What Else I Make

I enjoy knitting or crocheting things for our shop, but I make many other things that don't make it there! Like Margaret mentioned in her post a few weeks ago, creativity is in our DNA.

Something I love making are baby blankets and I've been making them for well over 30 years. I started out making them for friends when they were expecting their babies and continued making them for new friends, co-workers and their family members. I still think they are so much fun to make.

For baby blankets, I like to use a washable yarn: we know that "things" can happen with little ones, so washable is necessary. But so is soft and comfortable for baby's skin.

Soft and squishy Bernat Baby Blanket.

Lately, one of my favourite yarns to use is Bernat Baby Blanket. It is so thick, soft and squishy. It knits or crochets up so quickly I can usually have a blanket done in a couple of days depending on the pattern.

The most-recent blanket I made was for one of my son's friends. He and his wife were expecting their first baby so I made a Hudson's Bay inspired blanket using Caron Simply Soft. Because it was all garter stitch (knit every row), it knit up fairly quickly. I loved it when it was done, but more importantly the new parents loved it! It was a perfect gift for them as they waited until the birth of their child to learn the gender.

How special for a new mother to receive a handmade baby blanket. From being swaddled in it as a newborn to dragging it with them everywhere as a toddler to swaddling their own newborns in it, a handmade blanket is a beautiful gift.

My own three boys each have their own special blankets that their Nannie (our mother) made for them. They are all put away for now, ready for them to use with their own little ones!

We don't offer baby blankets in our shop but if you are interested in one, contact me (Shelagh) at threesistersknit@gmail.com or DM her through the Three Sisters Knit Facebook page. I will work with you to find the ideal pattern and yarn for the new baby.

Baby Hudson's Bay-style blanket: ready to finish the ends.

Creativity, Passion and A Project

I heart everything about this lilac cable and eyelet hat I'm working on right now!

This month we are blogging about love and creativity. At the beginning of February we wrote that creativity is sparked by passion and, like love, can lead to both frustration and boundless joy. Last week, we wrote that creativity is hardwired into our DNA, kind of a family affair. So today, the day after the world's celebration of love, we offer you some insight into one piece we are creating because sharing* our creations with the world is part of the fun for us! 

I am knitting up a gorgeous cable and eyelet hat—we call it a toque in Canada, but I think our American friends call it a beanie. Last Fall (2015) Shelagh and I ordered yarn from artisan yarn dyer Carla Pelzer of Georgian Bay Fibre Co. What I love about Carla's work is that her colours are inspired by the area she lives, a part of Ontario around Georgian Bay that I'm only familiar with through her yarns. This yarn color, Wakefield Lilac, is based on a tall hedge of lilacs on Wakefield Street in Parry Sound. As Carla describes it, the scent of those lilacs in bloom is a reminder of that summer is on its way.

An old Instagram-filtered photo of our lilac hedge.

As I write this, I look out my office window and see our own barren lilac hedge. It's mid-February and the branches are bare. The wind-chill numbers are in the minus digits. But just looking at the yarn in my hands, with its few specks of white and fewer specks of dark purple, I can recall that scent, those colours, that glorious time in Spring when flowers bring delight and set your heart to burst. And I fall in love with the classic of a cable—like the classic lilac hedge in many Ontario gardens—but enlivened by this non-traditional color.

Honestly, I absolutely LOVE this hat I'm making! As I'm knitting along, I feel my heart bursting open like the lilacs the color is named for. It will look so amazing on someone this spring and I can even picture the woman who will wear it: smart and lively, she loves to wear classics with a twist. And she loves to celebrate spring.

*At least once a month, we'll share stories about a project: it may be something that is in our Etsy shop already, or maybe it is something on our needles now. It may be about the yarn, the yarn artisan, or the pattern.

Creativity, DNA and Curiosity

Our grandmother, Margaret Paton, dressed for a part in her local theatre.

 Last week we blogged about creativity and how we have discovered that once that spark catches, the winds of curiosity fan the flame to other places. For me, that means knitting and some designing has reminded me of a couple of other passions: photography and drawing. And that has led me to a couple of Instagram photo challenges. All very fun and totally creative!

Where did this start, though? I believe we are all born to create, whether it's a beautiful meal from just a few ingredients, a warm and inviting home to welcome your family and friends, or something you make with your hands. As author Elizabeth Gilbert pointed out while discussing her recent book Big Magic, people have been creating things that serve no purpose but being the result of creativity since . . . well, since we were people. Just look at cave drawings made by early human groups: they created those drawings because they could. No other reason. Drawings didn't provide tools for survival; although perhaps creating these drawings encouraged growth of a new part of the brain? Looked at in this light, perhaps creativity sparked in those early millennia allowed our brains to move beyond reptilian and eventually hard-wire into our DNA.

Where did it start for us, though? It started with our mother's mother, Margaret Paton, who sewed, knit, and acted in her hometown's theatre when she was young. Our curious and gifted mother shared her passion for creating with us, including teaching Shelagh and me to knit. Mum sewed a little as we were growing up, but I know she much preferred knitting and crocheting. After she retired, she took up cross stitch and even tried her hand at quilting. And everything she made by hand was almost always a for someone else. A Fair Isle pullover for me; a quilted Christmas tree skirt for Irene; a crocheted blanket for Shelagh; a knitted cardigan for her grand-niece.

While the key our mother gave us was her curiosity about different creative arts, I think the spark that continues to drive our passion for Three Sisters Knit is sharing our creations with the world. Shelagh and I love figuring out exactly what a specific yarn is calling out to become and then bringing it into the world. And we love seeing what different artisans offer and hearing their stories.

All our hand-knit items have stories: from honoring Irene and our mother to the inspiring artisans who spin and dye unique yarns to travels while creating. Each piece has its own distinct DNA. And all our items are knit with love, creating their own DNA, and we hope you'll find (or request) a piece to become part of YOUR story.

Creativity

Margaret's first entry as @threesistersknit for the February sketch challenge on Instagram

Creativity. Is it something you are born with? Or is it something that can be learned?

One of the beautiful results of knitting for others is how much it sparks our own creativity. Shelagh and I look at our skeins of yarn and let our imaginations run. There are times when I feel a bit like Michaelangelo setting the angel free from the marble: I know there is a hat or a scarf in that ball of yarn and I simply need to set it free!

Another amazing side effect is how acting on this impulse fuels curiosity about other creative pursuits. Those of you who follow us on Instagram know that we are participating in a photo challenge put together by another Etsy seller, Lu and Ed. It's definitely a challenge to photograph something specific every day and do it in an interesting way. But that's what forces the creativity, and that makes it exciting!You can see all our posts

In fact, the challenge has provoked something in me because I've decided to participate in a sketch challenge set out by a very talented Etsy seller who is relatively local—BK Inspired. She does amazing pyrography, but her ink doodles are spectacular!

If you're on Instagram and want to see what makers are photographing, check out the info on the #CreativeDaily challenge set out by @lu_and_ed in her blog. If you want to participate in the #febsketchchallenge then check out posts from @mayabki to find out more. It's fun and inspiring to see how makers creatively express themselves with the prompts.

Oh yes, and if you're on Pinterest, check out our board called 2016 #CreativeDaily IG Challenge to see some of the pics we've posted. Or find us @threesistersknit on Instagram to find all of them.

Mid-Winter Sale - January 22 - 24

Enjoy 25% off during our Winter Sale January 22 - 24.

Shelagh and I have spent these last few weeks indoors, hibernating from the now-chilly Canadian winter. Actually, winter hasn't been all that bad in our part of the world this year, thanks to El Niňo. But we have seen some crazy weather all over the world right now!

Are you someone who loves a typical wintry weather? Or do you love El Niňo (yeah, we know it's bad, but . . . ) and a green winter? Either way, we've got you covered—literally! We're putting our gorgeous and stylish hand-knits in our Etsy Shop on sale for 25% off.

It's cold. It's dreary. Valentine's Day is just a few weeks away. So if you are in the mood for something new or want a gift for someone you love, check out our store starting Friday, January 22 and until Sunday, January 24 at midnight.

From our FaceBook page, click on the Shop Now button beside the “Liked” button at the top of the page. Or, go directly to our Etsy shop at www.threesistersknit.etsy.com. Once there, use the code WINTER25 at the checkout and your 25% will be automatically deducted from your total!

Beating Blue Monday

Colouring or anything creative this time of year will help beat the blues.

Have you heard about Blue Monday? Well a few years ago some group used an algorithm to identify the saddest day of the year for those of us living in the northern hemisphere. And this year, that day is January 18. It is the confluence of cold weather, time between holidays, lack of daylight, and influx of bills.

But Three Sisters Knit is all about the happy! So what are we doing to maintain our happiness levels? Well, I think we spend a lot of time with one another. Although we work from our own homes, we chat online constantly. Occasionally we FaceTime, especially when we want to show each other a yarn or an almost-completed project. I think Shelagh even mentioned the time we video chatted online while she was in Florida so she could show me how to turn a heel on a sock! We are the greatest supporters, sounding boards, and cheerleaders of one another. And fortunately, on the odd occasion we do feel blue, it's at different times.

Of course, we focus on doing what we love—knitting! So we look at patterns, check our stash of gorgeous yarns, and plan what we'll work on next. This year we are working at being focused and organized about implementing out ideas. Oddly, this doesn't take the fun out of our projects: it leaves me really excited to think about all the beautiful things we're about to make. It's as though the passion Shelagh and I—and before that, our mother and Irene—share for our craft burns brighter and stronger. Being focused on our plans actually allows time for our creativity to flourish.

And I think the final activity we do to maintain happiness levels is practising gratitude. This one is actually something I am working on strengthening in my life. I was doing really well there for a while in 2015, but then I kind of got out of the habit of being thankful and I need to get back into the habit. Shelagh and I are following a suggestion from author Elizabeth Gilbert: at the beginning of each year, she—and now we—find a big, empty jar and label it our HAPPINESS JAR. Here's some of what Ms. Gilbert wrote:

Every day, at the end of the day, I write down the happiest moment of my day, and I put it in the jar. . . . There is no simpler or less-demanding spiritual practice in my life than this one—when I literally take note of my gratitude for a moment in my day when things felt good, or I felt lucky, or I merely remembered that I was alive.

It has been almost two weeks and it's amazing how wonderful it is to see all those little pieces of paper filling up our jars! I keep my Mason jar on my desk, so when I'm working online I can look up at my jar and instantly feel thankful—and a little better too.

So what do you do to tackle the January blues?

Happy New Year!

Shelagh and I consider ourselves a very fortunate pair of sisters: not only have we found something we love doing—and love doing together!—we have been incredibly fortunate to be able to share our knitting stories with you through our blog. We had so much fun in 2015 and received great feedback on our posts, we are really looking forward to continuing in 2016.

So what can you expect in the upcoming year? Well, we will

• Post more consistently: look for our posts on Tuesday mornings.
• Continue to share stories about some of the items we are making.
• Add some new ideas into the mix: a little bit about colors and fashion—we are making accessories for stylish women, after all! Perhaps some information about yarn—there are so many options out there, but what does fiber content mean for a garment? And who knows what else may strike our fancy? Maybe some guest bloggers or Q and A posts from other yarn-ophiles.

As always, we look forward to hearing from you, dear reader. We love reading comments. But we'd love to hear if there is something you want to know. Or perhaps there is something you'd like us to knit up—or wonder why we don't knit particular things. Drop us a line!

And of course, knitting and making is very visual, so you can find us posting on Instagram and Pinterest. Just look for @threesistersknit in both platforms and follow us.

For now, Shelagh and I want to wish everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous 2016. Hold your family and friends close because they are what make this life wonderful.