When Sandra Miracle got married, her friends were shocked she didn’t make her own wedding dress.
“I did buy a pair of shoes and dye them,” Miracle said.
Long before Pinterest or blogs, Miracle was crafting, recycling and taking on do-it-yourself projects. After years of telling herself she would try knitting, Miracle borrowed a book from the library in 2010 and taught herself the basics. A dishcloth, scarf and sweater later, she was hooked. In 2012, she began hand-dyeing wool in pursuit of the vibrant colors she wanted for her knitting.
Miracle, 42, is now the creative force behind Duck Duck Wool, a business featuring hand-dyed wool, alpaca and silk for knitting. Miracle’s yarns can be found on Etsy.
“People look at color and think, ‘Oh, that’s nice,’ ” Miracle said. “For me, it’s personal.”
Each set of yarn Miracle hand-dyes in her Annandale, Va., basement is colored and named based on a memory. Chocolate-toned Take the Cake reminds Miracle of the first cake she made with an Easy Bake Oven as a child.
“I consider the knitters to be the stars of the show, and I just want to make really beautiful wool and colors for them to use,” she said. “Customers tell me that even if they don’t like brown, they love Take the Cake.”
Miracle, a mother of three and former judge’s advocate for the Coast Guard, said her family’s support and her former career as a lawyer have helped her small business.
“I can read a contract and negotiate well,” she said. “But really, being a lawyer has given me the confidence and the ‘why-not?’ attitude to try something a little risky.”
Word of mouth and the popularity of online shopping have also played a big role in her success, Miracle said. She is a regular contributor to Ravelry, an active online knitting community.
