We had the good fortune of connecting with Ruth Burnham and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ruth, we’d love for you to start things off by telling us something about your industry that we and others not in the industry might be unaware of?
I offer handspun, handknit items for people, pets, homes, whatever. Almost no one understands the amount of time/labor involved in hand spinning the yarn that goes into a project. MORE is involved if one starts with a raw fleece and prepares it all the way into yarn. MORE is involved if fiber is dyed. More is involved if different fibers are blended, like say cashmere and wool, or wool and silk. Many things I make are custom designed by me, so there is time and experimentation involved there.

It can take at least 20 hours to spin enough yarn for a sweater (starting from pre-prepared fiber), and 40 to 60 hours more to knit it, depending on size and complexity.

People accept spending, say, $2000 for a painting, but not for a sweater. There IS the consideration that a painting is durable and not subject to moths, but labor alone can be comparable!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Professionally, I was a college administrator for 32 years, first in the student life division (24 years), then 8 years after “retirement”, as coordinator then director of a lifelong learning institute. People I worked with in both efforts reported that their experiences “changed their lives.” Of course, that’s what college education is supposed to do for young people, but having older people report the same thing is a great honor and pleasure.

I earned an M.Ed. degree in higher education administration, then proceeded to do just that for the rest of my “working” life. I am still in touch with former students, which is an enormous treat. The lifelong learning program just celebrated its 15th anniversary. I was one of the small group that founded the program and was its first coordinator. A zillion volunteer hours later, it came together and still functions with much the same mission it started with (and a paid coordinator). Couldn’t be happier or prouder of those accomplishments.

I think the key for me has been to focus on the people I was working with and their success. What would it take for this to work for THEM. Certainly money was never a motivator. In what I do right now with handspinning and knitting, I still focus on making the things that my clients WANT, not necessarily my idea of that, though it’s always a consultation and projects evolve. Since few people understand the process, there’s often teaching involved.

Example: Recently a grad school classmate contacted me to make a “scarf” for his wife. First it was going to be a tartan (awful thing to knit), then he found out his wife didn’t like her clan tartan (whew). Then it had to be “light”, but he didn’t think lace was the thing. I explained that holes in the fabric (lace) are how you get “light.” We landed on a color he liked (aqua dyed merino fiber) and I sent him a photo in a Scottish knitting book of a lace pattern, and I spun the yarn and knitted a 52″ long scarf with wife’s initials knitted in (an interesting challenge in itself). Scarf weighs one ounce. I wrote a small history for him of Scottish isles knitting, and supposed that there MIGHT have been some lace going on in the Hebrides, where his wife’s clan originated, but probably not using Hebridean wool which is not generally lace-friendly.

He loved the scarf and appreciated my research and story, and though I did not charge him nearly enough, we both ended up satisfied.

Flatirons Fiberworks is dedicated to the best quality and most personal service I can manage as an artisan. No hand work is ever perfect, and that is not the goal.

Right now, I am knitting “Emotional Support Chickens” (you can google that and see the work of others, I don’t have any on my website yet) in exchange for a $100 or higher donation to any progressive, humane, or environmental organization of the donor’s choice. As of this date (11/29/24), I’ve raised $800 for the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and World Central Kitchen. Donors send me a copy of their receipt; I receive no money. I cover cost of materials and mailing. I started this the day after the most recent presidential election, and have no plans to stop.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’ve only lived in Boulder, Colorado for 3.5 years, so am not as familiar with the area as many are. The Dushanbe Tea House stands out as a fascinating cultural treasure (a gorgeous, tiled tea house in Dushanbe, Tajikistan was dismantled and rebuilt in Boulder and now serves as a meeting place and restaurant with good food and interesting teas). We are at the base of the foothills of the Rockies, with the flatirons formation foremost (hence Flatirons Fiberworks), and Rocky Mountain National Park is nearby. There are funky little towns (former hippie hideouts, increasingly gentrified) tucked into the hills. Downtown Boulder is known for its pedestrian mall, Pearl Street, full of street performers, great cafes, interesting shops, and more. We’re about 40 minutes north of Denver, so there’s that. We can be a base camp for all sorts of explorations, depending on interests, ranging from walks to hikes to drives through the mountains. LOTS of fine dining, ethnic food, farm-to-table, etc. here.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I began learning to spin while on a sabbatical leave in New Zealand. A neighbor, also a visiting American, invited me to join her in attending a spinning group in Christchurch. She said “bring your knitting”, which was of course using millspun yarn. One group met the first and third Fridays of the month, and the other met at a different location the second and fourth. We brought our lunches, made tea there, and had a lovely time.

After about three weeks, the convener of the groups asked if I wanted to “have a go” at spinning. She loaned me a wheel, gave me some washed fleece, showed me how to comb it, and off I went. I spent the first week just treadling the wheel, trying to make it keep going around in one direction and stopping it when I wanted to. Then I bought some carded wool so I wouldn’t have to keep stopping to comb more. And the rest is history.

So I dedicate this shoutout to the lovely spinners and fiber preparers in the Canterbury area of New Zealand, several of whom remain friends 33 years later.

I should also appreciate my mother, who was a knitter and rug-hooker and try-er of many handcrafts. Probably the best lesson was to finish whatever project was started, even if you discovered it was a craft for the “no” pile. No learning is ever wasted.

Website: https://www.flatironsfiberworks.com

Facebook: Flatirons Fiberworks

Other: ruth@flatironsfiberworks.com

Image Credits
Images by Ruth Burnham

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutColorado is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.