meet the artist

I’m Julie Rose Romano— so nice to meet you! I’m a yarn dyer and fiber artist living in a riverside cottage in the New York countryside. Art and creativity have been a part of my life since the moment I could pick up a crayon, and I followed this passion to the Fashion Institute of Technology, where I graduated summa cum laude in 2012 with a BFA in fashion design. I began hand-dyeing yarn in 2015 while I was working in fashion, and by 2016, I transitioned to dyeing yarn full-time. I gave weaving a try in 2019, and I quickly realized how much I loved creating beautiful, organic pieces of woven art featuring unexpected elements like vintage millinery flowers, tiny bells, and metal sequins. I began offering woven art in addition to hand-dyed yarn in 2019, and I now create both ready-made pieces and custom woven art for collectors.

let’s get to know each other!

One question I get often is, “What inspires you?” In some ways, a better question might be what doesn’t inspire me! I love spending time in the natural world, and I draw so much of my inspiration from the colors and shapes of the forest and river just outside our door. I also love to read, and many of my colorways are named after my favorite characters in literature. Children’s literature holds a particularly special place in my heart. Film, music, poetry— anything that touches my soul is likely to become the inspiration for a colorway or weaving. Emotion is the starting point for anything I create— what feelings do I want to evoke in the viewer of a woven piece, or in a knitter working with Sweet Sparrow yarns? Once my heart leads me to my intention, my hands intuitively know what to do to create it.

When I’m not weaving and dyeing, I can usually be found knitting, taking photos, baking, sewing, or gardening. I’m currently in the throes of preserving the harvest from our garden’s first season! (Head on over to the journal section of the site to read more about that!) I also record biweekly videos about my making, and include snippets of our life in our country cottage with my partner John, and our dog, Reggie the Wonderhound and our cat, Young Bilbo. You can stay up to date with the latest Sweet Sparrow happenings by subscribing to our newsletter, or drop me a line via the contact form. Thank you so much for stopping by!