It is babies everywhere lately!! I don’t think I have ever known this many pregnant and expecting friends/family in my whole life let alone in one year!
We are expecting 7-8 babies (one arrived already) this year! On top of that a friend is also adopting…so that’s 10 new family members! Wow, that’s some knitting! First up is my cousin who is expecting in July…in fact one day before I was due last year.

She loves neutrals and is having a surprise so I immediately thought of the Shelridge farms worsted. Buffy dyes such gorgeous neutrals.

I actually crocheted this blanket…yes crochet. I know. I bet you didn’t even know I could crochet, but I can and I do enjoy it from time to time.
Here is the finished and already gifted blankie

Specs: 3 Skeins Of Shelridge Farms in Chocolate

The Pattern: Tiramisu Blanket found here on the web or on Ravelry

Mods: I cast on or chained 84. I didn’t want the blanket to be huge so I made it a bit smaller. I also didn’t want to use a ton of yarn so this size blocked out really well and is a wonderful size to grow into! I also just worked the body until I felt it was a good size. I didn’t do a gauge swatch (gasp) so I was just kind of winging it on that one and it worked out well! I very rarely do swatches…only when I really need to. I dislike them…a lot!

The Yarn: I carry very few worsted weight yarns. The shop is mostly to spotlight gorgeous fingering weight yarns. Every once in a while a spectacular worsted weight yarn comes by and I can’t say no. Shelridge farms is one such yarn. I love this yarn. it is a standard and spectacular worsted. I have knit with it several times and this certainly won’t be the last!

Any breaks in the yarn? Not that I can recall. Shelridge Farms skeins are always in fantastic condition.

The Fabric: The fabric was a bit different for me than usual to gauge. I am much more used to a knit fabric, but from my previous experience I know that shelridge farms has fantastic definition due to it’s tight twisted fibers. I have knit 2 sweaters with this yarn and in fact this blankie is made from one of them. The sweater for my husband didn’t fit right. It was a top down raglan and he didn’t like the neck. “can’t you just fix the neck” um, no. That’s the cast on point so yeah. It had to be ripped and was re made into this fantastic blankie!

Ok here we go again!!

Enjoy 15% off everything in the shop from today until May 15th with the coupon code: birthday
This is my favorite sale of the year because May is not only my birth month but also brings the green and flowers to Ontario! Hooray!

Please note that free shipping is not valid during the sale and you must use the coupon code while you check out. Unfortunately, I can’t give refunds after due to the volume of orders I receive during this sale.

I am working on another fiber update at the end of may that will be on sale as well (why not! I also have some GORGEOUS funky carolina goodies on their way to us and a restocking of casbah!
May is going to be a great month at The Sweet Sheep!!

Happy Mother’s Day as well to all you hard working mom’s out there!

Hi Ladies!
In the midst of the craziness of a 6 month old I completely forgot about March Sweater Madness but I am ITCHING to knit a sweater.
Anyone interested in Joining me??

It’s a fantastic one month KAL in which you pick your own yarn and pattern and we all knit a sweater together in the month of march!

We keep a separate blog to post our progress and everyone involved is welcome to blog there.
Let me know in the comments or email me if you would like to join us, we would love to have you!

Is it January already!!?? Oh my goodness. Time flies when you are chasing a wee one.

Last round of the club was a lot of fun for me. Spoilers can be seen on the Ravelry group page.

The next round of the regular fiber club runs Feb-Mar-April and is available for purchase here. I also decided to run the Superwash only club again this round and limited spots can be bought here. Please remeber that shipping is included in the cost of the clubs!

Here is a quick peek at this round’s fibers minus january because it just shipped and I don’t want to spoil the surprise for anyone!

November-

Militia- 4oz Mixed BFL/Silk

Which I spun into this yarn

December

Inspire- 4oz falkland

Its been a while since I did a gift certificate giveaway so I am holding a contest over on our Ravelry Group!
Hop on over and leave a comment!
I will be doing another on the blog shortly for those who are not on Rav.
Happy New year!
xoxox

Just updated!

Sweet Sheep Fibers!

I just read the first issue of the brand new Ennea collective online magazine. As a spinner/knitter I am thrilled to see what this collective of minds comes up with each season. So far I love it.

One of our Multi talented dyers (Lori Law of Oceanwind knits) is the editor and co creator. If you haven’t book marked the site yet run over and check it out.

Even if you arn’t a spinner the patterns would be great with commercial yarns too!

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend

xo

M

Ps..if you are at Rhinebeck just know that all of us at home are jealous..have a blast!!

A little knitting has been happening chez Sweet Sheep lately…I will make sure to post a progress pic first. However, most of the progress that is happening here has been with little sweetie!

Lo says Happy Fall!

I am so excited to announce the re opening of the fiber club!

Join the Fiber Club for November-December-January!
This subscription is for 3 consecutive months of fiber. The fibers will change from month to month so you get a variety of fibers, which makes the club great for beginning spinners too!
Braids will be between 4-5 oz of roving and 2oz on months of luxury fibers.

Fibers will ship by the end of the month.

The cost of the club includes air mail shipping from Canada

Thank you all so much for all of the wonderful well wishes we have received as we await the arrival of our first baby! The love and support has been so incredible!
I will be taking a short maternity leave to rest up and welcome our little girl from July 15th to August 6th. If there is anything you would like from the store please make sure to place your order before the 15th. Items will still be up in the shop for browsing but ordering will be disabled for that period of time.

I will be answering emails a few times a week during my maternity leave, but will not be shipping any orders.

Thank you all so much! I will be sure to let you know when out “little sweetie” arrives!

xo

Yay it’s our birthday! To celebrate our 143rd birthday we are having a 2 day sale!

Enjoy 10% off of any products in the shop for July 1st and 2nd with the coupon code: Canada

All and any of your favorite yarns and fibers! Orders will ship on Monday, I just might be taking a few days off to put my feet up and enjoy the weekend!

xo

Michelle

Take me to the sale!

Mara is Finished!!

Wow what a quick and LONG knit. I’m not sure why I take on garter stitch projects. I think I love the look of them and the simplicity of the knitting, but about 4 inches in I want to poke my eyes out. So, in order to save what’s left of my fragile sanity I started working the border a bit sooner than expected and I think she came out a good size for a shawlette!

Here she is blocking

Since I wanted to preserve the garter stitch pattern, but also wanted a bit more length and to open it up, I just lightly spritzed the yarn until it was damp. Typically I wet block everything. I love to soak and block all of my knit pieces, but Mara got a bit of special treatment.

And here she is in her finished glory!

My favorite little sheep is an (un) willing model for Mara.

Specs:

The Pattern: Mara by Madelinetosh- Free Pattern. Ravelry Link

The pattern was well written and easy to follow. I love the idea and concept of this pattern, but didn’t enjoy knitting it. The only thing that saved this shawl from ripping was the incredible yarn…it’s gorgeous and perfect for this pattern. I would knit this pattern again, but I would modify it as a stockinette stitch pattern so I can see more progress as I move along.

Mods: The only Mod I made to this pattern was to work only half of the fringe. I wanted to keep my shawl to a 3 ball limit and the garter stitch ate yardage.

The Yarn: You may hear this a lot, but I LOVED knitting with this yarn. The Oceanwind knits worsted was incredible to work with. The colours were amazing and I love how it doesn’t pool. For the most part I don’t mind pooling, but I don’t think it had a place in this pattern. Each skein moved seamlessly from one to the next without a noticeable difference.  I have previously knit a sweater with this yarn and found the consistancy in colour to be true there as well. This yarn is soft soft soft!

The Fabric: I knit this on a US 8 size 5 mm needle and loved how the fabric knit up, just enough drape and beautiful stitch definition

The only thing left to do is show you one last picture!

My second finished shawl of 2010!

next up for knitting through the shop is a little hat/bootie combo with some beautiful (PINK!) Dyed in the wool handmade!

Every baby needs a hand knit hat to come home in even if it is the middle of summer….right?

The talented Miss Glenna C has done it again with these gorgous Azalea mitts

The pattern includes instructions for both stunning fingerless gloves or convertable mitts with cropped fingers!

Either option will result in an incredible glove with twist and turns and cables and bobbles…what more could a knitter ask for! Maybe another gorgeous photo??

The Azalea mitt pattern uses 1 skein of Sweet Sheep Tight Twist in a semi solid. You can either purchase your yarn and pattern seperately or together in a kit!!

Patterns purchased alone (without yarn) will be sent via email with shipping refunded.

The only thing left to decide is which colour to knit your Azalea mitts with!!

Thank you all so much for sharing your wonderful and memorable birthday memories with me…I enjoyed reading them all! Chris and I had fantastic times on our birthdays and have much cake in the freezer from all of the parties our loved ones threw us! So far being 31 isn’t so bad!

The random number generator picked Amy V as our contest winner and she was awarded a $31 gift certificate to the shop…hope you enjoy it Amy!

Last week the mail lady was good to me and dropped off some beautiful Pigeonroof knits spinning tops in

Merino Silk

and luxurious Superwash Merino/Cashmere/Nylon

I can’t wait to try this new blend! I may have stolen a braid of Ghost Orchid (second one in) to “test” this new fiber…details to come!

On top of this beautiful update a big box of Funky Carolina Fibers arrived on my doorstep this morning…look for those later in the week!

I finished the blankie!! I really was concerned that I could finish growing a child before I would finish this blankie but luckily I was wrong.

The blankie was finished last week however, the sun has not made an appearance since so please excuse the dark photos, i could wait no longer to show you.

Here she is off the needles.

and directly into a SOAK bath…SOAK is essential around here for all dyeing, blocking and washing of wool. On a side note I will also admit that I used it last week to get grease out of Chris’ favorite ball cap…worked like a charm!

I always just lay my knitting on the top of the bath and let it sink in. I try not to handle it too much and just let the soak do the work.

Ta Da!! Here she is…just waiting to wrap up our sweet little baby girl. The sheep in the crib was a gift from my Aunt for the baby…I love it!

Specs:

The Pattern: Basketweave Blanket Rav link. I couldn’t find a non rav link but it is a classic elite pattern.

Mods: I cast on more stitches than the pattern called for (66) because I decided that if I was going to knit a blanket out of fingering weight yarn that I wanted it to last her for longer than the newborn phase!

The Yarn: This yarn is particularily special to me. I dyed the yarn when I first found out I was pregnant with a lot of love and excitement for the journey I was about to embark on. The base is the Sweet Sheep Tight Twist in a colourway that I created just for our little one called Candied Apricot. I do not have any of that colourway up in the shop yet, but if you would like some just drop me an email and I will happily dye it up! This blankie took 2 full skeins and about 1/4th of a third. The Sweet Sheep Tight Twist yarn is a bit heavier than an average fingering weight, but not as heavy as a sportweight. 375 yards goes pretty far.

The Fabric: I knit this on a US 4 size 3.5mm needle and loved how the fabric knit up. I might be completely biased (yes I am.) The yarn is custom milled for me and I love a good tight twist yarn because of the great stitch definition. This is one of several projects I have knit with the tight twist (including a shawl) and have always loved the soft drape at larger needle sizes.

In summary, I adore this blankie. I put many hours of love and hugs into this piece and hope that my little sweet pea will feel all of it when I wrap her in it!