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<p>KINGSTON &#8212; For Jason Klus, dyeing is a way to get on with his life.</p><p>Klus has joined an army nationwide of &#8220;indie&#8221; dyers, independent entrepreneurs who produce hand-dyed yarns for knitters, crocheters and anyone who loves color.</p><p>His brand, Dizzy Wig Fibers, is an ever-changing line of yarns of various weights and rainbows of colors. As well as coming up with his own combinations of colors &#8211; all with creative names for the color choices &#8211; he takes requests.</p><p>He sells through an Etsy shop online and has a customer base that reaches across the country and beyond, to Europe and Australia. He is now branching into selling his multi-colored skeins in shops and welcomes opportunities to display his handiwork in trunk shows.</p><p>The business name comes from inside family jokes. &#8220;Wig&#8221; is connected to the family cat Sophia, who also modeled for the company logo.</p><p>&#8220;And the &#8216;Dizzy&#8217; part refers to my mom,&#8221; Klus said. &#8220;It&#8217;s too much to explain.&#8221;</p><p>Klus doesn&#8217;t fit the stereotypical image of someone who works with dyes. There are no boiling kettles, no safety glasses. He doesn&#8217;t wear a stained leather apron or heavy rubber gloves.</p><p>Instead, he cooks up his colorful works on the family&#8217;s kitchen stove in oversized stainless steel frying pans, using a common garden variety kitchen scale to weigh out mini-skeins. His tools of choice for balancing dyes are measuring cups and spoons and he uses his fingers, or sometimes a spoon, to sprinkle in dyes that give some yarns a speckled look.</p><p>He does wear a respirator mask, though.</p><p>&#8220;Right now, I use fine-particle commercial dyes,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But I think we should try to be better to the earth, and I want to learn how to use plants, things we find in nature, for colors.&#8221;</p><p>His dad Jeff has offered to set up a dyeing workshop in the basement, so Jason can spread out his inventory into its own workspace.</p><p>&#8220;The plumbing, everything is all there,&#8221; Jeff Klus said. &#8220;But the kitchen has better light. Jason needs to get the colors just right.&#8221;</p><p>Klus is a young man who likes to keep himself busy. And he&#8217;s very creative. Both of those factors led to the yarn dyeing enterprise.</p><p>&#8220;I kind of got inspired by my mom,&#8221; he said. &#8220;She&#8217;s a knitter and quilter. She does crochet. She&#8217;s always got some kind of project going.&#8221;</p><p>And so does her son.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t like to do just one thing,&#8221; Klus said.</p><p>While he was an undergraduate student at Wilkes University, Klus majored in both English and Spanish with a minor in Integrative Media. He graduated in 2016. That led to pursuing a master&#8217;s degree in literature at Bucknell University in Lewisburg.</p><p>While he was not studying, he would join his mother in the living room while she watched podcasts of a variety of handwork.</p><p>&#8220;I saw people dyeing yarns and I decided it looked pretty easy,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I figured I could do that, too.&#8221;</p><p>Klus said he started with yarn from a supplier in Europe, but soon switched to yarn from an American company because the yarns had a better feel in the hand and worked better with the dyes. He tests each color on small samples and carefully records the color and dye amounts to be able to reproduce each colorway. If a color doesn&#8217;t meet his standards, he overdyes the yarn to get to the color he&#8217;s satisfied with.</p><p>As with every indie dyer, Klus produces colors unique to his style and taste.</p><p>&#8220;I started mostly with sock-weight yarns, but now I&#8217;m getting into sport weight and heavier. And I try to keep the yarns affordable,&#8221; he said.</p><p>His mother Denise nudged him into actually using his own products.</p><p>&#8220;I told him if he was dyeing the yarn, he ought to learn how to use it,&#8221; she said.</p><p>So, Jason took up knitting, too.</p><p>&#8220;I kind of got better at the knitting in grad school,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I was away from family and friends and had a lighter schedule than I did as an undergrad. I filled that time working with my own yarns. It&#8217;s mathematical; it&#8217;s creative. And I can see results.&#8221;</p><p>With his master&#8217;s degree in hand, Klus began hunting for jobs. In the meantime, he started selling his hand-dyed yarns on the Etsy shop.</p><p>&#8220;Honestly, I&#8217;m still sending out resumes and applications,&#8221; he said. &#8220;There might be someone out there who wants to hire me. But I couldn&#8217;t just sit around waiting.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Jason Klus holds up a completed shawl he knitted with his dyed yarn. The pattern was Vertices Unite by Steven West. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_ttl091618klusyarn-7.jpg</photo0><caption0>Jason Klus holds up a completed shawl he knitted with his dyed yarn. The pattern was Vertices Unite by Steven West. </caption0><photoCredit0>Amanda Hrycyna | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_ttl091619klusyarn-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dizzy Wig Fibers by Jason Klus </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_ttl091619klusyarn-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Dizzy Wig Fibers by Jason Klus </caption1><photoCredit1>Amanda Hrycyna | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_ttl091619klusyarn-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Sophie walks across a table of yarn. Sophie was the inspiration for Dizzy Wig Fibers logo. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_ttl091619klusyarn-2.jpg</photo2><caption2>Sophie walks across a table of yarn. Sophie was the inspiration for Dizzy Wig Fibers logo. </caption2><photoCredit2>Amanda Hrycyna | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_ttl091619klusyarn-3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Jason Klus holds hand-dyed iris merino wool. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_ttl091619klusyarn-3.jpg</photo3><caption3>Jason Klus holds hand-dyed iris merino wool. </caption3><photoCredit3>Amanda Hrycyna | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_ttl091619klusyarn-5.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Jason Klus stands in front of a table full of his dyed yarn and completed projects. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_ttl091619klusyarn-5.jpg</photo4><caption4>Jason Klus stands in front of a table full of his dyed yarn and completed projects. </caption4><photoCredit4>Amanda Hrycyna | For Times Leader </photoCredit4></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_ttl091619klusyarn-6.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Jason Klus holds up a completed shawl he knitted with his dyed fabrics. The pattern was Vertices Unite by Steven West. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo5>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_ttl091619klusyarn-6.jpg</photo5><caption5>Jason Klus holds up a completed shawl he knitted with his dyed fabrics. The pattern was Vertices Unite by Steven West. </caption5><photoCredit5>Amanda Hrycyna | For Times Leader </photoCredit5></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Jason Klus, of Kingston, finds a market selling hand-dyed yarns</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Gina Thackara</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div>

Kingston man finds a market selling hand-dyed yarns