What's on the needles...

Since a good 6 months of last year was pretty much dedicated to knitting up Christmas gifts, I couldn't wait to cast on something I wanted to knit. It didn't necessarily mean that I would be knitting for myself but rather a skein of yarn that I wanted to try out. I had this skein of yarn in mind:

Yarn: Dragonfly Dyewerx Sparkle Sock in Stealth Mode

Pattern: Wendy Knits Toe Up Slip Stitch Heel

It's knitting up fairly well and the colors are pooling but the base is nice to work with :-) I'm unsure if I'll be knitting these for myself or if they will be going into a box for gifts this year but I have time to decide while I'm knitting them :-)

I've also been knitting on a sweater that my 2 girls can wear. I have a newborn and a 2 year old and ever since I saw these Merino Felt packs at the Calgary Fiber Arts Fair in November 2014 I've wanted to spin and knit them into a sweater :-)

I've been posting pictures on Instagram of my progress spinning each color last year. It was so cheerful to be spinning such bright colors! I ended up with a total of 537 yards of a sport weight / light DK weight yarn.

Once I'd spun them up I knew that they would make a fabulous sweater :-) Sol I couldn't wait until after my second little girl was born to cast on. Once we got into a routine with our newborn daughter and our toddler I was able to sneak in some knitting here and there ;-) I decided on the Elwood pattern by Jenny Wiebe and had decided to knit up the 2T size. I wanted to maximize the yardage I had since it was handspun.

I love how the yarn has a semi solid look to it! I'm quite pleased with how it's knitting up and how I spun it. I had spun once consistent thin single and then chain plied it to make the most of all the spun fiber.

I was able to get a good start on the yellow yesterday afternoon while my little girl is napping. I also was able to get my toddler to watch some children's shows on Netflix on the ipad :-) Which gave momma some knitting time :-) !! I'm in no hurry to finish either projects but I am going to spend a little time here and there knitting in between enjoying our growing family :-)

Happy Knitting :-)

New Facebook Page...

I was finally able to set up a Facebook Page today while my new baby daughter took a nap :-) My plan was to create this Facebook Page to share new colorways, shop updates, new stitch markers, WIP's and FO's. I'll be sharing whatever I'm knitting, may it be PrairieDyeStudio yarn or yarn from other Indie Dyers. My primary reason for making this change is because not everyone uses Instagram, which I've been favoring the last year.

I also have just realized that the photos in my blog posts have been coming up blurry. This is highly embarrassing! I've been using an app on my iphone for blog posts and it seemed to be coming up appropriately on there but when I logged into my blog using my laptop today I had a big and unexpected surprise! So I'll be making a more conscious effort to blog on my laptop and making sure that the photos come up clearly.

Thanks so much for your patience :-)

New Years Sale :-)

I'm ready to kick off 2016 with a bang!! To start it off on the right step I've decided to have a New Years Sale in my Etsy Shop :-)

Everything in my Etsy Shop is 20% off using Coupon Code : RINGINGIN2016 !! The last day of the sale is January 14 :-)

I've also added a few of the last Snagless Stitch Marker sets. Be sure to snag a set while you can. I'm not sure when I'll be able to stock up on more :-)

Happy Shopping :-)

Blogging can Resume....

The last month I've been so focused on finishing my Christmas knitting I haven't blogged anything!! I have posted regular progress photos on my Instagram account but didn't take that extra bit of time to get a proper blog post together.

Here's a collection of photos of what I've completed for my Christmas Knitting :-)



Clockwise From Top Left : Christmas Nerd Socks for my Brother, Mindless Zombie Socks for my Husband, Cinderblock Christmas Socks for my Dad & Scrappy Casbah Socks for my Mom


Clockwise from Top Left : Modified Free Style Cap for my Husband, Free Style Cap for my Mom, Garnet Scrappy Socks for Laura (my brothers girlfriend) & Stockholm Scarf !


Clockwise from Top Left : Red Hot Pink Socks for my Sister, Cinder Block Socks for Greg (my sisters husband) , a Stripy Sweater for my Dad & a Modified Lady Sunnyside for my Mom

I also knit a bunch of Regular Guy Beanies to include as gifts as well :-) I was able to use up my handspun as well.



I was so bad and didn't take a collective picture of the toques before I wrapped them up :-(

I'm so glad I was able to finish everything I wanted to accomplish for Christmas knitting this year :-) I took a day off from knitting on Christmas Eve and for the whole night I was thinking about what I should be knitting next ;-) I may need to detox a bit!!

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a fabulous New Year :-)

Happy Knitting :-)

Nesting for a Knitter...

I've been in nesting mode for the past 2 weeks. I was obsessed with getting the spare room set up for our (soon to be) new baby. Then getting all the Christmas decorations up. Then finishing up all the knitted Christmas gifts. I still have one more to go. Plus some extra hard if I have time ;-)

Now it's time to focus on clearing up some of my queue. I've been planning on knitting my mom a sweater for just over a year. She picked out a pattern and I picked out some stash yarn. I was going to modify the pattern she wanted to the style I wanted but it would require too much brain power and when your pregnant your brain doesn't function. So I convinced her that Lady Sunnyside was the way to go. Which she agreed to and she loves the sweater. My brain thanks her ;-)

So I casted on this sweater about 2 weeks ago and have been knitting on it religiously as my primary project.

Here's a few progress photos from the last couple weeks :




Working on the raglan. It was getting pretty brown in central Alberta. It was getting colder and there was no snow so it was the perfect time to be knitting a cheery green project ;-)




I was able to squeeze in some extra knitting time when my toddler decided to go down for a rare nap. I think my dogs were even excited that she was down for a nap ;-)




I got the waist shaping done. I still might add a bit of increases to the waist shaping but I'm going to wait until after I finish the sleeves to make that determination. Us French / Ukrainian ladies have a little extra junk in the trunk ;-)




I was able to finish off the first sleeve last night before I went to bed. So I can start on the second sleeve. Then once the second sleeve is done I can get going on the body. I like to knit my raglan sweaters this way so I can accurately gauge how much yarn I have left and use it to my advantage for extra length, if needed. I like longer sweaters so when I sit down it doesn't ride up!

I love this pattern :-) It's so easy to knit, well written and easy to make minor modifications to. The only modifications I have made so far is to increase the amount of stitches to the arms so they are more of a loose fit and to eliminate the button band to the pattern to add a button band at the end. So a knitted on button band. I'm hoping for a bit of a shawl collar but I'll decide when I get there. It's more important for me to get the extra length than the shawl collar.

Hopefully I'll have more to share shortly :-)

Happy Knitting :-)

Calgary Fibre Arts Fair!!

Ok, I am so late writing up this blog post about the Calgary Fibre Arts Fair! I was so excited to be there and visiting with the vendors and taking pictures. I had a lot of fun! I was there just shortly after it opened at 9am and it got pretty packed within the hour!



Here's some of my favourite booths :-)

The first booth I always seem to stop in at is Chasing Fire Ceramics! Her optimism is intoxicating and she has beautiful clay buttons!! I must have chatted to her for about 15 minutes while I was deciding on my button selection!






I also saw this gorgeous bird yarn bowl there! I know it probally sold shortly after I left!



I ended up buying these gorgeous buttons from her :-)




So gorgeous!!

My next goal was to stop at the Wacky Windmill booth. I totally didn't get to their booth soon enough at the Fibre Shindig last month so I had a goal to swoop in there and find a gem ;-)




I love the wooden windmill she uses for her displays :-)




Look at all these beautiful skeins! How do you decide?




This was my favourite part! The fiber :-)

I ended up choosing a braid of crazy fiber.




It was the last braid so I scooped it up. I would have boughten more but I have this thing my husband calls a "budget" :-(

One of my favourite booths for merchandising is Vivid Yarns booth. I loved the country feel to her merchandising!




She had so many beautiful skeins. She has an Etsy Shop with so many beautiful skeins! I've added her shops to my favorites and foresee a purchase in my future ;-)




Like how cute is this merchandising?

Then I stopped at the Clay & Cloth booth. I bought a gorgeous green yarn bowl from her at the Fibre Shindig last month and I use it all the time. I absolutely love it. So I had to pop in!




I had to take a photo of her beautiful yarn bowls!




She also had these super cute knitting / crocheting / sheep mugs that were selling out fast. She only had a few left while I was perusing her booth!




I ended up buying some clay buttons from her. The color of the glaze is unreal :-)




I don't have a project in mind for these buttons yet BUT that just means I need to buy some matching yarn ;-) I do not foresee a problem with that :-)

Sea Turtle Fiber Arts was another booth that I wanted to visit. Their booth was so busy at the Fibre Shindig that it was nearly impossible to get into it when I was there!




I perused their booth for about 20-30 minutes. I had such a hard time choosing a skein for myself! I ended up going with the first skein that caught my eye!




I love how bright and vibrant this skein is. I'm hoping to knit the cuffs and toes in the contrast yarn and the rest with the orange skein.

Yarn Ink had a rainbow of yarn goodie ness in their booth! It was always packed and I had to do a couple rounds before I was able to get in there. So not a problem for this vendor ;-)




I had a hard time choosing a skein so I decided to pick out some fiber instead. She has a lovely store in Etsy where there are detailed photos of all her crazy colorways :-) I foresee a purchase from her Etsy Shop in my future as well ;-)




I picked out 2 small braids in a colorway that is completely out of my norm for colors. I'm super excited to eventually have the time to spin these up!

The Danware booth is obviously a favourite for many knitters / spinners / fiber artists!! I did quite a few rounds at the Calgary Fibre Arts Fair and it was PACKED all the time! And for good reason! They have gorgeous craftsmanship!!




I had to take a photo of these gorgeous drop spindles. They are well made and balanced very well. My friend, Marlene, bought a zebra wood drop spindle from him at Olds Fiber Week and she loves it!




So many gorgeous wooden yarn bowls, drop spindles, fiber notions!! They have a Facebook page with photos of their work and they keep their followers updated with when they'll be attending fairs or shows they also have an Etsy Shop as well. Check them out if you can. The owner is a really sweet man that I always end up chatting to him for a long time when I see him :-)

Another crazy busy booth was the Ancient Arts Yarn booth!! This was the only picture I could get. Which was a fleeting picture before the next wave of customers came into the booth!




Her colorways are so inspiring and well received by all knitters :-) I love this wall of yarn!




The Fawn and the Fox was a super cute booth with such wonderfully made project bags! Keep in mind that by this point I had $0 left. Which was disappointing on my part BUT she has an Etsy Shop that she has regular updates for. Totally check it out :-) I know I will be!




The last booth I was able to visit was the Morengo booth. She was spinning yarn on her wheel and there was a little crowd around her checking out her local naturally dyed yarn! Super cool! Totally check her out on Instagram or on Facebook! She has an intoxicating personality and it a really sweet lady :-)




This was an awesome fair and I can't wait to see how much it can grow for next year :-)

Happy Knitting :-)

Waiting patiently for the Calgary Fiber Arts Fair...

I am being so patient! I can't wait for the Calgary Fiber Arts Fair! I've been following it since its creation last year and this year is going to be bigger than last years :-) I was hoping to be a vendor this year but shortly after finding out I was approved, I found out that I was expecting and I knew I want going to be able to get enough inventory made up for this awesome fair! I was mostly worried about the unknown and I didn't want to stress myself out since I'll be hormonal and pregnant ;-) I'm hoping next year will be more attainable for me :-)

Anyways, I still wanted to contribute to this awesome fair so I contacted the creator and asked if I could do some Giveaway donations :-) Of course that was ok!

I decided to donate 3 giveaways and each giveaway would contain a full set of Small, Medium and Large Snagless Stitch Markers :-)



Small Bloodstone, Medium Green Line Quartz and Large Hematite



Small Bloodstone, Medium Green Line Quartz and Large Petrified Wood.



Small Bloodstone, Medium Green Line Quartz and Large Petrified Wood.

I am out of stock of Bloodstone, Green Line Quartz and Petrified Wood Snagless Stitch Markers (as part of my inventory reduction in the previous posts) but I have many more lovely gems and minerals available if you check out my Etsy Shop :-)




I LOVE my packaging!! It's everything I envisioned! Simple, Rustic and Whimsically Prairie! I hope the lucky recipients of them at the Calgary Fiber Arts Fair on Nov 7 will love them :-)

If you are in or around Calgary this Saturday Nov 7, I would highly recommend attending. There are fabulous vendors and lots of beautiful fiber goodies!! Cost to get in is $5 per person/ adult or if you bring a winter coat or hat and scarf combo as a donation to Project Warmth you can get in for free :-)

If you decide to take any of their courses you can also get in for free! A list of their courses is in their Ravelry Group or on their website!

To get more information on the Calgary Fiber Arts Fair you can check out their Website, Ravelry Group, Facebook or Instagram !!

Hope to see you there :-)