Frisbee

Since my knitting didn't seem to be particularly cooperative this week we decided that an evening of playing frisbee was in order. 

It's hard to say who had more fun, both Stella and Chris were completely tuckered out by the end of it. 

Hope you're having a great weekend!

A winner and a portrait!

And the winner is..... MelissaHB! Yay! Congrats Melissa, send me an e-mail so I can hook you up with your awesome new pattern collection.

And another big thanks to Glenna for A) creating this masterpeice, and B) sponsoring this giveaway!

In other news, since yesterday was our 2 year wedding anniversary, it was time to dig out the tripod and try and get Stella to pose for a picture.... Our final collage is more of a blooper reel then a proper anniversary photo. But it's so true to life, we're not perfect, and neither are our family portraits!

Clockwise from top left: Stella trying to jump down, Stella sticking out her tongue, Stella giving mommy kisses, Stella in the middle of a massive yawn.

Here is last year's photo in case you want to see how much we've grown since then. ;)

Happy Anniversary Chris

Two years ago today I married the love of my life. It was the best decision I ever made. 

Oh, how I love him!

Giveaway! The Urban Collection by Glenna C.

Have you all seen the latest collection from the awesome and talented Crazy Knitting Lady, Glenna C? She has been introducing the patterns in a staggered release since February, now they are all out, the collection is complete, and she's given us a masterpiece! I am only slightly biased because this collection features exclusively TFA yarns, which is amazing.

The Urban Collection truly features something for everyone, from sweaters to smaller accessories, lace to cables... Glenna has covered all of our knitting needs. Glenna has mastered effortless, classic style. All of these pieces could become wardrobe staples for years to come.

For all the details about each individual design click on the Ravelry links under the photos. 

THE SWEATERS

Locke St. Cardigan & Water St Cardigan

THE PERFECT SET

Aberdeen Ave. Hat & Mitts

THE GORGEOUS LACE

Lakeshore Shawl & Hunter St. Cowl

THE ACCESSORIES

Queen St. Mitts & Armour Rd. Socks

Glenna has very kindly agreed to sponsor a giveaway this week! The winner will receive the entire Urban Collection pdf!  To enter, leave a me a comment telling me which pattern you would cast on for first. A winner will be announced on Wednesday, June 13.

I know, it is impossible to pick a favourite, I'd like one of each please! The Lakeshore Shawl in Silver Label Mulberry Silk is off the charts gorgeous, but there is something about the Queen St. Mitts done in Purple Label Cashmere Sock in my brightest Lemongrass colourway that really tempts me. 

Source: Thanks to Glenna for letting me borrow all of these lovely photo's!

Hardly working

This was me on Wednesday afternoon, working on a new pattern. This is how I know we made the right decision when we chose to stay small and build our own little studio in the back yarn instead of going big and renting a space. Chris was dyeing in the studio, I was keeping him company and working on a swatch. Life is good. 

This is how I plan on spending my weekend, minus the part where Chris is working... and maybe instead of enjoying my little patio I'll take my knitting to the park for World Wide Knit in Public day!

Pretty New Toys

While shopping for my *almost here* new niece or nephew I spotted a very cool toy. It's more of a pretty objext than a toy, though maybe it's really fun for babies to play with, for me, it's just really fun to look at!

Just a bunch of beautifully colourful wooden balls on a string. I've been admiring it all week. It's such a nice change from all the loud plastic toys I've been seeing. So simple. 

Ever since we brought Stella home with us I've kept my eyes open for whippet paraphernalia. I don't plan on having whippet art and whippet statues all over the house, but one nice whippet bookend does the job nicely. It's been very hard to find just the right thing, greyhound stuff is easier to come across, but finding something that was as soft and pretty as Stella has been tough. This guy is definitely more muscular than our petite girl, but he's still pretty. :)

I love my new Stella bookend. 

Handspun Hat

And.... another new hat! This time I'll let the photo's do the talking (mostly). I had a gorgeous skein of handspun, so I knit a simple, slouchy hat to make the most of it. Pattern adapted from my Grammy's hat pattern, I just omitted the ribbing on the body. Love.

Sometimes it's the simplest things that bring the biggest smiles. :)

Etsy Shop Update Tomorrow!

Set the alarms on your cell phones! There will be an Etsy shop update tomorrow, Saturday June 2, at 12pm (that's noon!) Eastern Standard Time. This update will feature a bunch of almost everything, Green Label, Orange Label, Purple Label, Red Label, Blue Label a teensie bit of Pink Label and Yellow Label and a few batches of the March Club base, a gorgeous merino silk fingering weight blend dyed in One of a Kind colourways. Below are a few of my favorites from this update: 

Mmmmmm so pretty! Dyeing One of a Kind colourways makes me soooo happy.

People often say to me: "Tan, since you love the ooak's so much, why don't you just make them permanent colourways in your collection?" To that I say: very good question, here is the answer:

A) A lot of these colourways are not exactly reproducible. What makes them so awesome is that they are layered in such a way that I just couldn't achieve the same look in my production dyeing. Sometimes I'll try a combination of colours and it just doesn't work, so I mix up some more dye and throw in "a little bit of this and a little bit of that", I pour it on, swirl it around, take the yarn out, look at it in natural light and then put it back into something else until the colours come together to create something beautiful. By the time I'm finished I have no idea what I've done, I just know that the colourway is awesome and truly One of a Kind!

B) Hopefully some of these colourways will eventually make it to the permanent collection! It's a great way for me to experiment, think outside the box and try new things, if they work, and they fit in to my vision for the TFA colour collection, then there is a good chance they could. Or maybe become a future Club colourway...

For now, I'm very happy to just play around in my dye studio from time to time with complete reckless abandon, not worrying about writing things down or taking careful notes. It's dyeing at it's most fun, most carefree. I love being able to do it, I hate having to part with them, but I appreciate so much that I live in a world where there are other knitter's who love the One of a Kind's as much as I do!

Don't forget, tomorrow, Saturday, June 2 at noon for the update! 

Silver Hat

I want to thank everyone who left such thoughtful and helpful comments on my last post about finding balance. It's somehow comforting to know that I'm not the only one who struggles with it. The overall consensus seems to be to do what you feel like doing when you feel like doing it, if it's knitting today, drawing tomorrow, that's fine! 

I've got a new hat to share with you today. I knit this hat as a sample for my booth at the Knitter's Frolic last month. It's my Cabled Canuck pattern knit up in the new Orange Label yarn in the Shadow colourway. This yarn is so incredibly soft and silky (obviously, since it contains both cashmere and silk!) and in the shadow colourway it really looks like silver. I love it! 

This hat uses just under 1 skein of yarn and is the perfect project to try out this amazing base. I highly recommend it!

Balance

I haven't knit a single stitch in close to 2 weeks. It's kind of stressing me out, but I'm coming to terms with it. I'm working on being ok with taking a break. We've been busy, we had company in town and then I wasn't feeling well and spent the better part of a week laying in bed/on the couch with very little energy. This past weekend I was feeling better and the weather was so nice that I spent most of my time outdoors. Towards the end of last week I began sewing my African Flower Hexagons together, which, though not technically knitting, did satisfy my crafting/stitching needs. 

I'm working hard to try and establish a little bit of balance in my life. For the past 6 years I have dedicated almost all of my leisure time to knitting. I love to knit, so it hasn't been difficult, and since knitting sort of counts as "work" for me, spending a few hours a night knitting always feels very productive. But I've got other interests too, painting, drawing, sewing, gardening, baking... these other interests have all been pushed aside while I've focused on knitting. 

While I most certainly don't plan on putting an end to my knitting career (or even slowing down really), my goal is to try and manage my time off a bit better so I can become more well rounded. The way I see it, diversifying can do lots of good. Change my perspective, allow me to approach my knitting from a different point of view. As a creative person I've become accustomed to these ebbs and flows of inspiration and motivation. The challenge is learning how to be ok with the lows because I know that a high is just around the corner and I've got to be ready to make the most of it!

Do you guys struggle to find balance in your crafting life? Is it just me? Any tips on how to achieve balance?

Club - May 2012

I think it's safe to say that it's officially summer here in Montreal. The weather has been amazing (though I'm always a little nervous when it's this nice and hot this early in the season... what does July have in store for us!?) Summer has a way of eating away at our knitting mojo. I knit with wool yarn all year long, I don't care how hot it gets! But one thing that I do appreciate in the summer are smaller projects. One skein wonders that don't weigh me down. This months Year In Colour Club pattern is just the thing! The Cachou Cowl, by Hilary Smith Callis (aka: the Yardniad) is light and airy and is perfect for warm weather knitting. The Thrills colourway is a really pretty soft purple with shades of pink and blue. I really wanted to mention how apropos it was for the season in my purple posie blog post, but wasn't ready to give away the colour just yet, so I bit my tongue. ;) 

This cowl has a really beautiful scalloped edging. I love how it softens the linear trellis lace motif.  

Can you tell that I have a lot of fun doing these photo-shoots? I start off all serious with my best model faces but it always degenerates into full-blown belly laughs.

Frogged

Do you remember this beautiful scarf from January 2011? Oh, what high hopes I had for this scarf. I expected it to be "the one" the scarf that I wore all the time, my go to, perfect and elegant scarf. Well, not so much. Upon completing this scarf I expressed a bit of concern about the fact that it rolled in on itself. I hoped that it would be manageable, but it wasn't. So I never wore it... maybe only once or twice when it was brand new. 

The yarn was too pretty to give up on, so I finally frogged this bad boy and have a new plan for the yarn. Another attempt at the perfect scarf, I'll keep you posted! 

Isn't that center photo awesome? That's what the yarn looked like immediately after frogging! A good soak and it relaxed back to it's initial state. I love all those crinkly strands, reminds me of when I used to get my mom to braid my hair when it was wet and after a night of sleeping on it I'd wake up with the best crimped do!