister. Over time, knitting grew to become a quiet ritual—one thing she returned to each time she wanted calm.

In 2016, Lois took a one-year sabbatical from a annoying company job after affected by a medical emergency throughout a enterprise journey. Throughout this era, knitting shifted from passion to remedy. The repetitive motions, textures, and focus supplied consolation at a time when her physique and life felt unsure.

When the abroad posting she was slated for supplied no chance of a part-time association, Lois made the tough determination to go away her company position solely in 2017.

The next yr was spent recovering, knitting, and studying to reside at a slower tempo. It was throughout this limbo that Parkour Kitties Fibres started to take form—lengthy earlier than it had a reputation or clients.

Throughout her regular purchasing for yarns on-line, Lois found artwork of hand-dyed yarn, the place the fibres saturated with layered colors, speckles, and gradients that felt alive. 

“I realised plenty of them dye the yarn at residence, in a house studio or storage,” Lois stated. “I used to be like, ‘Oh, I can do this at residence too’ and began changing my kitchen into a house studio!”

The founder shared that beforehand, there was just one different individual hand-dyeing yarn in Singapore at the moment, and it was restricted to a passion.

Lois started researching the method, watching YouTube tutorials and studying about acid dyes—how they work, and the way they are often safely used on pure fibres. By a lot apply, what began as curiosity rapidly became ardour and ultimately a enterprise.

Studying the ropes and rinses

In 2019, Lois formally started dyeing yarn and promoting it on-line. The earliest choices had been easy, primary colourways that had been listed on Etsy. Unexpectedly, there have been many shoppers from the US and Canada, who had been keen to pay worldwide transport for yarn hand-dyed midway internationally. 

Her sturdy Etsy presence caught the eye of a neighborhood Etsy group, who inspired Lois to participate in her first pop-up at its annual Etsy Craftivist, a crafter’s market held at Esplanade in 2019.

That second marked Parkour Kitties Fibers’ transition from a quiet on-line presence into a visual a part of Singapore’s small however passionate yarn scene.

In the present day, Lois has expanded into novelty yarns, together with bases embellished with sequins and beads. When dyed black, these yarns can turn out to be clothes that really feel elegant and semi-formal.

Lois had additionally seen that many shoppers deal with her yarn as a “big day” materials as a result of its uniqueness in colourways in comparison with mass-dyed yarn. 

“I’ve noticed that many shoppers don’t use my yarn instantly however reserve it for extra intricate tasks,” Lois shared. 

Years later, clients would attain out to Lois with their completed tasks, proudly sharing sweaters, shawls, and cardigans comprised of Parkour Kitties yarn. Typically, these posts spark renewed demand for previous colourways, which Lois fortunately accommodates.

A single skein begins at S$32, a value level Lois maintains to mirror the fact of native manufacturing prices. 

Nonetheless, Lois is persistent in making pure fibre, particularly hand-dyed ones, extra accessible and inexpensive.

To decrease the barrier of entry, she additionally produces mini-skeins, permitting clients to experiment with smaller tasks like headscarves and socks. These smaller portions additionally let folks really feel the distinction in texture and high quality when knitting or crocheting with pure fibre, in comparison with artificial ones.

Lois can be a part of knitting teams the place she and different knitters share their love, inspirations, and methods for creating new works. 

The craft behind the colors

Lois works primarily with animal fibres comparable to merino wool and cashmere, whereas artificial fibres like polyester are prevented as a lot as attainable. Such artificial supplies could also be cheaper, however they don’t retain heat and sturdiness over time in the identical method pure fibres do, Lois emphasised.

“In case you purchase artificial, it’s $10 in comparison with $20 for a pure fibre. It relies on whether or not you might be searching for worth or high quality.” Lois stated.

Whereas knitting with pure fibre is undeniably costlier than artificial ones, Lois believes pure yarn is price it for its craftsmanship and longevity. A store-bought knitted sweater comprised of pure fibre, she estimated, would retail for S$500 to S$600.

Outdoors of formal collections, Lois attracts inspiration from the world round her: the colors and patterns of bugs, birds, and flowers, in addition to visible tradition comparable to animations. These influences have even been translated into one to 2 colourways launched a month, and even bundled skein colourways, the place a number of colors inform a cohesive story. 

“My Studio Ghibli-inspired skeins have surprisingly offered fairly properly and normally promote out as quick as I can produce them.” Lois mirrored.

Every dye batch normally yields round six skeins in 5 totally different yarn weights per colourway. The total dyeing course of—cooking the yarn with acid dye, permitting it to chill, rinsing, and drying—takes about two days. Throughout wet intervals, drying time can stretch even longer, relying on the yarn weights concerned.

Often, the ultimate hue seems in a different way than anticipated as a result of varied yarn bases take up the dye in various methods—a pure quirk of hand-dyeing that at all times gives Lois a recent lesson in her artwork.

“No two skeins are equivalent, that’s the fantastic thing about hand-dyed yarn,” Lois mirrored on her craft.

Binding off Etsy

As Etsy grew costlier and vulnerable to imitators, Parkour Kitties moved absolutely to promote on her web site by means of Shopify in 2024. 

Later that yr, a customer-turned-friend opened a knitting store, Forged On Yarn Store, which gave Parkour Kitties Fibers a bodily retail spot to inventory yarn recurrently. Lois now drops by usually, functioning virtually like an in-house dyer. 

As a part of her love for knitting and the neighborhood, she additionally spends appreciable time serving to clients estimate how a lot yarn is required for his or her tasks, like sweaters—sometimes three to 4 skeins for a small to medium measurement, relying on yarn weight.

Furthermore, that yr, as a part of a collaboration with the Nationwide Heritage Board and weaving and fibrecraft studio Craft Atelier, Lois created a yarn that includes a vibrant orange, inexperienced, and purple palette impressed by the tradition and historical past of Geylang Serai. The yarn was supplied in a number of blends, together with merino and mulberry silk.

Apart from stocking at Forged On Yarn Store and Craft Atelier, Parkour Kitties Fibers has additionally discovered worldwide stockists in Australia, Indonesia, and Japan, pushed by curiosity in Lois’ novelty yarns—notably her daring choices like neon colourways amongst her different creations. Lois seen that her core clients are usually working adults starting from their 20s to 60s, most of whom knit clothes comparable to sweaters and cardigans.

At pop-ups, Lois gives ready-made merchandise alongside her hand-dyed skeins, and the choices shift based on the viewers. Excessive-end occasions like Boutique Truthful function giant shawls, whereas festivals aimed toward youthful, budget-conscious crowds, comparable to Mercury Competition, will see Lois’ smaller bandanas, beanies and headscarves on the market. 

Customized dye requests are more and more frequent. One current order concerned “chill colors” in blues and greens for a really giant scarf, starting with 5 skeins and later requested for a further three skeins to finish the piece.

The stress behind the palette

Among the many regular inventive challenges Lois has confronted, the newest Peranakan Heritage 2025 Creation Calendar stands out as probably the most demanding, but in addition some of the fulfilling ones. 

Her buddy from Forged On Yarn Store requested Lois to give you 24 solely new colourways. Lois started working and selected a Peranakan tradition theme, the place some colourways had been impressed by butterflies and pink lotus in Peranakan motifs.

Initially hesitant, Lois solely determined to go forward with it later and had two weeks forward of a Dec 1 supply deadline to ship the colourways. Nonetheless, she managed to do it with intense self-discipline, analysis and trial-and-error.  Furthermore, Lois visited the Peranakan Museum to make sure the heritage-inspired colourways had been correct and respectfully represented.

Operational challenges have additionally emerged, notably in worldwide transport. Extreme restrictions and excessive flat charges launched by SingPost for US-bound parcels has pressured Lois to seek out barely extra inexpensive transport firms.

To handle nonetheless excessive transport prices, Parkour Kitties lists transport charges transparently on its web site and gives refunds for any distinction. 

“Regardless of the upper transport costs, US clients proceed to position orders and are keen to pay for it!” Lois shared.

Selecting up the following sew

Apart from private milestones in launching the Peranakan Heritage 2025 Creation Calendar, common Studio Ghibli bundles and changing into a near-resident dyer at a buddy’s yarn store, Lois’ SG60-themed colourways impressed by Peranakan Kebaya prints additionally marked a brand new section of visibility and collaboration.

Trying forward, Lois hopes to develop extra kits and curated units. New colourways steadily promote out upon launch—generally earlier than they even attain bodily cabinets—necessitating frequent dyeing classes.

By way of scale, Lois has been more and more receiving a rising variety of customized requests, other than creating over 100 colourways up to now.

Probably the most formidable concepts on the horizon emerged from a dialog together with her yarn store–proudly owning buddy: the opportunity of opening a yarn store within the airport. Lois believes vacationers could be drawn to regionally hand-dyed yarn as a significant present or a conveyable memento.

For others contemplating turning their love for craft right into a enterprise, Lois supplied a agency piece of recommendation: “Don’t under-sell your craft simply because everyone’s doing it. Don’t under-sell the time you spend in your craft.”

In each skein of Parkour Kitties Fibers’ yarn lies not simply color, however care, labour, and the conviction that sluggish, intentional making is price each effort on this fast-paced world.

• Be taught extra about Parkour Kitties Fibers right here.
• Learn extra tales we’ve written on Singaporean companies right here.

Featured Picture Credit score: Parkour Kitties Fibers