About six months ago, a knitting friend who had just returned to Montreal from a trip to St John's mentioned to me the work that Christine LeGrow and Shirley Scott are doing to document and preserve the Newfoundland tradition of knitting "trigger mitts". I was intrigued by what I heard, and became further interested last December when one of our aunts sent me and Elizabeth the link to a short documentary piece on CBC's the Sunday Edition about their new book. I still hadn't yet gotten my hands on a copy of the it when the lovely folks at Boulder Publications contacted us a month or so ago and asked if we would be interested in carrying Saltwater Mittens From the Island of Newfoundland. But by then we had heard such good things about it already that we happily said "yes"!
We are so pleased to present a mini-collection of patterns featuring our Crescendo gradient sets! We sent yarn to several indie designers and they have recently released their beautiful designs. This collection includes knitting and crochet, lace and texture, large projects and small. Enjoy perusing the patterns and then don't forget to enter our giveaway!
After we finished up #OperationLoveNovember this past fall, I had a few people ask for our list of actions that we came up with, either to use now in January or February (which can also be hard months), or to refer to next year. So, in no particular order, here they are!
This is the fifth year that Debbie and I have been involved in the Indie Design Gift-along on Ravelry as both designers and participants. It's a fun event and it’s a chance for us to take a little vacation from designing ourselves, support our fellow designers by working from their patterns, make connections with knitters and crocheters around the world, and maybe finish off a gift or two or three.
November can be a challenging month for those of us dealing with seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Several years ago my sister Margaret and I came up with a little activity to get us through the month of November and we decided to repeat the project this year. We each came up with 15 actions to make our day more fun.
I really love baking bread at home, and I actually rarely buy any bread products except bagels (and croissants when I'm feeling indulgent). But with the crazy heat we had all summer I got out of the habit of baking, and until last week I hadn't made bread since last spring. I like using the method from the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day cookbook. In reality it does take a few more than five minutes, but once you've got a routine going and have the dough stored in your fridge it really is pretty easy to whip up a fresh loaf whenever you feel like it.
I've spent the past week sketching and swatching many, many cable patterns for a new design I'm working on. I love this part of the design process and usually have way more ideas than I can fit in one project, so I often end up with tons of swatches.
Our bulky-weight Presto yarn is a great choice for a quick and gratifying fall project, and we're really excited to announce the publication of four new patterns using this yarn.
We sent a skein of Presto each to three different indie designers at the beginning of the summer, and they've all come up with great ways to use this soft and squishy yarn. In fact, we were so inspired by their patterns that Elizabeth decided to add a design of her own to the collection!
One of the best parts of living in our new neighbourhood is being close the Jean-Talon Market, my favourite market in Montreal. I've been taking full advantage of it and going about once a week or so to pick up fruits and veggies, much of it for freezing and canning for the winter.
For the past few months we've been using this blog to celebrate our accomplishments, both big and small, and we want to celebrate your accomplishments too! And because we love to send special packages in the mail, we'll be giving away a prize. Please see the end of this post for all the details.
This summer has been very full, mostly of good things, but sometimes it gets a bit hard to keep up. So this week I've tried to focus on some accomplishments that are about taking care of myself, and allowing myself time to play.
Sweet Paprika Designs offers high-quality materials for knitters and crocheters, with a focus on locally-sourced and sustainable products. Co-owners (and sisters) Debbie and Elizabeth create their own hand-dyed yarns, knitting kits and patterns in their Montreal dye studio and organize knitting and dyeing events in the community.
