We have returned

My blanket has come back home. He enjoyed his trip to California very much. A number of things have happened to blanket while in California, he acquired a name, Ivan.

Ivan's photos from his trip:





Random sheep pictures. Ivan really likes sheep.


At the Sheep exhibit at the zoo.


Ivan at the beach. Riding the pony.


Swinging at the park.

Blankie Bling

My sock club socks are finished and I immediately added a square of the yarn to my blankie. Since this particular shipment had beads I altered the pattern slightly so I could add in some BLING to it. If my socks had beads so would the square that represented it!

Get Those Socks Finished

I belong to a sock club and have received three of the six club shipments. However, I'm still working on the first shipment I received.

My reasons for not starting this particular month's shipment sooner has to do with the intimidation I felt when I saw the beads included in my package. Then to top things off there were charts detailing what looked like complex cables. I had only worked on one project that had cable - it was a scarf. Cables on socks. . .SCARY! Like I said, I was intimidated.

Then, back in April I took the bull by the horns. I strung the beads and attacked what I perceived to be a difficult pattern. It wasn't hard at all. Then I got to a part in the pattern that looked hard so I put the sock down and started a new pair.

Every time I looked at that half completed sock it taunted me. However, it wasn't the part of the pattern I perceived to be difficult that taunted me. It was the beautiful colorway of the yarn. Every time I saw it I thought about how nice it will look in my SYB. Now don't get me wrong, I want to have a beautiful pair of socks as well, but I have to admit I'm also looking forward to having leftover yarn that I can incorporate into my SYB. I will even have some leftover beads to use as well. . . it will look fantastic!

And then there was two. . .

Two Sock Yarn Blankies that is.

Anytime I pull out my Sock Yarn Blankie (Or, as I affectionately refer to it as my SYB), I get compliments. I'm not even looking for compliments - it just happens. So many people thinks it's amazing. One of the last people to compliment me on my SYB was my mom. It was the project I was working on the last time I was hanging out with her.

After she complimented me on it, she asked me to make one for her. "I'll pay you," she said.

I paused before responding to her. I wasn't sure how to tell her the project took 716 square. Oh, and what was this about paying me? I couldn't imagine charging my mom.

My reply to her request was simple, "I'd be happy to make you one, but know that this takes 716 squares so it will take awhile for me to make it."

Her eyes widened somewhere around 716 squares. At the end of the day of course I would make one for mom! I just had to set the expectation that she most likely wouldn't receive it for awhile. We both agreed it would be a her 70th birthday present. This gives me a few years to complete it and if I finish early - Bonus!

So, this past weekend I started mom's blanket. Hers is almost caught up to mine. My SYB has 12 squares knit together and another 4 ready to be added. Mom's has 7 squares knit together and another 3 ready to be added. I hope to get mom's caught up soon so I can knit our squares simultaneously.

Pictures of our SYBs will be posted to the Tadpole Knits Flickr site soon!

Happy Knitting All!

Blanket goes on Vacation

First, before I begin, I need to come up with a better name for my blanket, so post your ideas!

Blanket has left the building.. no he has not just gone to knitting group, but gathered all his mini-skein friends and headed out for not-so-sunny Southern California! After a long trip tucked away in my suitcase, he has arrived without a problem.

There were many tense moments while waiting for the suitcase to come down the belt to the luggage carosel, but arrive it did. I am certain I was the only person thinking, my yarn is in that suitcase, you best not loose it.

When we go out to see the various attractions of the area, blanket will join us for some pictures. I will post them when I get back. Till then, I hope everyone is making good progress on their blankets!

LoJack Anyone?

I am notorious amongst my group of friends for misplacing things. Keys, jewelry, my cell phone, etc. You name it, I probably will lose it. Often I feel it's a good thing my head is connected to my body otherwise there is a chance I might misplace that too! Unfortunately, my Sock Yarn Blankie has become the latest victim to this bad habit of mine.

Saturday was the first time I had misplaced my blankie. It was a dull day so I figured I would just curl-up on my sofa and work on my blankie. No such luck! I couldn't find it. I looked all around my place - top to bottom! All I could think is "Oh no! This can't be." It wasn't until the next day when I was taking some shopping bags out of my car that I found my blankie. Phew!

Fast forward to yesterday. We got together to hangout, have a some coffee (or tea in my case) and work on our blankies. Expect, when I went to get mine there was no blankie. No big deal this time as I had faith it would reappear once again as it had the other day. I would just knit some more mitered squares to be attached at a later time.

After last night's "incident" it has been recommended to me that I put my blankie and mini-skeins in a plastic zip lock bag as a way to avoid future problems. This recommendation has been duly noted and is currently in committee for review. However, I kind of like the idea of getting LoJack instead.

Orders Have Shipped

We are so excited that our first orders have already shipped! So those of you who already ordered, keep a watch on the mailbox. We hope you are as thrilled with your package as we were! We can't wait to knit our mini-skeins into our blankies!

As a special thank you to our first customers, we are inviting you to join our exclusive Frog Pond Club. Frog Pond members will get exclusive sales, first dibs on our up-coming mitered square mini-skein club, and other special opportunities.

We are also very excited about some of the conversations we have been having with some very important people. We should have more information on our club shortly! So stay tuned. Those of you in the Frog Pond, watch your email for more information for your opportunity to join us first!

Welcome!

Welcome to the Tadpole Knits blog!

We love the mitered square blanket by Shelley Kang. We started working on our blankets and quickly realized we would need more yarn, and FAST. Sadly, neither of us were able to make socks fast enough to keep up with with our desire for more squares. Who wants to go out and buy an entire hank of yarn for just 25 yards. So, one night, after a lovely day in yarn heaven, an idea was born... let's sell the kits so folks like us can have instant gratification.

Let's take it a step further and offer kits from independent dyers all around the country. Let's have a club. There is so many things we are looking to do, but for now, we have started small, just like a tadpole, and we are offering our kits, a knitters dozen (14 - because 13 is unlucky, for sale at our Etsy Shop. Stop by and check it out.

Below is sample of the types of yarns included in the kits -