If you follow us you know how much we love Sweetgeorgia Yarns.  Sweetgeorgia Yarns are all  hand-dyed in the SGY studio/shop on Main and 4th.  Designer Felicia Lo is a colour wizard.  She calls it unapologetic colour.  Indeed.  In the yarn shops I've visited here in Montreal the shop owners drool over the saturation of the SGY colours. They rave at how new dye-lots are always unbelievable matches to the last, and that they haven't so much as found a stray off-colour streak in one hank.  For those of you who are not privy to dyeing fibre, this is no easy feat.  That's not to say it doesn't happen in the studio, inevitabley it will, but is rather a testament to the standard of quality that Felicia maintains for the yarn that leaves the studio for someone else' enjoyment.  I for one really appreciate that.  I also just appreciate the fact that she loves doing what she does, not that I know this first hand but it comes out in her work; just check out all these amazing colourways, and these ones for her monthly fibre and yarn clubs.

photo is from the Sweetgeorgia website

Above are some of my picks from Cecile Benac's Fall & Winter line.  Celcile has been making beautiful and very wearable knitwear since the 80's.  All of her pieces are made here in Vancouver, with the exception of a few very special one-of-a-kinds hand-knit by her mother in Peru.  How great is that!?

You can find Cecile's pieces at Tutta Mia, in fact they just got re-stocked with her Fall line.  Go see!

I don't claim to know about all of the very talented knit designers in Vancouver, but seriously how have I never seen Elena Nodel's amazing designs?  Just now I was cruising Ravelry where I stumbled upon one design and shortly thereafter was led to her website and proceeded to drop everything to write this blog post.

It's obvious that if you have a little lady to knit for Elena's website is a place you must visit.  The bellow pattern Sprite is one of her many free patterns.

Aren't they the best?  There are many more on her site, some of which are on their way in adult sizes as well.  Check out her links bellow.

You'll also be glad to know that Elena teaches beginner knitting at Wool & Wicker in Richmond!

Elena's links:
website: http://www.anadiomenadesigns.com/
ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/designers/elena-nodel

I've always loved the Vancouver based clothing line Adhesif by Montreal-born designer Melissa Ferreira.  I remember visiting her booth at Portabello West years ago and shamelessly hinting to her that I wanted the Adhesif vest SHE was wearing.  Did I actually ask for the shirt off her back? How embarrassing.

Actually that's the thing about Adhesif, every piece is one-of-a-kind since everything is made from recycled cloth.  So if you fall in love with a piece, be sure to get it there and then - unless the designer is wearing it!  What was I thinking?!  haha

Above are some designs from the Fall 2011 line.  Isn't that outfit cute?

Did you know that Adhesive has a shop on Main Street?  It's a super cute shop: 2202 Main Street, Vancouver

Adhesif links:
Website: http://www.adhesifclothing.com/
Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/adhesif
Blog: http://adhesifclothing.blogspot.com/

xo Janna

You may remember my recent post about Sweet Fibre's knock-you-socks-off sock yarn.  How could you forget? Well something I've recently discovered is that the talented designer behind it all, Melissa Thomson, also has a collection of patterns that she is building on including the above Courtyard hat which features my favourite repeat network, the ogee.  Love it!

View her collection here on her Ravelry page and click the pic to be directed to the pattern on Etsy.

Isn't this scarf gorgeous?  My dear friend Ana Isabel hand-wove and naturally dyed it.  It's 100% organic cotton, 10 feet long and oh so yummy.

This week Ana is participating in the Poppytalk Handmade Marketplace for their back-to-school market.  Check out her goods here.

Ana's Fall 2011 line of neckwear
Ana's Etsy shop
Ana's blog

I recently did a trade with Heather Dahl of Dahlhaus for one of her stripey vases:)  In July I visited her Vancouver studio where I fell in love with the pink and grey stripey vase (above-beside my unfinished doll).  After leaving I realized that I had to have it so I emailed her to propose a trade.   Heather got one of my new eco-printed silk scarves. 

And yes she threw in the grey vase too.  Lucky me :)

Heather's vases can be found at Vancouver's new Anthropolgie store and online here on her website.

PS the painting in the pic is by Corrie Peters

luv Janna

Okay, so I know this is a different kind of post for us, but when I saw these on the Maiwa blog all I could think about was who and what Vancouver blog I could send them to so they could blog about it.  Instead I've decided to jump out of our usual realm and share them myself.  Aren't they spectacular?  They are made in India of reclaimed wood and are just some of the new stock at Maiwa East in East Van.  Maiwa East is the Maiwa store in Vancouver (one of three) which sells home decor items and furniture.  The other two stores, in case your unfamiliar, are both on Granville Island.  One is the textile supply store (including yarn), and the other is the textile store which sells beautiful clothing and home textiles as well as accessories and books.  All of their fabrics are naturally dyed, hand-woven and printed in India, South America and other places around the world where Maiwa has close ties.  Also a lot of their clothing line is designed in Vancouver.   Bellow are a few of my favourite things on the Maiwa website.

Why I love places like Maiwa:

About 6 years ago I decided that I would try to buy more locally made clothing and stop buying stuff that's made in China (unless I find it in a thrift shop) and found that purchasing less items for a slightly higher cost really pays off.  Not only am I now wearing more clothing that will last a lot longer than the China-made stuff that I would only wear for one season before it started pilling, stretching and falling apart, but it also feels really good knowing that my clothing is made and bought ethically.  Check out Maiwa's definition of "slow clothes" here.  I have a block print dress, a pair of linen pants and a linen tunic all from Maiwa that I've gotten a lot of wear out of for the past four spring/summers.  

PS.  I also love shopping at Tutta Mia for Vancouver/Canada-made clothing and accessories.


Janna

I remember years ago when designer Erin Gibbs of Florence Ann compiled all her long hours of local fibre research into a fabulous guide which came in PDF form.  For the longest time it was on our links page and every once and while I'd draw your attention to it on our Facebook page.  Now she has moved it into the form of a website:  Local Fibre (www.localfibre.com)!  Yep, a BC, Yukon and Washington State specific fibre website!!  Don't you just love it when other people do your homework for you?  I am very thankful that Erin has.

Some awesome features include searchability by fibre-type or region, and each listing has detailed info on what each producer offers.  For example, when I searched "llama" (above pic shows results) I found two listings, one of which is Semiahmoo Suffolks in Surrey, BC.  Their profile shows me that not only do hey produce llama fleece (and manure), but they also offer washable lambskins, raw fleece and rovings, as well as fresh-frozen lamb.

For those fibres enthusiasts who would like to be updated on any additions that get made to Local Fibres, may I suggest subscribing to the Local Fibres RSS feed?

Thanks again Erin. You rock!

Janna