TFA Braintrust Power Conference

Here in Canada, we had a lovely long weekend celebrating Canada Day (July 1st), and snuck off my family's cottage. Tanis and I (along with our crackerjack husbands, a couple of Brits, and the TFA mascot, Stella) settled into the long weekend to do some serious business planning for TFA. See how serious?

G called it the TFA Braintrust Power Conference.Very, very serious. I mean, we're practically taking over the world right now. You just don't realize.

Oh, and did I mention that we did a photo shoot for an upcoming pattern? Because we totally did that too. Still a few weeks away from a full pattern release, though! I'm working on the pattern and sizing. As you can probably tell, it's a summery, hot-weather knit!

Julie's Team TFA Post!

Hi Everyone! As Tanis mentioned on Monday, I'm new to the TFA Team, and I couldn't be more excited. It's funny how sometimes you can practically draw a straight line between something wonderful in the present and a seemingly small thing in the past, but it definitely all started with a dress:


A special, magical dress. Sharing it with Tanis definitely began a friendship. We kept up with each other via our blogs, and email from time to time. So when I mentioned to her that I was thinking about getting into the social media side of knitting more and doing a lot more designing, she was more than supportive- she had just the job for me!

This is such a perfect match. I have already been in love with TFA yarns for ages- the yarns are wonderfully squishy soft, feel like heaven to knit with, and hold up really well once they are in finished knit form. I've got more than few TFA projects that are totally standing up to wear and tear. Other than sharing a dress size, we also have the same aesthetic vision for TFA, and can talk about yarns and knits and designs until... well, we haven't stopped yet!

Let's take a look at some of the new stuff, shall we? Over there on the right hand side bar, you'll see the new Twitter, Facebook group, and rss feed buttons. If you want to know all the latest info, please follow TFA in your favourite internet weapon of choice!  The Tanis Fiber Arts Ravelry Group is also alive and kicking, so head on over if you'd like to join, or check out patterns that were made especially with TFA yarns in mind.And if you ever want to get in touch, don't be shy- send us a Facebook message, email, or tweet.

Welcome to the Team Julie!

When I started TFA about 3 ½ years ago, it was a solo effort. It was just me, at home with my yarn and my dyes. Chris was supportive, and he helped whenever he could, but for a long time it was just me. It was fun to be doing something that I loved so much, but isn’t doing something that you love always so much better when you’re doing it with people that you love?

Flash forward a couple of years and TFA has officially turned into a team effort. Chris and I work full time and it feels like mom is here helping out more often then she’s not. Stella has always provided emotional support, but other than her cuteness, she doesn’t really bring that much to the table.

I am so excited to officially add another member to the TFA family. Introducing, TFA’s Director of Awesomeness, Head of Social Networking, Media, News, Designer Extraordinaire, Super Friend, Super Gal: Julie Crawford!

You all know Julie from the wonderful Knitted Bliss blog. I’ve loved Julie’s blog and knitterly style for years. She’s upbeat, entertaining, insightful, and of course, very cute! I’ve always felt like Julie was a friend, and now that she’s come on board and joined the TFA team, she’s also a partner.

Julie has graciously agreed to help us out in several areas that I’ve been wanting to participate in more actively but just haven’t been able to do on my own; Facebook, Twitter, Ravelry… with Julie taking the wheel, hopefully it’ll be easier to keep everyone updated on what’s new and exciting at TFA! Julie’s got lot’s of great ideas, she’ll be helping out with the blog from time to time. Tomorrow you’ll see TFA Tuesdays making a comeback. It’s only appropriate that she take them over since her awesome Modification Monday posts were the inspiration for TFA Tuesday in the fist place. Together we’ll come up with all sorts of other fun projects to work on together, so things will no doubt get exciting!

For me, one of the best things about having Julie on the team is the fact that like me, she just loves to knit and loves to share her knitting. She gets excited about yarn, colour and design, and she is the perfect person to bounce ideas off of. TFA has grown slowly and organically. Having Julie join the team feels very natural, like it was meant to be. I knew that I had met a kindred spirit way back in ’09 when I sent her an e-mail about how pretty her wedding dress was, and how I was looking at the same one for my own wedding, to which she casually suggested that I just wear hers! Like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Julie will share her two cents on joining the team on Wednesday. TFA is growing, it’s still the same old colour loving little company that it’s always been, we’re just getting more organized. With one more enthusiastic team member things can only get better from here!