Happy Holidays From Me And My Elves!

Less than a week ago, while chatting with my mom, we decided that I should knit sweaters for the boys for Christmas! I finished Chris' sweater last week and was feeling quite proud of myself. I pictured all 3 of my boys wearing their new sweaters on Christmas day and my heart just about melted. It had to happen. Thankfully these sweaters are wee and the pattern I chose (Flax by Tin Can Knits) is worsted weight and knits up quickly and it looks like I'll have them done and wrapped up in time for Christmas morning without breaking too much of a sweat. Few! Micah's is finished and Rowan's is just missing 1.5 sleeves. I got this!

We are super excited about Christmas this year. Possibly the most excited we've been in a long time. Rowan gets it. He's counting down the days until Christmas, he's decorating cookies, he's wrapping gifts, he's rearranging ornaments on the tree, he's asking lots of questions about Santa ("Can Santa's elves make toothpaste mommy?") and every day on the drive home from daycare he pretends to be Rudolf and guides our car home with the light from his shiny red nose. It's adorable and heart warming and I can't wait to see his face light up on Christmas morning when he sees that Santa has paid us a visit. 

We're hosting Christmas dinner at our house this year and that only adds to the festive excitement! We'll be adding a leaf to the dining table, pulling out the good china, arranging a veggie platter in the shape of a Christmas tree... it's a lot of work, but I'm so excited about it! That's the beauty of not hosting every year, it's fun and exciting when it's our turn!

At the risk of bombarding you with too many festive photos of my boys, here are a select few of the 100 I have of them wearing these ridiculously cute pj's and enjoying the spirit of the season!

Merry Christmas from all of us to all of you! See you on Boxing Day!

Boxing Day Etsy Update!!!

L to R, top to bottom: Highlighter on PureWash Chunky, Lime Hummingbird on PureWash Worsted, Rocket on PureWash DK, Monist on Cosmic Blue Label, Gem on PureWash Worsted, Lightning on PureWash Chunky, Cornucopia on Red Label, Prism on Red Label, Midnight Oil on Red Label.

It's that time of year again folks! We have been super busy behind the scenes dyeing up as many one of a kind colourways in as many bases as we possibly can squeeze in to one giant Etsy Update! Here are the details:

Boxing Day Etsy Update on December 26th at 12pm (noon) EST! Link to Etsy shop here. The shop will appear empty until exactly noon on the 26th at which point it will be overflowing with yarn! 

This update will feature $1 a skein shipping ($2 for overseas orders). I always do my best to catch any multiple orders and bundle them together to save on packaging and trips to the post office. With $1 a skein shipping there are no overcharges to refund so it saves me a lot of time in administrative tasks. Win-win! I am marking each item as being ready to ship in 3-4 weeks. I expect to have things out the door and on their way to their loving homes sooner than that but think it's wise to build in a little wiggle room. 

This year's update will feature just about every single one of our bases (see the full run down on our yarns page) with the exception of Silver Label Mulberry Silk. We've focused on having a lot of PureWash available, lots of sweater quantities and lots of colourways! Solids, speckles, the works! This style of update is a bit of a mad dash since quantities are limited and you have to act quick. It's fast and furious and fun! 

L to R, top to bottom: Sand, Chartreuse, Aurora, Tartan, Majestic, Cherry Burst, Lotus, Chris Grey, Nightshade.

We're featuring this super fun new yarn in this year's update. We're calling it: Mondo Super Skein! Because it really is just that. This yarn is super bulky and these skeins are super huge. Most of them are about 250 g and 130 yards. Massive yarn! Grab your 10mm needles and whip up a hat, cowl, scarf or even a blanket in no time! Since there is a bit of discrepancy in the weight of the skeins we've created separate listings for the different weight brackets that we've labeled as small, medium and large batches.

Also back by popular demand we've made up a whole bunch of Mystery Skein Sets! These are 3-colour skein sets of fingering weight yarns in gorgeous groupings. Each set will include a skein of Cosmic Blue Label, Purple Label and Red Label - one of each base and each base a different colour (mostly our permanent collection colourways). Each set will be a surprise, but each will be made up of colourways that I would personally use in a shawl together. I’m envisioning these sets being awesome for shawls since there are so many beautiful 3 colour shawl patterns out there, or, you could of course knit 3 separate projects with them.

And lastly, we'll be selling the Gift Bundles that remain as part of the Etsy Update - stock is dwindling but there are still a few left and with $1 shipping it's a great deal! The option of purchasing multiple skeins will be available in a drop down menu within the listing. This will be your last chance to nab this year's bundle!

Find Your Fade

scheme #1: Midnight, Cosmic Night, Iris, Jewel, Orchid, Pink Grapefruit, Moon Dust (OOAK)

scheme #2: Tartan, Brick, Sunset, Orange Blossom, Saffron, Gold, Sand

scheme #3: Ravine, OOAK, Peacock, Seabreeze, Frost, Hummingbird (OOAK) Gold

scheme #4: Fig, Velvet, Garnet, Lightning (OOAK), Papaya, Saffron, Gold

Andrea Mowry recently released a stunning new shawl pattern, Find Your Fade and Instagram is abuzz! My feed is full of gorgeous gradient inspiration and I couldn't help but join in on the fun and pull a few colour combos off my shelves. It's a slippery slope. I was only going to pull together 2 palettes, but couldn't stop... and now I wish that I had done a green palette and also a grey one, maybe grey with a pop of purple? Stay tuned, there might be a part 2 to this blog post. Which scheme is your favourite? I want to say that my favourite is the blue one, but I'm oddly drawn to all 4. I love the Tartan in scheme #2 but then also love the Fig in scheme #4. Maybe I can figure out a way to work in Tartan, Fig and some blue!

In other news: I've been wanting to officially acknowledge the fact that the holidays are very quickly approaching and though we are continuing to work and intend to fulfil orders right up until the end of next week we have passed the deadline for shipping in order to guarantee delivery before the holidays. We don't have a firm holiday schedule this year but we will be taking time off over the next few weeks to relax and to celebrate the season with our families. Towards the end of next week we'll slow down and then pick right back up again in the new year. If you need more specific details than that, send me an email to hello@tanisfiberarts.com

Happy holiday! 

Chris' Christmas Sweater Palette

I've finally gotten to the good part on Chris' Christmas sweater!!! Yesterday Rowan and I wound all the balls I'm going to need for the exciting yoke I have planned. Chris' sweater is actually a minor hack on a design of mine that you haven't seen yet. It's going to be published in the new year so you'll have to be patient while I secretly work away on it behind the scenes. It's going to be good. I'm so excited!

The star of the show is that grey/multi speckled skein in the middle up there. When Rowan and I were picking colours for the yoke he kept insisting that it needed MORE PINK! Pink is his favourite colour, but it's not exactly what I had in mind for Chris' sweater. I managed to convince Rowan that the spots of pink in the grey speckled skein were enough and that since we were using pink sparingly that it would really pop! So now he calls this "Daddy's pink sweater" and I love that. Oh my gosh 3.5 years old's are funny! Sure, he pushes my buttons and I sometimes snap, but it never lasts long because he's always just seconds away from saying/doing the next hilarious thing. 

Mood Board Monday - an aqua holiday party!

candy canes, snowflake, reindeer, Seabreeze, Natural, Poppy, felt hearts, cookies, paper ornaments.

I've never been one to stick to a colour scheme, unless that colour scheme is rainbow - in which case I'm very good at staying on task. ;) If I did have to pick a scheme for the holidays, this is one that I would seriously consider. You know that I love aqua, and that touch of red is just enough warmth to make it feel really festive but not too traditional. 

Do you decorate for the holidays? Do you have a theme or are you all over the place? I love walking into a room that is full of holiday decorations and I really wonder why I don't do more seasonal decorating. It's just so cheery!

WIP - Milkyway French Cancan

My main knitting project these days is a secret sweater that I'm knitting for Chris for Christmas. It's actually not so secret, he knows that he's getting a sweater and he sees me working away on it in the evenings, but I'm going to try and keep some of the details from him until the very end. When I need a break from that I sneak in a few rows on the gorgeous border of my French Cancan that I'm knitting up in the Gift Bundle colourway Milkyway. I'm crazy about how this colourway is knitting up! It's light and cheerful and a little bit bright, but not too much... just so lovely. I am having a heck of a time with the border lace though! Maybe because I'm not knitting on it often enough to get into a proper groove with it, I have made so many mistakes already. Fingers crossed that blocking somehow miraculously corrects all my little glitches?

New Weaving Kits!

Weaving kits now available!!

About two and half years ago I came across the work of weaver Maryanne Moodie online and fell instantly in love. I travelled to Brooklyn to attend one of her now famous workshops and blogged all about the life changing experience here. I know that sounds dramatic, but I swear, as someone who works alone, in my house, with my kids most of the time, it was an incredibly inspiring experience to get to talk with someone who is equally as passionate about her fiber craft as I am and who was able to open my eyes to a whole new way of looking at and working with my precious hand dyed yarns. 

Fast forward to today and I am thrilled to be able to share this revelatory experience with all of you! We've put together a fabulous weaving kit which features all you need to get started weaving your own wall hangings. What better way to express your love of fiber and colour than to create an original work of art to proudly hang on your wall?

Kit includes:

• 1 loom, handmade with sustainable timber by Loom & Spindle. Weaving area is approx. 13" x 9". 
• 1 copy of Maryanne Moodie's modern weaver's guide, On The Loom. 
• A variety of our yarns and colourways to complete your first weaving. Bases included are aran weight, chunky and bulky. See colourways in images below and written descriptions on kits page.

Sam and I had a blast creating our wall hangings when we did a mini workshop of our own right at my dining room table. I chose the Pink palette and Sam worked with the Blue palette. I love each of our interpretations. We scoured pinterest to come up with some inspirational images and baby, the sky is the limit! We've created a Weaving pinboard to help get you started. Trust me, once you start, your piece will take on a life of it's own and you will be delighted with each and every over/under/over/under motion of your needle. It's so much fun. I'm already itching to start a new one! 

Are you as excited about this as I am? Have you ever tried weaving a tapestry? Are you hooked? And most importantly, what palette should I use for my next weaving?

Free patterns for knitted gifts

candygram cowl, love you forever hearts, trench hat, thrummed mitts, blank canvas baby sweater, business casual socks,  sunnyside baby sweater, buttons cowl, grammy's hat and mitts, prism shawl, alpha socks, baby shane blanket, 

It's that time of year again where we're all scrambling to knit gifts for our loved ones! Every year I go through the same internal struggle where I go back and forth over wether or not to knit gifts. This is me literally every day in December: "It's just a quick hat! I can totally do it. But if I knit one for her I should really knit something for her 2 sisters. I know, I'll knit them matching hats. Oh! Hat and mitt combos would be so cute, they'd be set for winter! I've been wanting to knit dad a vest for years, this is the year I'll do it, it's so fast, no sleeves! What the heck do I get my brother... socks are a small project, I can manage that right?" Over and over again until every evening when I eventually sit down and say out loud to Chris "I'm not knitting anything this year, tomorrow lets get serious about making a Christmas shopping list, ok?"

So, what does my lack of organization have to do with today's blog post? Good question. Nothing really. Just know that I feel for you and I admire all of you who manage to do any gift knitting whatsoever! Since we're just shy of a month away from Christmas and there is technically still plenty of time to knit a few gifts, I thought it would be the perfect time to remind you all that I have a few free patterns that might tick some boxes for you. My absolute favourite hat/mitt Christmas gift combo is my Grammy's hat and mitts set. Designed to use up odds and ends of worsted weight yarn they are a quick knit that don't break the bank since I highly encourage you to stash bust for this project. Easily modified to fit all head sizes (baby to adult) these hats are the perfect project for those looking for some fun, colourful knitted gifts. 

Happy stitching!

A quick trip to Toronto

A few snapshots from our trip to Toronto (details and captions on my Instagram feed). bottom right photo credit: Knittedbliss' instagram.

Last week we packed up the kids and drove to Toronto for a lovely long weekend spent with family and friends. I didn't bring my good camera and apparently only took 3 photos the whole time we were there. We were staying with my cousin and there were tons of opportunities to take fun photos of the kids playing (my cousin has 3 kids that my boys adore!) or of their beautiful, recently renovated home... but that's just not my style. I take photos every single day in my own home but can't get into the habit of documenting moments that matter when I'm away. I'm working on it! 

Toronto was awesome. I have been very weary about traveling with the kids and the fact that we all enjoyed this short trip is very encouraging. I might plan something a bit more ambitious for the spring! When I asked Rowan what his favourite part of the weekend was he didn't say the Aquarium (which was awesome) or his cousin's birthday party, or any of the other fun activities we did together, he said that his favourite part was Friday morning when he and Chris accompanied my cousin and her 3 kids on their walk to school. So sweet. My favourite part was getting to see my family, including my sister who lives in Toronto, and getting to see Julie! The last time we saw each other we each had 1 child, and they were wee! Now we both have a big kids and babies, and they are adorable!

Bottom to top: OOAK speckled, OOAK weird-Chartreuse, Hunter (Club colourway from November 2016)

I didn't knit a stitch while we were in Toronto, but I did knit quite a bit in the car. As a parent, I have a very real and very profound love of car knitting. It's one of the only times that I can just sit there and do nothing but knit. Sure, there are lots of breaks to reach back and hand out snacks or change the song we're listening to or answer questions about how much longer it's going to be etc, but for the most part it was 5.5 hours of sitting and knitting. It's the only way to make a long car ride with 2 young kids feel like a mini-vacation in and of itself. As long as you can tune out the whining, it's heaven. 

Above are a few skeins I've set aside for the sweater I'm working on right now. It's going to be a good one!

Mood Board Monday - French Braids

kingston hat, frost french cancan, cabled braided necklace, french braid cardigan, chunky cowl hood, Fishtail Braided Headband.

This week's mood board came about when I realized that everything I'm into these days seems to include a french braid style cable and also happens to be in this beautiful grey/white/frost platte. It was just begging to be pulled together in a mood board! And he, beautiful cables in a soothing palette is a great way to start off the week. Happy Monday!

Dyed to Order Update This Week!

So, this is what you all want to know: this Thursday night, for a limited time only, I am re-listing unlimited inventory in every single one of our colourways in ALMOST every single one of our permanent collection bases AND THEN SOME!!!

Available colourways include all of the colourways on our COLOURS page. 

Available bases include all of the bases on our YARNS page (with the exception of Silver Label Mulberry silk, sorry guys. It's truly out of stock!) INCLUDING our entire line of PureWash yarns: Fingering, DK, Worsted and Chunky. Woohoo!

This will be the first time we'll have the PureWash bases available in this format, order whatever colourway you fancy in whatever quantity you need! I'm excited to see what colours you pick. ;)

After I put the boys to bed on Thursday night I'll start listing all of the yarns on the site, expect to see them all there by about 9pm. I'll keep the shop fully stocked until Saturday morning. The Kits and Gifts section is also well stocked with Palettes, Mini Sock Yarn Skein sets, Mitten Kits in a bunch of new colourways and Gift Bundles. 

This will be a dyed to order update, please allow about 3-4 weeks for us to get everything dyed and in the mail to you. 

So, what do you think? Are you as excited as I am?

Mood Board Monday - Hot Purple!

eyeshadow, grapes, bottles, sunset, tulips, hair, rainbow aura quartz.

We put up our Christmas lights over the weekend! We probably won't turn them on regularly until after December 1st (Chris' rule!) but just the fact that they're up makes me happy. It also has me thinking about the holidays and our annual Boxing Day update! We're planning lots of cool things for this year's update. Last year the mystery sock skein sets were a big hit, so we'll definitely have lots more of those. I'm also hoping to feature lots of new OOAK colourways and am pretty inspired by these hot shades of yellow, orange, pink and purple right now. 

I'd love to know what types of colours you'd like to see us experimenting with. Any special requests?