Yoked KAL: Success!

Early this year we announced our Second Annual Knit-Along: Yoked. We invited all of you lovely knitters out there to join us for an 11 week journey of sweater making! Our photo shoot was Tuesday and the results are blowing our minds! You all sure know how to make a beautiful sweater.

Check out the results:

Alsn

Pattern: Knitbot Birdie Fair Isle Cardigan

Yarn Used and Color: Quince and Co. Owl in Acacia, Tawny, Canyon, Barred

What was your favorite thing about this KAL? Learning from other people's frustrations, and seeing the colors build into a complete piece. Also, hanging out with awesome knitters! 

What animal does this new sweater make you feel like? A llamacorn. A magiical llama with a crystal horn!

 Amber

Pattern: Kaye's Cardigan, but used chart from Tiny Owl Knits' Meow Mitts

Yarn Used and Color: Quince and Co. Owl in Bog & then I hand-dyed 42 colors for my seven cat faces.

What was your favorite thing about this KAL? I really loved dyeing the colors for my cat color work. Megan helped me & now I want to dye yarn all the time! 

What animal does this new sweater make you feel like? Well, an adorable cat of course! 

Bob Bosscher

Pattern: Basic Round- Yoke Unisex Pullover

Yarn Used and Color: Quince and Co. Owl in Hemlock

What was your favorite thing about this KAL? It was my first KAL, so getting to meet all of the fancy friends! 

What animal does this new sweater make you feel like? Like a hibernating black bear!

Caitlin R.

Pattern: Kaye's Cardigan

Yarn Used and Color: Brooklyn Tweed Shelter- Snowbound and Quince and Co. Owl in Cerulean and Canyon

What was your favorite thing about this KAL? How quick the sweater knit up! 

What animal does this new sweater make you feel like? A teddy bear!

Jaime

Pattern: Kaye's Cardigan

Yarn Used and Color: Quince and Co. in Acacia, Cinnamon and Huckleberry

What was your favorite thing about this KAL? Lice Stitch. Also these colors are the colors that regulars at craft night (and many fellow KALers) voted as my "least likely" to knit so I took it as a challenge to step outside my box. I love the result! I love having the community of knitters to challenge me like that. 

Reverse twinsies! 

What animal does this new sweater make you feel like? A cheetah because I knit it in 13 days! (& it has spots)

Jessica Jeanne

Pattern: Kaye's Cardigan

Yarn Used and Color: Quince and Co. in Cinnamon, Acacia and Huckleberry

What was your favorite thing about this KAL?  The week before casting on for this, I had just finished making a Breckon Cardigan, which is fingering weight. It was so gratifying to see this knit up so fast! The KALers are so motivating and fun to knit with- this project was such a breeze =)

What animal does this new sweater make you feel like? Uh, a fox duh! Cause mostly that cinnamon giving me such a pretty coat.

Kiyomi

Pattern: Willard Fair Isle Pullover

Yarn Used and Color: Madeline Tosh Pashmina in Antler & Edison Bulb

What was your favorite thing about this KAL? I restarted this sweater about 5 times & at one point I pulled out six inches. Needless to say this sweater & I were not friends. My favorite part was watching everyone else's sweaters form, which kicked me into gear so I was able to finish on time! 

What animal does this new sweater make you feel like? Obviously a Narwhal, duh.

Megan

Pattern: Basic Round- Yoke Unisex Pullover

Yarn Used and Color: Sleep Season- Night Light

What was your favorite thing about this KAL? Knitting it out of my own yarn! Thanks to the encouragement of Alsn! 

What animal does this new sweater make you feel like? A snow fox.

Miranda's "Almost- Sweater for Justin"

Pattern: Basic Round- Yoke Unisex Pullover

Yarn Used and Color:  Quince and Co. Owl 13 (!) skeins of Huckleberry

What was your favorite thing about this KAL? I never would have gotten even this far without friendly peer pressure.

What animal does this new sweater make you feel like? This much sweater would look perfect on a centaur.

Pam

Pattern: Birdie Fair Isle Cardigan 

Yarn Used and Color: Lett Lopi in Spring Green Heather, Sun Yellow, White and Grey

What was your favorite thing about this KAL? Using the happy green Lopi.

What animal does this new sweater make you feel like? A panda.

Sunne Meyer

Pattern: Basic Round- Yoke Unisex Pullover

Yarn Used and Color: O Wool Legacy (from the old days)

What was your favorite thing about this KAL? Using stash yarn in a color I love.

What animal does this new sweater make you feel like? A green robin.

Also pictured is Lily who made her own sweater with us, Cabeltta in Cascade 220!

Just look at these smiles!! Way to go everyone, such a fun Knit-a-long... 2014 will bring you more opportunities to knit-a-long with us, stay tuned and happy knitting!

Yoked: Our Second Annual Sweater Knit-A-Long!

It's that time of year again, when we all just want to stay inside, cozy up to Fancy Tiger's warm fire and knit ourselves a new sweater. Well you're in luck! Our second Annual Sweater Knit-a-Long is here. Hannah Fettig's new book Knitbot Yoked contains a collection of four round yoke sweater patterns worked from the top down. These patterns are a great introduction to Fair Isle knitting. Hannah Fettig provides extremely knowledgeable tips and techniques especially if this is your first time trying Fair Isle knitting. The yarn recommended for these sweaters is Quince and Co. Owl. We stock all colors of Owl so make sure to get in your special orders (see details below) to make certain we have your future sweater in stock!

Here is how the KAL works:

• Pick your colors and purchase your yarn, book, and needles from us by January 7th and receive 15% off.
• Fancy Tiger will be taking special orders for Owl from Quince and Co. Place your order by December 16th to make sure we have your colors in stock and reserved for you in time for our cast on!
• Cast on! We will be casting on for our sweaters on January 7th at Craft Night for any local folks who can join.
• Knit! We'll be knitting our sweaters together every Tuesday night for the duration of the KAL.
• Finish! We hope to finish our sweaters by March 11th. Bring your sweater to craft night on the 11th (even if its not done) for a photoshoot and a high five!
• If you don't live in Denver you can still join in the fun. Use the hashtag #fancykal on all your photos so we can follow along with your progress virtually. You can order your yarn from us and receive your discount with a quick email of your order, phone number + mailing address to info@fancytigercrafts.com. 

Of Course here at Fancy Tiger we have already started dreaming up our colors!

Kayes Cardigan   |    Barred,  Cinnamon, Acacia

 Basic Round-Yoke Unisex Pullover     |     Huckleberry

Birdie Fair Isle Cardigan  (with additional colorwork options in foxes or bunnies)    |     Hemlock, Chamomile, Cinnamon, Tawny (for a cute fox version!)

Willard Fair Isle Pullover     |     Cerulean & Chamomile

We are so excited to kick off 2014 with a new Fancy Tiger Crafts Knit- a-long! We can't wait to see what you will make!

Quince & Co. at Fancy Tiger Crafts

We are thrilled to announce Quince & Co. is now available at Fancy Tiger Crafts! Quince & Co. yarns are sourced and spun in the US out of "territory wool" - a blend of Merino, Rambouillet, and Columbia sheep mostly from Montana and Wyoming. Combine these awesome aspects with spectacular colors, branding and adorable pattern support and you get Quince & Co. yarns! We were delighted to be chosen as one of only 12 LYS (local yarn shops) in the country to carry these special yarns. Also, the price tag is very friendly :)

Chickadee

Chickadee is a 100% wool, plied yarn in sport weight. Chickdee is 181 yards per 50 gram skein and knits at 6 - 6.5 stitches to inch on size US 3 - 5 needles.

Lark

Lark is a basic 100% plied wool yarn in worsted weight with excellent stitch definition. Lark has 134 yards per 50 gram skein and knits at 4 - 4.5 stitches to inch on size US 6 - 8 needles. The perfect sweater yarn!

Puffin

Puffin is a single ply 100% wool yarn in bulky weight. Puffin has 112 yards per 100 gram skein and knits at 2.5 - 3 stitches to inch on size US 10.5 - 13 needles. Perfect for quick and cozy hats, scarves, and cowls!

Owl

Owl is a classic blend of 50% US alpaca with 50% US wool. The natural color is made by blending colored wool and alpaca for a heathered grey yarn that is then over-dyed. This is a light worsted yarn with 120 yards per 50 gram skein. 

Sparrow

Sparrow is the only non-US yarn in the Quince line. It is a luscious 100% organic linen from Belgium. Sparrow is fingering weight yarn and you can find plenty of patterns in the Knitbot Linen book.

Tern

Tern is another fingering weight yarn and is a blend of 75% wool and 25% silk. Tern has 221 yards per 50 gram skein and has a beautiful sheen and drape due to the silk. This would be perfect for shawls and scarves!

We have several pattern books featuring Quince & Co. yarns from super-awesome designers like Knitbot and Gudrun Johnston. Quince also has plenty of patterns available online here. We hope you love these yarns as much as we do!

Jaime's Cardigan of the Month Club!

I'm not sure how, but this is my third knit cardigan in 3 months--cardigan crazy! My new Wispy Cardigan was started way back in 2011 when we first received the amazing rustic Shetland lace yarn from Elemental Affects. This is one of my favorite yarns of all time - US grown and milled, over-dyed natural heather grey, and hardy Shetland wool all in a rustic spun, 2-ply lace yarn. Yumtown.

Despite this cardigan taking 2 years, it really knit up quickly once I gave it my attention. The Wispy pattern is from Hannah Fettig who makes beautiful and classic yet interesting patterns. I loved it. The unique construction has you knit the arms first, side to side and across the back - how fabulous to get the dreaded sleeves out of the way in the beginning!

I made a few modifications to this pattern. First, my gauge was a little off so I just tried it on as I went to make sure it was fitting. The amazingly talented Angelique who works here at Fancy Tiger Crafts made this a while back and suggested that I try a twisted rib stitch instead of regular ribbing at the cuffs, neck and waist. I love the more textual look of this stitch.

This cardigan will be my new go-to cardigan for warmer spring days and cool summer nights - it is light with just the right amount of woolly coverage. It looks great over all of my Wiksten tanks!

Each skein of Shetland Lace comes with 740 yards so I only used one skein for this entire cardigan! I loved working with this yarn so much, I'm already eyeing some Brooklyn Tweed lace shawl patterns for a new project.

Our brand new Anzula Breeze yarn would also make a lovely summer Wispy if you're looking for something a little less woolly for your creation. The silk/linen blend would be perfect for this design.