2017 A Year in Review

Each and every year we look back and marvel at all the awesome, crafty things we were able to see and do. After 11 years in business, there is a lot to be grateful for! 2017 was an exceptional year and we owe it all to our talented, inspiring staff and to all of our incredible customers (near and far) that have been supporting us for 11 great years. Let’s take a look back at a year full of crafty goodness!

One of the most exciting things from 2017 was definitely the release of our first TWO new books. Wool Journey: Shetland was a collaboration with some of our favorite knitting friends and was released earlier this summer. Part travel book, part knitting patterns, part ode to Shetland this has been something we have been working on for several years and we are so excited that we were able to share it with you finally. We also released Constellations: 12 Pieced Astrological Blocks, 8 Personalized Sewing Projects this Fall. A sewing book that features patterns for all of our Constellation blocks (including a new Orion block) and 8 unique sewing projects that show off the blocks perfectly. There has been an incredible response to both books. We are so glad you love them as much as we do.

This year also marked the launch of Fancy Tiger Craft Retreats! It has been such a pleasure bringing talented crafters like Stephen West, Arne and Carlos and Heather Lou of Closet Case Designs to Denver for these extended crafting retreats. We have announced a few more retreats for 2018 that you can check out here.

In addition to the weekend-long retreats, we also had some really incredible guest instructors that came to teach. Huge thank you to Allie Olson of Indiesew, Sophie Hines, Sarah Neubert, Dani Ives and Camellia McMurry of Carnaby Yarn for joining us and sharing your expertise.

It's no secret that we love to travel. This year Amber and Jaime visited Savannah, Georgia for Quiltcon 2017 together as well as The New York Sheep and Wool festival in Rhinebeck, New York. They trek to these crafty conventions every year and come home inspired and ready to create. In addition to joint travels, Jaime was able to take an eight-day knitters tour of Shetland. She had the pleasure of hanging out and traveling with designers, yarn producers, and industry friends. Jaime joined Keli of Drygoods Design on a food and textile tour of Oaxaca City. Weaving, natural dye and cooking intensives were the perfect way to celebrate her 40th birthday. 

Amber has had a busy year cooking up new patterns, including two patchwork patterns for Making Magazine. Her Concentric Table Mat was featured in Making No. 3/Dots and her Pathway Pillow is available in Making No .4/Lines. Both projects are simple and beautiful (like everything Amber creates) and we are incredibly proud of her.

Two of our Tigers had quilts featured in the Modern Quilt Guild’s new book Modern Quilts: Designs of the New Century. Amber's Constellation Quilt (Cancer & Taurus) and Shawna Doering's Red Hot were both selected to be highlighted in this utterly beautiful book alongside stunning modern quilts of the new century. Amber's quilt was shown at Quiltcon 2016 and was selected for the year-long Quiltcon Traveling Exhibit. It's back home and displayed in the shop--come by and see this well-traveled beauty!

Our talented staff put together a ton of incredible free patterns/tutorials. Check out all ELEVEN projects that became available this year. Rosie Head Wrap by Caitlin Vannoy, Catnip Fish by Miranda Harp, Triangle Pin Cushion by Amber Corcoran, Be Good Bath Mat by Miranda Harp, Fancy Baby Blocks by Caitlin Vannoy, Fancy Eggpron by Kaylee Lockhart, Earthworm Scarf by Miranda Harp, Fancy Advent Calendar by Tiffani Whitney and Tearjerker Tissue Cozy by Miranda Harp. We also participated in the Row by Row Experience for the first year ever. Keely Shaw designed our foundation paper pieced block titled Wild Goose Chase. It was a huge success and we will definitely be participating again next year. We also love participating in Yarn Along the Rockies every year.  This year Amber created a simple cabled hat pattern for the event using Knerd String Worsted. Badwater is simple, elegant and totally free! 

We hosted two knit-alongs this year, our annual winter-time knit-along as well as the Fancy Drygoods KAL. Our January knit-along was the lace knit Wolf River Pullover by Melissa Schaschwary. Fancy Drygoods KAL was a Junegrass: Batch Two based knit-along that could feature ANY pattern you wanted to knit up. Stay tuned for a 2018 sweater KAL coming this month!

Speaking of which… We made another 100% Colorado Grown and Milled yarn, Junegrass: Batch Two, for our 11th Anniversary. We love this DK weight yarn almost as much as the first batch. It is excellent for accessories and sweaters alike. There are still some skeins available if you missed the original release.

We had the most fun participating in the 5th Annual Spinzilla spinning competition. For one-week hand spinners across the globe compete to spin as many yards of yarn as they can. Every year we have fun themes and events scattered throughout the week. This year was Game of Thrones-themed!

Thank you so much for another year of support. We really can’t do any of these incredible things without you! We look forward to sharing more craft projects and adventures in 2018 with you. Happy New Year and best wishes for an abundant 2018!