Hip to be Square: Granny Square Blanket!

Way back in the winter our fellow bee Courtney was kind (and patient!) enough to teach a few of us how to crochet simple granny squares at The Brain's regular Knit Night. In general I tend to gravitate towards simple projects that I can pick up and put down easily or do while watching a movie; it makes me feel like I'm being productive! Granny squares were the perfect project to fill my idle hands and use up that ever growing yarn stash. Slowly but surely, one square at a time, you're bound to build up enough little squares to make an afghan without having to tote around a large and daunting project.

Jenna Rose used some gorgeous light airy colors for her granny squares (above).

I love natural colors of wool and using Canadian or hand spun yarns, so for my project I used up some hand spun Manos del Uruguay left over from an old project and purchased some Briggs and Little yarn while on christmas vacation in Nova Scotia. I love Briggs and Little because it's a Canadian company and is very inexpensive for pure Canadian wool, which they buy direct from the producer. It makes an ideal yarn for natural dyeing as well as for large projects like blankets.

I started by dyeing some of the wool with onion skins, one of the easiest and most rewarding natural dyes to work with. After saving up my onion skins until i had enough to fill a pot, I dyed two balls of natural white "Heritage" (2 ply) yarn from the Briggs and Little line. I boiled the onion skins 'til the water was full of their dark rust color, then I filtered them out and placed the water back on to boil. I dyed one skein first which soaked up the strong darker yellow right away - the ball in the back of the picture below. Then I dyed the second skein in the remaining water - this is called an exhaust bath. The water is not as potent with dye but this second round will produce a softer, often more beautiful, shade of yellow.

To go with the natural yellows, I picked up some Heritage yarns in shades of grey and started making the granny squares that Courtney had taught me. The stitch was surprisingly simple. Starting with a small circle made with a few chain stitches and then working outwards with little "shells" of three double-crochet stitches followed by a few chain stitches you eventually get a square. There are many great books and videos on making granny squares and tons of variations of patterns but I thought I'd stick to the simple square, mixing up my colors to make every square just a little bit different from the last. Soon enough (and thanks to a couple seasons of "Mad Men" that I definitely needed to catch up on...) I had a big pile of granny squares ready to be stitched together into a blanket.

As I made up the squares I added in some bright fun bits of left over wool in my stash to fill out the blanket and add some different colors!

Using the same basic pattern of three double crochet stitches I edged each square, and stitched them together by picking up the edge of the previous square as I went. When I was all done I edged the whole blanket with a gradation of grey to black yarns to frame the whole thing making the lighter grays and yellows pop in the middle of the blanket.

And just in time for summer weather, voila! the perfect picnic blanket for Bay Front Park!

I think I'll spend my whole summer right here.


photos by Jenna Rose and Anna Taylor

Introductions

Dearest readers,

Today's post comes to you via both Elizabeth and Kate of The Beehive. The two of us are so very excited to share some plans that we've had in the works since the Beehive first formed back in January. Introducing our new and upcoming venture: Needlework!

Our concept for Needlework is to provide Hamilton and its crafty, DIY community with its first ever sewing lounge; a sew by the hour, creative workspace. We envision Needlework as a space where you'll be inspired to learn new skills, finish old projects, and make something new; all while being surrounded by a thoughtfully curated selection of fabric, fibre and notions.

We are still very much in the beginning stages of this venture, and thus we would like to ask for your help. We would love to get a sense what you want and need in a fabric/yarn/notions store/workspace, so we have created a survey to gather some of that information. If you could take the time to fill it out, and pass it on to friends and family living in the Hamilton area and beyond, we would be ever so grateful. By participating in our survey, you also have a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to either White Elephant, or Mixed Media. Fun!

A big thank you to our friends and family, and of course The Beehive, for being so supportive, helpful, and encouraging in our endeavours thus far. We love you all, and couldn't be making this big step in our lives without you! Thank you!

Much love,

Elizabeth and Kate

p.s. If you would like to get in touch with us, or be added to our mailing list for future Needlework updates, please feel free to email us at needleworkhamilton@gmail.com.

Beehive Excursion: Greenwood Quiltery in Guelph

Before I went to Sheridan College to study furniture/textile design, I attended the University of Guelph. I don't know how I missed it, but the entire four years that I lived in Guelph I never knew about the amazing fabric and yarn store that is Greenwood Quiltery. It was only when I met Jenna that I learned about it's existence. After all, the owner is Jenna's lovely mother, Joanne Greenberg!




Last week, Jenna, Liz, and I drove up to Guelph to visit the store. Greenwood Quiltery is located in an absolutely stunning old home just barely north of Guelph's downtown centre, on Woolwich Street. Joanne started the business in her home 10 years ago, and originally only sold fabric. Since she moved to the current location she has started carrying a selection of high quality yarn as well. Jenna had of course been in the shop countless times already and knew what to expect, but Liz and I walked around in awe, transfixed by all the lovely patterns and colours.




The selection of fabric at Greenwood Quiltery is very impressive. Joanne carries essentially all the popular contempory designers, including Heather Ross, Melody Miller, Amy Butler, Denyse Schmidt, Cloud 9 organic fabrics, and many others. And there are countless patterns and books to choose from as well.




I also really loved all the samples that Joanne and her employees had sewn up and had on display. That little girls' dress is adorable. Can I have the big girl version please?




Liz, the most devoted knitter of the three of us, was particularly drawn to the yarn section of the shop. Joanne only carries really nice yarn (like Tanis Fibre Arts, Koigu, Rowan, Cascade, Mission Falls, Spud & Chloe, etc) - you won't find any of that acrylic stuff here!

So next time you're in Guelph, go visit Greenwood Quiltery. Oh, and located on the second floor of the building is a gallery, so check that out too. And if you live in the Guelph area and are keen to learn some new sewing skills, Joanne offers a range of workshops you can choose from. So go! Go now! You'll be duly impressed.

Beehive Excursion: Knitter's Frolic

For the past 14 years, the Downtown Knit Collective have been hosting an annual Knitter's Frolic - a two day knitter's marketplace with over 50 vendors selling the finest yarns and fibre art supplies.

I attended the event last year for the first time, and was blown away at the sheer volume of yarn to be had. It was incredible. Needless to say, when I caught wind of the dates for the Frolic this year, I was super excited!

Fellow Bee Courtney and I decided to check out this year's market together, and it did not disappoint.

The Knitter's Frolic was held at the Japanese Cultural Center, and we arrived right at 9am to quite the impressive line up! Obviously we weren't the only ones excited for some yarn shopping that morning.

Right away the Centre was buzzing with excited knitters, crocheters, and fibre artists; fun!



In addition to the marketplace, the Knitter's Frolic also hosted a wide array of workshops, ranging from crochet for beginners, to entrelac on the round, and pattern drafting. Courtney and I decided to start off the day with an introduction to fair isle, taught by Gloria Williams.

I've always had trouble wrapping my head (and fingers) around knitting with both my left and right hands, but thanks to this workshop, I've got my continental knitting skills down pat. Neither Courtney nor I have ever had formal lessons in knitting, and we both found it very helpful to have a instructor to follow, rather than trying to figure it out ourselves.

After all our hard work in class and a quick snack to boost our energy, it was time to indulge in some yummy yarn!

Beautiful display by Manos Del Uruguay.

Viola Fibers!

We had the pleasure to make acquaintance with Emily Folden, the beauty and brains behind Viola Fibers. Isn't she adorable? Her yarn and colourways are to dye for (pardon the pun)!

Mmm, sock yarn! Sock yarn is my preferred yarn to knit with. Courtney took home several skeins in this curry colourway. We thought it was particularly Beehive-ish! Very pretty. I took home a really pretty robins egg blue skein; the one pictured below.



Now the question is: what to make from our newly acquired stash! That will have to be another post altogether.

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A quick thank you to all that applied to our Beehive Summer Craft Fair! We will be reviewing the applications this week, and will let applicants know of our decisions by May 12th.

Happy Wednesday!