The story of this pattern starts back in 2008 when Elizabeth and I, along with our sister Margaret, decided that we wanted to make a blanket for our parents as a gift for their 25th wedding anniversary. Elizabeth suggested we base our blanket design on the traditional Attic Windows quilting pattern, and she came up with a simple technique to knit the squares.
It's that time of year again! Our 2020 batch of Norbouillet fleece is already at the mill, ready to be custom-spun into this year's batch of our locally-sourced, 100% Canadian yarns.
This year as we were setting up pre-orders we took some time to look through all the beautiful projects that our customers have made with these yarns over the past few years, and we were inspired to share a few of our favourites here. Thank you so much to everyone who gave us permission to share your photos!
Lanark gloves (today's featured pattern in our 100 Days of Patterns project) are one of my design contributions to our Cloudy Day Collection, published way back in 2012. They're knit in our Messa di Voce fingering-weight superwash merino, in the Chimney Smoke colourway.
As part of our 100 days of patterns retrospective, we'll be sharing some project galleries featuring some favourite projects made from our patterns. Cranberry Biscotti (a free sock pattern) is my design with the most projects on Ravelry. I'm sharing a few of my favourites here, but do check out the project pages on Ravelry to see many, many more beautiful projects.
For this mini-collection we sent our Grazioso linen/silk blend lace-weight yarn to three designers from around the world, and they each did a beautiful job transforming their skeins into perfect projects to inspire your summer knitting. And in order to celebrate summertime crafting we're hosting a Grazioso Make-along starting July 1. Keep reading for more details!
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!
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.
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!
This past week has been a tough one: teething baby, husband with a week-long migraine, preparing to move house in 3 weeks... The thing that's kept me going through the stressful week has been my knitting. I'm working on a new sock pattern using Pizzicato in the Palestra colourway to be released next month.
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.
