It's A Birthday Sale!

Monday is my 28th birthday! I'm so excited - I'm having a sale as a huge THANK YOU to all the people who have supported me over the year!

All patterns are 28% off when you enter the coupon code: 28BIRTHDAYGIFT at the checkout. Sale ends on Monday Jan.5/15 at midnight. Happy Knitting!

Christmas 2014

I hope everyone has a great Christmas filled with lots of yummy food, delightful company and good memories. See you soon :)

Black Friday Sale!

Black Friday time again!

All A Sarah Grieve Production patterns are 20% off!

I've got a coupon code for you too:

BLACKFRIDAY2014.

The sale runs all weekend (Nov.28 - Dec.1, 2014).

Marly Bird's website has an exceptional list of all the sales going on in the yarn industry -  I can't wait to see all the great deals on yarn, accessories and patterns! Happy shopping! :)

Crochet.Community Awards Winner!

Now is the time to announce the winner!

Keri is the 1st place winner. She won 50$ and a Crochet.Community T-shirt! Here is her winning entry - Broomstick Lace Scarf:

The Runner Up was Allie. She won a Crochet.Community T-shirt! Here is her winning
entry - Helen Cable Scarf:

Pattern Design and Creation: Allison McDonough,
Crochet for Days, crochetfordays.wordpress.com
Photo: Paul Cantillon, LIDEC Photo, lidecphoto.com
Photo Edited by A Sarah Grieve Production 

Congratulations Keri and Allie for their beautiful work! The randomly-drawn winner of the Crochet.Community t-shirt is Farida Cahyaning Ati.

Crochet.Community Awards: Scarf Challenge!

Have you checked out the Crochet.Community yet? It's a great website where you can share photos of your latest projects, talk to other crocheter on forums, have your own blog AND have a chance to win some great prizes!

"How?" you ask. Well, let me tell you.

It's time for the Crochet.Community Awards: Scarf contest.

All you have to do is:

• Crochet a scarf - any shape (triangle, rectangle etc), size, color etc. 
• Post a photo on the Crochet.Community website before Oct. 25, 2014.
• Vote for your favorite during the voting period - Oct. 25-31.

What can you win?

• The winner wins $50 cash and a Crochet.Community t-shirt.
• The runner up wins a Crochet.Community t-shirt.

Wait! There's more . . .

There will also be a randomly-drawn winner who will receive a t-shirt.

Sounds like lots of fun to me! I can't wait to see your entries :)

Willow Yarns Sale

The Willow Yarns newsletter came out today - and one of the patterns I designed (Oratorio Cowl) was featured in the patterns made with Daily Bulky section. The pattern came out last September - I mentioned it in this post for more information.

The yarn is called Willow Daily Bulky - it's 100% wool that is machine washable. It's perfect for everyday wear just as the name suggests.

The newsletter comes out on Wednesdays and it a great way to see new patterns and yarn. They also have sales! The Daily Bulky is on sale (10% off) until August 18th.

Check out Willow Yarns and sign up for their newsletter here.

Almost Spring - Time for more baby dresses

One of my lovely clients, who has had me knit her quite a few baby dresses, decided that she was going to go and visit her grandchildren in Mexico.

She needed two more dresses knit up - the girls had grown and she needed the dresses knit in the next two sizes for them. The older girls are cousins and they love to wear the same color. They are so adorable in these cute dresses!

New Craftsy Pattern: The Chinook Toque

Today I'm releasing one of my older patterns on Craftsy.

It was available in stores for quite a long time before it hit Ravelry - and then more time went by and I figured I should really get this pattern up and running on Craftsy!

I love wearing warm toques all winter and every year feel the need to design many new ones - especially since moving to Calgary where the weather can turn on a dime.


The Chinook Toque is available HERE.

Here are the details:

* Briggs & Little Country Roving: 1 Cake of each color

Colors Shown are: Sheep's Grey and Sheep's Brown

Or:

70-90 yards of any bulky weight yarn in 2 colors ( approximately 50-60 yards in main color and 20-30 yards in contrast color)

* 7mm Double Point Needles

or

* 7mm 16" Circular needle and Double Point Needles.

* Tapestry Needle

Sizes:

Child - 18", Small Adult - 20", Large Adult - 22"

Enjoy!

It's A Birthday Sale!

Last weekend was my 27th birthday, so I'm having a birthday sale so everyone can celebrate with me :) I would normally have a sale on my birthday (and will again next year) but my parents were visiting and there was too much celebrating!

All patterns are 27% off when you enter the coupon code: 27BIRTHDAYGIFT at the checkout. Sale ends on Sunday, Jan.13/14 at midnight.  Have a great day!

Snow, Men's Colors, and Other Important Things

Winter is back. While I would say that I love how delicate the snow looks, gracefully lining the branches. And that it inspires me to knit lacy knitted things with cashmere (for warmth of course!). And all these things are true . . . .

But! And that's a large but! I'm not a fan of the -40 degrees. It's just too cold. Having to remember to wear as many layers as 6 samurai, is too much.

At least I found some delish new yarn. When I was visiting The Loop the other day, I stumbled upon Mimi from Lotus Yarns and boy is she a beauty! Yum.

This yarn is so soft and cozy. David's birthday is coming up in a week and I want to knit him a new hat. He has quite a few hats but he always wants more and he loves unique fibers - so this should be perfect.

It's quite a thin yarn - probably best suited for a lacy shawl that is incredibly soft and lightweight. That can be my next project with this yummy yarn.

I love the grey - most of David's hats are black or really dark grey. So to have a light grey will be a change. I always used to joke (but was mostly serious) that men's colors are:

• Black
• Dark Grey
• Dark Navy

I know some men are more adventurous but after selling yarn for over a decade, if you just pick one of the above colors, you will almost always have success. 

When you pick a color (like 70's orange) that he once mentioned on a trip to your crazy Aunt Sally's in the middle of the summer, while the temperature was +45 and he was suffering from heatstroke etc  . . .you get the idea - just resist! Resist the idea to knit your next present in bright magenta, 70's orange and babypoo brown. So tempting - I know! Just please resist. It will be a waste of your time. 

And if you do have a man in your life that wants those awesome colors - then good on you! Knit away brave color soldier :) Knit away!

And the Winner is . . . .

Today's the day!

The winner of our free pattern contest is Julie Snook! I have sent out her pattern this afternoon to her Ravelry account. I hope she enjoys it :)

I wanted to thank everyone who posted a comment!

There will definitely be more contests and giveaways in the future, so check in regularly to see what's happening.

I'm hoping to run one quarterly or perhaps every 6 months . . . depends on how many new patterns I start :P

Kaffe Fassett comes to Calgary!

Photo Left: Loraine, Moi, Kaffe Fasset and Janet.

Last night was ladies night. The ladies and I found out that Pudding Yarn was bring in Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably to do a color inspiration lecture. So, of course, we went!

We started our evening with some delicious sushi at one of my favorite sushi restaurants, Kinjo.

I introduced Susan to the yummyness that is sweet soy sauce! They have calamari strips that are always fresh and hot. The chefs fry them perfectly and when dipped in Japanese mayo mixed with sweet soy sauce - the taste is divine!

I have to find a store that sells sweet soy sauce . . .

After far too much sushi, we moseyed our way over to Christ Church where Kaffe & Brandon were ready to charm the masses and give a lecture on color inspiration. It was a great night. I thoroughly enjoyed listening and watching the slide show. Kaffe was very eloquent, quick witted and very interesting to listen to. What a great night!

Sneak Peak!

Okay! Time for a sneak peak - a wee preview of a pattern that will be released on October 8th!

Can you guess what it is?

Clues! :

*There are clearly some buttons - are they functional or just pretty? Do they fit into something?

*There is lace and stocking stitch - are you wondering where this will fit on the garment? and on the body?

Leave a comment below about what you think the finished items are. After the pattern comes out on October 9th, I will draw one lucky winner on October 11th and send them a free copy of the pattern!

New Pattern: Oratorio Cowl

© Willow Yarns

I am so excited to share with you a new pattern - Oratorio Cowl.

This fun to wear cowl was designed for the Willow Yarns company using their 100% superwash wool (Willow Daily Bulky). It is also available as a kit too!

It balances between having stocking stitch and a weaving back and forth lace stitch. The lace stitch is easy enough for beginners to learn and would be a great intro to lace!

 I loved how quickly this scarf knit up! 8mm needles and a few hours and this accessory is ready for Fall!

New Pattern: Snowdrop Tam

 © Willow Yarns

I am so excited to share with you a new pattern - The Snowdrop Tam.


This is a cute slouchy hat that was designed for the Willow Yarns company using their Willow Prairie, a 100% fine merino superwash wool.


I loved how soft the yarn was while working with it. I wasn't sure about the texture, as it is a thick and thin yarn, when I first started knitting it. But as the hat progressed, I began to love it!






This pattern is available through the Willow Yarns Website and through their mail order catalogue.

I've added some of my own photos to show off the beautiful, but easy to knit, texture in the main body of the hat.

The texture of the hat is made up of slipped stitches and knitting underneath the slipped yarns from the rows below - which is actually a lot easier than it sounds!

I know I'm going to make another one for myself this fall :)

New Ravelry Group!

Today we launched a group on Ravelry for the knitters who knit my patterns. This will be a great place to ask questions, get help and share pictures of finished items! I'm hoping that this will be a place where knitters can get inspiration. I can't wait to interact with everyone, answer questions and see pictures. Join here today :)

Fab Finds Friday: The Mud Button

Last year Diana, Susan and I went to the Festival of Crafts at the Stampede Grounds. I always love to see new, local artists showing off their wares.

Diana was looking for potters to make yarn bowls for Gina Brown's - so she talked to every potter that we saw and asked them if they were interested.

Last Friday, Anna Rasmussen called and had some prototypes to show us. Her company, Gammel House Pottery, has just started creating yarn bowls and beautiful, unique buttons.





I love interesting buttons. What is the point of spending a fair amount of time, money and effort on knitting a beautiful garment and then using some ugly, plain buttons?

If only you could feel the texture of these buttons in real life. Some of the glazes are matte and a bit rough - think earthy feeling. Some of the glazes are slick and almost cold to the touch!

The buttons are hand crafted out of porcelain clay and need to be hand washed. The hand washed aspect to buttons, never plays apart in my decision as to whether or not I will purchase said button. My theory is that nice things are worth taking care of. And, realistically the yarn that was used to create the objet d'art that now features the button; probably needs to be hand washed anyway.



This button makes me think "Quoi?" said with an upward lilt.

I love the all over print of Q's. When I asked Anna what her inspiration was behind this button, she told me of her trip to China. There she took many pottery classes and learned from some amazing artists. The Q's come from a roll on print that she bought while she was out enjoying the markets in China.







This rounded, bubble texture button has the most incredible feel to it! I could rub it all day - okay that sounded bad. Let's try again. I could . . . . anyway. I have no idea what I am going to knit for these beautiful buttons, but I can't wait to show you when I do!

Another One In the Works

Another new project. Can you guess what it is? I'll give you a clue - It's incredibly soft and I can't wait to wear it soon!

These yarns are just wonderful!

The Turquoise(Lucky) and Grey (Birch) are BFL Sock from Sweet Georgia Yarns. The multicolor is Malabrigo Sock Yarn in #852 Persia.

 At first I was only going to use the Turquoise and the Grey together, but when I saw the multi colored Malabrigo and how it brought out the subtleness of the colors I just couldn't resist!

If you were thinking that you have seen this yarn before - you would be correct. I did post about it earlier when Susan brought it home from the Sweet Georgia Studio. I can't wait to show you the finished . . . . project :P

Flit, Flit, Fly

I saw this cute little guy the other day when I was coming home from Pick Your Project. His wings were so beautiful!

I love the way dragonflies flit around; they always seem like they are on a mission - did you know they can fly up to 45 miles per hour?

Apparently seeing a dragonfliy is good luck - which is always a good thing. Although I was told once that dragonflies should remind you to reflect on your deeper thoughts and desires. Dragonflies have short lives and must live life to it's fullest.

And here I thought he was just a cute bug!

New Yarn!

Susan went on vacation last week and spent a lovely week cruising around Vancouver.

While she was there she visited the Felicia Lo's studio, Sweet Georgia Yarn.

Susan and I are big fans of Sweet Georgia Yarns. The have amazing base yarns and incredible colors. Both Susan and I have designed patterns from her yarn.

I asked if she would mind picking me out some yarn while she was there, as she was already going to be buying lots of yummy-ness anyway. I couldn't wait to see what treasures she would find there!

I said to her in a cryptic message on Ravelry:

"Think teals / purples / greys. Think rich and yummy - a bit of contrast between the balls so that you can see the changes within a few stitches or rows but not enough to be tacky. A really nice silvery grey ball and a semi solid to go with. . . purple or teal. Think a delish shawl with a pop of color for winter . . . like grey, grey, grey, oh my TEAL! (or purple) . . ah I'm not worried, you have great taste."

Fortunately Susan knows me well enough to see where I was going with my idea.

I love the subtle-ness of the semi-solid colorways. I bought two skeins of Malabrigo Sock that matched perfectly with these two - I just can't wait to get started on this project.