handmade by stefanie

Last week was the big Sock Pal reveal via Zoom, where I got to unwrap the sock knitted for me by my mystery sock pal and "meet" them face to face! I'm so pleased with my new pair of socks: Little Boxes Socks for me! I'm pretty amazed that both were nearly identical to each other - I was fully prepared for some differences in pooling and size, which is totally fine as long as they are still wearable. So to get a second sock that looks like I knit it myself is really the icing on the proverbial cake. Honestly, I can't tell which one I knit and which one my sock pal made! During the reveal party, we also got to vote on the next set of patterns for Sock Pals 2.0, and got to hear about the exclusive sock colors that are in the works. I will definitely be signing up for another round of Sock Pals from Knit 1 Chicago , and there will only be a limited number of spots (20, to be exact) - so make sure you keep your eye on their website and Instagram account to find out

This past weekend, I did my first-ever virtual knitting show ! It probably sounds weird, but I shied away from virtual shows last year because the thought of spending my free time on Zoom felt a little too much like work. I'm not sure why it's different now that I've changed jobs, because I still work from home and do a ton of meetings virtually, but for some reason, it does seem different. The human brain is weird, what can I say?!  I went to the first and second VK Live events in Chicago (which ended up being the only ones, LOL) and always had a really great time, although I never signed up for a class. So when  Faina Gobestein  posted on Instagram that she was teaching a class on fixing brioche mistakes, I signed up - and that is one superpower I would very much like to have in my knitting toolkit!  When I signed up for the class, they offered me an upgrade to a "Superpass" for a few extra dollars, so I figured why not? It ended up being kind of a dud since I o

A new year is always a good time to jump into something brand-new with both feet. After hitting the 300-mask milestone last fall, I've continued to sew face masks for anyone who needs them, but I have slowed down production from the frenzy I had earlier in the pandemic. Of course, I still have lots of fabric, and now that I'm nearly to my one-month anniversary of working at my new job , I've been feeling the urge to give quilting a try.  So when I came across this free tutorial for a quilt-as-you-go hexagon quilt , I figured it was worth a shot. What better way to use up all of my leftover bits of face mask fabric than sewing my very own quarantine quilt?  So, I bought a hexagon template set and some precut hexagon batting and some neutral gray fabric to use as the backing fabric...and now I'm totally obsessed with making these fun little hexagons! The process of cutting out the shapes and then pinning them together is incredibly satisfying. And then when you press do