Accomplishments of the Week - June 3, 2018
Both the festivals we've attended this spring (the Knitter's Frolic in Toronto and the PEC Fibrefest last weekend in Picton) have been great - a chance to get our yarns and patterns out in the world, and to connect with friends both new and old. But preparing for them keeps me incredibly busy, and I was missing out on getting to spend time gardening, which is one of my favourite things to do at this time of year.
Accomplishments of the Week - May 28, 2018
So... I'm a little bit late with this week's post. I had grand plans to post last night after returning home from Fibre Fest in Picton. And of course after a long drive with two kids, all I wanted to do was eat dinner and go straight to bed. But I still want to share last week's accomplishments with you, so here they are!
Accomplishments of the Week - May 19, 2018
With two young kids at home, it often feels like I run around all week and never get anything done. So, this is my effort to reflect on the week and celebrate successes both large and small, knitting-related or not.
Developing Gradient Sets - Part 1
I've been spending some time this spring working on developing new gradient sets in our Crescendo yarn for a couple of different projects, and I thought it would be fun (and hopefully interesting!) to document the process here.
Recipe: A cup of Cha (chai)
It's no secret that I love tea - which I think pairs perfectly with knitting! Most of the time I drink regular old orange pekoe, or roiboos if I don't want the caffeine, but a cup of chai is always a nice treat and changes things up a little bit.
Introducing Sarah, our dye studio helper
Hi, I’m Sarah! I’ve been working at the Sweet Paprika studio helping out with everything from dyeing to packing to washing and winding. I started out as an intern, spending part of my 2016 summer learning the ropes and lending a hand. I now work with Sweet Paprika part time during the school year. Like Annie (who wrote about her experiences as a dye studio intern here), I am a theatre design student, which means I am often knee-deep in creative assignments and performance designs, especially during the school year.
Product Review: Sock Stop
Last winter I happened to be in an art supply store, and spotted a shelf of colourful little bottles labeled "Sock Stop". It's a German liquid latex product designed to be applied to the bottoms of socks or slippers to give them extra grip. I didn't have an immediate use for it, but thought it might come in useful someday and bought a bottle on impulse. It now seems to be fairly widely available, and I've seen it since then at several local yarn shops.
How to make quick and easy fabric gift bags
Several years ago, I decided that it was time for me to stop using wrapping paper for my Christmas gifts. We usually celebrate as a family at my parents' place, and wrapping paper isn't recyclable in their municipality - in fact it's not recyclable in many places, and it's not a good idea to burn it in the wood stove either, due to its high ink content. We would often end up with several bags full of paper by the time we were done our unwrapping, and most of it would eventually wind up at the local dump.
Stars and Snowflakes
We're right in the middle of the darkest time of the year here in Montreal, with the sun setting just after 4pm these days. Elizabeth and I have both been doing some decorative crafting lately, which helps to brighten things up as we prepare for the holidays and anxiously await the solstice...
Happy Birthday to Us!
Elizabeth and I have shared our partnership running Sweet Paprika for over 10 years now, but we've been sharing many other things in life for much longer than that - including birthday celebrations!
With my birthday falling on the 16th of November and Elizabeth's on the 22nd, we often had shared parties and celebrated our birthdays together. In fact, our younger sister Margaret was also born on November 16th, so the third week in November has been "Birthday Week" for us as long as I can remember.
Socktober (or Sicktober...)
This year Elizabeth and I wanted to create some fun plans for Socktober, a month-long celebration of sock-knitting! We had things all lined up for a sock-focused knit-along among other things, but just as we were getting ready to launch I got really, really sick. Elizabeth stepped in and helped me out with trying to get things organized (even though she's supposed to be on maternity leave), and everything more-or-less went along the way we'd planned... except that I didn't get better - I got worse.
Recipe: Energy Bars
Working in the dye studio can be pretty physically demanding - I'm on my feet all day, slinging around heavy dye pots full of wet wool. So I try to make sure I bring lots of good snacks to the studio with me to keep my energy up throughout the day. I've decided to share a few of my favourite energy-boosting recipes here on the blog, I hope you enjoy them!
