handmade by stefanie

I made it out to Schaumburg for Stitches this weekend with my buddies Lauren and Sam and my new friend Kim.  None of us could say we were in need of more yarn, but that's never stopped us before!  I was also excited to meet some of my clients in person for the first time.  I'm not sure if I mentioned this before (I try not to blog too much about work as a general rule), but I've been working with The Wool Wide Web as a yarn- & fiber-specific marketing consultant.  Obviously, being the crazy yarn lady that I am, there will be a little overlap here and there, but my plan is still to write about the things I like because I like them while I'm 'off the clock' and leave the blogging for dollars for another time/place/blogger. Around this time last year, I was still working as an LMT in a local salon/spa, and therefore didn't have much flexibility when it came to attending weekend events - hence, I didn't get to go to Stitches last fall.  I'm not

I've got some really amazing buttons in my stash and often lamented to myself, if only they had a matching mate!  Here are my three favorite uses for forlorn yet fancy buttons: 1.  Find that perfect one-button project that needs something special to make it stand out.  I recently knit a cozy for my smartphone using some handspun I found in my stash (in the festivus colorway, no less!), and went scavenging through my button bins to find the perfect finishing button.  Tea Leaves 2.  Have a show-stopping 'accent' button at the top of the sweater, and similarly-colored buttons that match each other for the rest of the buttonholes.   This is my new favorite trick, one I employed to great effect on my Tea Leaves Cardigan .  3.  Let go of the notion that all your notions must all look alike and button your sweater with a hodgepodge of mismatched buttons!   I got this idea from a sweater model in Ysolda Teague 's TNNA booth in Columbus - it was such a cute idea, I

Early Monday morning, clue #4 arrived in my inbox, and of course I downloaded and printed it out as soon as I woke up!  I've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of this final clue so I could guesstimate whether or not I had enough yarn for a larger size. On the plus side, if I only have enough yarn to make the smallest size, I can get to working on Clue #4 right away and, barring some unforseen circumstance (as they would say on Seinfeld ), finish my project by the end of the month.  While I would really like to have a big 'ol scarfy-shawl to wrap up in this fall, I don't relish the fact that I would have to return to Clue #3 and do even MORE knitting before I can move on to the last clue.  It's a necessary evil, I suppose!  It would also increase the probability that I would not finish this project in time (i.e. by the end of August).  I can accept that - I have no illusions that I'd win a prize in the midst of this KAL, though I certainly wouldn't protest

Perhaps it's a symptom of working from home, but lately I've been getting more and more into the notion of home decorating.  I'm sure most interior decorators would still cringe at my lack of a cohesive anything in my environs (eclectic would be a really nice way of saying that most of our furnishings were bought off of craigslist or swiped from an alley), but I'm beginning to take an interest in how everything is looking at the home base these days. I recently inherited a treasure trove of vintage finds from my great-grandparents....glassware and linens aplenty!  Actually, there's so much, I'm selling some of it off in my etsy shop - it's kind of hard to let it all go, to be honest, but there's no way I can store all of it in our house.  I've had to be choosy in what I keep for myself, and the rest is up for grabs , bit by bit. Table runners were apparently big for my great-grandparents.  There are some really amazing embroidered ones, though

I finished Clue #3....sort of.  I'm waiting for the next clue to come out before I commit to a size, so I've  currently worked to the smallest size of Clue #3.  The main concern, of course, is running out of yarn - I have plenty of the silver and multi colors, but I'm using leftovers for the navy.  I did happen to find ANOTHER leftover ball of navy in my stash - which gives me hope that I could at least make the medium size....but I would sure hate to run out and have to rip back.   I'm really liking how my shawl is turning out - click here to see a spoiler photo! Meanwhile, check out everyone else's KAL progress.   The WestKnits group is hoppin' - though I'm really scratching my head at the number of 'disagrees' pretty much every entry has received.  Really?  Is their color or yarn choice really that disagreeable?!  On the plus side, the 'loves' far outnumber the 'disagrees,' so I suppose I shouldn't worry.

This mystery KAL has triggered a major case of startitis! I'm fighting the urge to start two more sock projects - I'd like to finish my Wool Dispensary sock design first (I just cast on for sock #2)....and besides that, it's really better if I limit myself to one sock project at a time. Daybreak: Not at its most photogenic stage I'm not sure if the following logic is actually logical , but instead of starting a monster or sock, I ended up starting a Daybreak Shawl .  I've been wanting to knit one for so long now, it just seemed like I should use the momentum of this KAL to check that off my knitting bucket list.  Does it help my case if I say I'm using sport-weight yarn?  No?  Well, I had to try. I cast on last Thursday - much like the addictive Pogona Shawl , it's flying off the needles! I really love the Knit Picks Simply Cotton yarn - it comes in a beautiful palette of colors and is easy to knit with - not something you can say of most cotton

I've been updating my etsy shop again!  I recently scored a big box of vintage linens from my great grandparents.  I'm slowly going through it to see what I absolutely must hang on to, but there's so much! I can't possibly store it all, much less use it in this lifetime.  I'd rather these pieces found a loving home, so I'm listing them in my etsy shop under a new section called 'vintage finds.' Above are some examples of what you might encounter in 'vintage finds' - and once they're gone, they're gone!  I've also been culling my personal button stash to bring my fellow crafters some fun little grab bags.  These mostly-vintage buttons are looking for a good home, and unlike other grab bags, I've made sure that there are plenty of matching buttons to offset the oddballs and one-of-a-kinds.  I've assembled these Big Button Booty Grab Bags by color family or attribute and bundled them into a cute plastic sandwich bag w

What?  August is here already?  I feel a bit like Rip Van Winkle...minus the laziness and beard worthy of ZZ Top.  I have no idea where the summer went, but being a lover of all things woolen, I start preparing for fall right about now - which is what makes the first-ever Westknits KAL so perfectly timed!  If you're a little late to the party, here are the details: Stephen West, knitwear-designing powerhouse, has created another exciting shawl pattern and is releasing it in the form of weekly clues sent to everyone who has purchased the Ravelry download (it should also be noted that anyone who purchases the download during the month of August will get the pattern for $4, and once the KAL is over the pattern will be $6!).  Today the first clue was released and hundreds (thousands?) of Westknits fans are casting on. Me?  I'm not much of a joiner - I've done a few non-mystery KALs with mixed results in terms of my actual participation/finishing within the constraints of