Monday, November 26, 2012

Fancy Tiger Folks' Crafty Holiday Gift Picks 2012! Part 1

Welcome to our Crafty Holiday Gift Picks for 2012!

We at Fancy Tiger Crafts spend the whole year surrounded by amazing craft supplies and inspiring customers. That means we spend a lot of time thinking up our dream projects. Here are some of the things we think would be a fantastic treat for your favorite crafter to find under the tree!


Hey! I'm Sarah, one of the new additions to the awesome Fancy Tiger staff. I love beautiful, simple Japanese sewing patterns and my most recent obsession is with 'I Am Cute Dresses'. All 25 patterns are super adorable and since they are a relaxed fit, there's no finicky fitting! Any of these designs would be lovely made from a Nani Iro double gauze, Lecien cotton or any other sweet Japanese print. I personally plan on making each one and wearing them with tights and boots all winter!



Miranda
Sometimes I stray into the worlds of fabric and fiber, but knitting will always be my true love. After knitting, sewing and stitching like crazy for gifts, I always love to dream up a gift to make for myself. The Fightin' Words fingerless mitts from local designer Annie Watts fit the bill perfectly. Their bold, graphic motifs look both fun to knit and to wear. I would make them in our hearty Elemental Affects fingering-weight Shetland wool yarn, which is perfect for colorwork. Plus, after all my projects are done, I always feel like a real superhero. POW! Happy holidays, everyone: may your stitches be even and may your points always match!



Hello! I'm Erikia and I'm the manager here at Fancy Tiger Crafts. Last month, we got shot cotton fabric back in the shop and I'm totally in love with it! If you're not familiar with shot cotton, it is a woven fabric with two different colors, one for the weft and one for the weave. This effect creates subtle shifts in color and adds incredible depth to an otherwise solid fabric. It's completely amazing!

I've been using the shot cotton on pretty much everything I've been sewing lately and would love to try it with English paper piecing to make a pillow case. If Santa brought me a little kit for this project, say a fat quarter bundle of shot cottons, 1 1/2" hexagon paper pieces, thread, beeswax, and sewing needles, I'd be one happy girl!



Well hello everyone! Melissa here. Now I know that we recently did a blog post about the Soft Donegal from Ireland, but I am so in love with it I just had to choose it for my holiday gift pick. It's so soft and the colors are so beautiful. Plus, I'm really getting into learning more about my Irish heritage.
I think the natural pairing with this luscious yarn is the book Contemporary Irish Knits by Carol Feller. When Carol was here earlier this year I fell for the Killybegs cardigan from this book. Carol was so nice and wonderful I couldn't help loving all her designs. I have been daydreaming about making this sweater in the Berry colorway since we got the Donegal in. This yarn and book would make a lovely gift for the knitter in your life. After all she/he should have something to knit for themselves after all that holiday knitting they did!




Allison
I hope that Meg's Sleep Season yarn will be in my stocking this year. Her hand dyed and handspun yarn comes in 100% merino, Superwash Bluefaced Leicester and a blend of Merino Cashmere and Nylon. Each skein has the most amazing colors. They are all around 400 yards making them a perfect choice for a Norby hat by Gudrun Johnston (like Jaime did with her skein) or a Little Colonnade shawl by Stephen West. Plus she's local so you can feel good that you are supporting an awesome local spinner/dyer. Yay! Happy knitting.


Amber here! I love me some tweedy goodness and natural yarns. I have been dreaming of making the Burr Jacket by Veronik Avery for Brooklyn Tweed. How amazing it would be to spin my own tweedy yarn out of this undyed, multicolor roving from local alpaca farm, Ancient Treasures Alpaca Ranch. 18 ounces would give me enough to spin up the yarn for a this cozy-dorable shawl collar cardigan...and an extra plus would be plenty of relaxing spinning and knitting time.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love all of these. SO cute, as always.

Kate said...

What pattern did most of you use to make that cowl neck sweater! So lovely!!!

Kate

Amanda said...

I agree with Kate - I really want Erika's cowl!

Fancy Tiger Crafts said...

Thanks guys! The pattern was developed by sewing instructor Sarah for our Serger 201: Cowl Sweatshirt class. For out-of-towners, the Renfrew pattern from Sewaholic would have a similar look and fit.