The typical start-up origin story begins in a California garage.

The story of Knit Free or Dye, Danielle Sachs's line of hand-dyed yarn, inspired by Northern life, starts at Hay River's Mackenzie Place, better known as the "highrise."

"I started when I was living in the highrise using Kool-Aid powders," said Sachs, while mixing a rainbow of dyes at her Hay River home on July 15.

But the sugary Kool-Aid hues did not vibe well with Sachs's creative vision.

"As a knitter, I wanted colours that reflected our environment and where we live in the North," she said. "So I thought, 'how can I do this?'"

Sachs applied for seed funding from the territorial Department of Education Culture and Employment, which she was granted.

Coupled with an investment of her own money, Sachs bought a large batch of good-quality powdered dyes and Canadian-spun wool yarn.

And thus, Knit Free or Dye was born.

It's been about two years since Sachs, who is the assistant supervisor at Dene Ts'eh Ts'udaa K'ehondii Koc, the early learning and childcare centre at the K'atlodeeche First Nation reserve, started her hand-dyed yarn business.

Fisherman's Wharf regulars have likely seen her colourful hand-dyed skeins on display.

This summer, Sachs will sell a custom collection of superhero- and fantasy-themed yarn in Yellowknife for Ptarmicon, the North's premier gaming and pop culture convention, from July 27 to 29.

Sachs took up knitting when she was 20 years old as a way to quit smoking SA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½“ she wanted something to keep her hands busy.

She bought needles and yarn from Walmart and picked up the book Stitch 'n Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook, by Debbie Stoller. The guidebook is popular among younger knitters for its off-beat patterns and sassy tone.

"It had skull (patterns) and it was a fun read," said Sachs.

Though she didn't kick her smoking habit then, Sachs did take to knitting.

The first thing she knit was a "loose rectangle, I guess you would say, it had four sides," she said with a laugh. Sachs ended up seeming the sides and turning the knitting experiment into a bag to hold gear for her next project, because there would be a next project, and many more projects after that.
Once Sachs mastered knitting, she learned how to spin yarn, and eventually she taught herself how to dye it.

"I call them my Northern rainbow," she said, holding out an array of loose coils bearing her Knit Free of Dye label.

She has Jackfish, a green wool flecked with shades of brown; Night Lights, a black, pink, green and white yarn inspired by the Aurora Borealis; and Magpie, which is black, green, blue and white.

Sachs named one colourway Road Trip, "because how many of us drive south to stock up on things we need."

From start to finish, the dying process takes several hours.

First the yarn is soaked in soap overnight, to clean it of oils that could repel the dye. Then it is soaked again for about an hour in citric acid, which helps the colours adhere to the wool.

While yarn sits like boiled spaghetti in a large metal bowl on the kitchen counter, Sachs pours boiling water into her coloured dyes, and then mixes the liquids together until she achieves the perfect hues.

Hanging from a pan rack above the sink is a sheet of sketchpad paper with Sachs's Ptarmicon designs drawn in coloured pencil.

There is a red, blue and yellow Superman yarn, a red and grey Handmaid's Tale pattern, and a light and dark grey design inspired by the new Marvel superhero Snowguard, a shape-shifting Inuk teen girl from Pangnirtung, Nunavut.

Sachs colours her wool one skein at a time, and paints the dye onto the yarn with a foam brush.

She isn't precious about it. Sachs chats as she colours the wool and lets the colours bleed into one another. Some yarn gets a dusting of powdered dye, which creates a speckled effect.

After the wool is coloured, it is heat set on the stove and hung to dry on a clothing rack on Sachs's front porch.

Sachs said Hay River has been a great town to start up a small-scale craft business.

"If I was living in Ottawa or Montreal, I don't know if I would have gotten into this," she said.

"You've got the support of other crafters (here), which has made a huge difference."