Meet Gail Callahan, Genius behind the Color Grid and a Giveaway

I'm kicking off the Fall Knitting Season with a fun interview with Gail Callahan. Several years ago, when Julia was quite small, I was at the grocery store at the deli counter. I saw a woman looking at me so I figured she was a knitter. We struck up a conversation and it turned out she was The Kangaroo Dyer - Gail Callahan. Gail and I became friends through fiber and color. She wrote the successful Hand-Dyeing Yarn and Fleece a few years ago. While she was working on the book, she had to write about color and how to use it. Out of that project, she developed her "Color Grid." This past year, Gail launched her "Color Grid" as a stand alone tool for knitters, crocheters, stitchers, gardeners, artists...... anyone who is curious to learn more about using color, or perhaps fearful. 

The other day Gail and I got together for this interview and a little photo session. I hope you enjoy it. Here's the best part - three lucky readers/commentors will receive their very own Color Grid courtesy of Gail!

Gail Callahan with her Color Grid and luscious hand-dyed yarns

KN: Gail, tell us how you got involved in the yarn business. I know you are the colorful creator of the Webs line of hand-dyed yarn and your own Kangaroo Dyer lines. How did it all start?

GC: It sounds silly, but it was because I had to. I was working at Webs (yarn.com) and weaving blankets, using a lovely mohair, available only in natural. Barbara Elkins, the founder of Webs, suggested I try dyeing. My response was that I was afraid to dye. She told me I'd better learn because she wanted me to do a demonstration in the store! Two lessons learned; put yourself on a time line to learn something new, and to create what is not there in the market. I dyed my way through the Cushing dyes, all of the blues and greens, because I knew they would go together, started teaching classes, the name of the first class was "No Fear Dyeing" subtext; if you can cook a potato, you can dye yarn.

I never looked back, I started dyeing every natural yarn that came in the store. Of course, since I was a dyeing fool, I had no time to use it, so I gave it away. One day, Linda Burt, the Customer Service Manager, asked me if Kathy and Steve Elkins. the owners of Webs, had seen my work. She felt strongly that they should sell my products in the store. That's when the exclusive line was developed. Kathy and Steve have been just wonderful encouraging me and giving me carte blanche to work with their yarns.  The yarns are Valley Yarns by Gail Callahan the Kangaroo Dyer.

KN: Why did you develop your Color Grid?

GC: I didn't understand the color wheel. It just didn't work for me. I was writing my Hand-Dyeing Yarn and Fleece book for Storey Publishing and I had to write about using color. I decided that I had to find a way to explain color in a different way -- without the color wheel.  I figured if I didn't understand the color wheel and I have worked with color my whole life, there had to be others out there. 

KN: How did you do it?

GC: I'm a horizontal thinker. I think about shelves --- putting things on and taking things off. I dreamed up a shelf with buckets of paint dripping down. As the buckets dripped, the colors changed in value and then mixed together.

KN: Wow! That is something else. How is the Color Grid organized? 

GC: It is based on primary colors - red, yellow, and blue. Then secondary colors - orange, green, purple, and then tertiary colors. It shows the different shades from light to dark. But it is built out of boxes so every color and shade is shown, versus the standard color wheel which hides colors and values.

One of my Knit It Felt It Bags illustrating how I use color and how Gail's Color Grid will help you.

KN: Your Color Grid is developing quite the following. Clara Parkes wrote about it on her weekly Knitter's Review column. You have definitely tapped a market that no one else thought about. Congratulations! How do you use the Color Grid? 

GC: The Color Grid comes with a template which has 9 holes punched in it and a long slot. A knitter (or crafter of any type) lays the 9 holes over the family of colors they want their project to be. These colors are all related (or analogous). Then they look at the color that appears in the small slot. That is color they should choose to be the "spark." 

A swatch for one of my new designs again showing how to use The Color Grid

KN: Oh, I get it. The "spark" is what is known in color wheel terms as the "complementary" color. Very clever! Why do you think the Color Grid has taken off so quickly? 

GC: I think there are many people like me who just don't get the color wheel. They are color-phobic knitters. The Color Grid gives them a way to practice selecting and using color without the mystery and the dials of the colorwheel. There are so many people who are fearful of color. I work at Webs one day a week and I see it every day. People need help with selecting and combining colors. They aren't all like you Kristin, using color with wild abandon.

KN: Yes, I understand that - I see knitters all the time who just don't understand it. But once I explain it to them, they become less fearful. Gail, you have developed a product that can be carried around with them, to yarn stores, to fabric stores, to gardening centers that will help people become less fearful! That is awesome. Do you have any funny stories you can tell us? 
GC: I got a large order from a man who owned a tattoo parlor. He purchased the Color Grid for all his tattoo artists. It's nice that it crosses different kinds of arts, crafts, and hobbies and helps all kinds of people out. Color is universal after all. 

For gardeners too!

KN: If there is one part of this business that is your favorite, what would it be?

GC: I love seeing people build their confidence using and choosing color. It happens when I teach dyeing, but that is such a niche population. Now with the Color Grid, I see the lights shine in people's eyes when they figure out how to add a spark to their project. I cannot tell you have many people have said; "I finally get it!"

Thanks so much to Gail for taking time out of her busy dyeing day. You can buy the Color Grid directly from Gail here. Check out the beautiful silk yardage she dyes here (which just happens to have been featured in Elle Decor magazine here) and her gorgeous handknitting yarns here. You can also find Gail's work for sale at Webs where she is the "in-house hand-dyer." 

Contest is over. Thanks everyone for entering! I have contacted the winners and Gail will be sending the prizes.
To enter the Giveaway, leave a comment answering the following question:

What is your favorite color combination and why? 

Contest ends Sunday September 9th at 11:59 p.m. As always, please leave an easy way to get a hold of you - email or Rav id. Good luck everyone!