Oh My Bear!

I am both obsessed with and terrified of bears. I always want to see one in the woods, but I don't want to be attacked. I want to squeeze and cuddle their cute little faces without being eaten. Stephanie Dosen, the designer behind Tiny Owl Knits has designed a lot of magical, woodlands-inspired patterns, but none that I love quite as much as her "Oh My Bear" sweater.

Once I finished my first colorwork project, I decided to tackle this pattern. I love neutrals and un-dyed yarns so this is the perfect colorwork project for me. Five shades of greys and browns to make a bear face? Yes! There was not a question in my mind over what yarn to use. What yarn is bulky and comes in a million beautiful shades of greys and browns? Imperial Stock Ranch Native Twist! This beautiful, softly-spun yarn is also grown and milled in the US by our friends over in Oregon, so I was excited to have a project that would be perfectly suited to the yarn and get to use the colors I love so much.

The bear face (which is amazing and adorable) is knit using intarsia colorwork, which means it is knit back and forth and uses bobbins to keep the colors straight. This was my first intarsia project so it was a bit hairy, but I took it one row at a time and it went fine. It was so exciting to see the bear face come together, it kept me knitting even as the weather grew warmer.

Holy Crap!

This was also my first time seaming a sweater. I prefer seamless sweaters, but the intarsia bear meant seams and it was worth it for that sweet bear face. I had help from Angelique and Sunne with my seams so they look awesome and I am much more confident with seaming now.

I made two modifications to this pattern. The first is that I'm not into hoods so I didn't add a hood and just finished the neck with a bit of ribbing. The second is that the pattern is only one size which is large (it is meant to be oversized). I am pretty petite so I was worried I would drown in a sweater that was too big, so I knit my sweater in  a smaller gauge of 4.5 stitches to the inch instead of 4 that was recommended. I did some calculations to make sure that it would fit and it seemed like it would work. It did!! My bear sweater is still a big sweater, but with enough fit to be flattering.

This is a warm sweater, knit in bulky wool and I finished it in July in the middle of record heat. I was finally able to wear my new sweater on a recent camping trip at 10,200 elevation in West Fork, over by Ridgway, Colorado. It was amazing!! Bears flocked around me and they all knew I was not to be eaten as I was obviously a big fan. My new bear friends appreciated their likeness and took me in as one of their own. I can't wait to wear this sweater to all of my cold-weather outdoor adventures and see what types of experiences we'll have together!

New Teenytiny Anzula Skeins + Beekeeper's Quilt Madness!

New from Anzula--miniskeins are here in beautiful hand-dyed colors and luxurious yarns!

Perfect for the tiniest of projects, these little wonders are just what you need for the super popular Beekeeper's Quilt knitting pattern by Stephanie Dosen.

Sabrina of Anzula Yarns showed us her progress on her own Beekeeper's Quilt when she was here recently for the Anzula trunk show. Her plan is to make her beekeeper hexipuffs from every hand-dyed color in her line!

I've decided to make a cute little hexipuff chair cushion--who knows--I may get addicted to this hexipuffery and have a whole quilt on my hands before long!

A Magical Menagerie of Handknits

You may know that many of us over here at Fancy Tiger Crafts are obsessed with animals - especially those of the woodland variety. For this reason, there was a lot of squealing and sighing when we opened the box of patterns from Tiny Owl Knits. Stephanie Dosen is the mystical woman behind Tiny Owl Knits and we can't wait to knit up every one of her designs. From her "Fairy Castles" to her "Meow Mitts" to her "Fawn Poncho," all the Tiny Owl Knits patterns capture a special time of far-away-lands filled with unicorn breath and fairy dust.

Attracting a magical menagerie with our handknits

One of our favorite local crafters, Alicya Tebo, and I recently finished two of the TOK's patterns and we were so excited to wear them out for the first time. As soon as we donned our handknits and walked into the woods we were instantly surrounded by forest creatures. It was so magical!

Alicya's Deer Antler Hat

Alicya knit the Deer with Little Antlers hat and it is absolutely perfect! Deers were deluded by Alicya's deer hat and welcomed her as one of their own. We're really excited to see what happens when the glow-in-the-dark pink part of the ears lights up at night - just imagine what creature she will attract!

Jaime's Mr. Fox Stole

I made an adorable fox stole (this TOK pattern was published in Yarn Forward magazine and sadly we are not able to carry it at this time). Mr. Fox is brilliantly constructed to look like a real skinned fox stole. I have a secret love of taxidermy and fur, but am a vegetarian so it causes some issues for me. Mr. Fox is the perfect solution as it allows me to show off my love of dead animals and knitting! The forest foxes knew my stole was knit out of love and that no foxes were harmed in its making.

Mr. Fox in his natural habitat

Thanks Tiny Owl Knits for channeling the wonderful energy of the forest into your patterns. We can't wait to knit up some more!