handmade by stefanie

Getting caught up on everything I missed while at TNNA! I'm back from Columbus with many souvenirs (among them, the summer cold that's been going around) & stories.  It was quite the whirlwind and I'm glad to be home; in the last week and half, I logged about 1700 miles on the road, so I'm more than a little excited to stay close to home for the rest of the summer. This time around, we had a booth for Yarndealer.com and The Wool Wide Web .  We were in the same corner as Deep South Fibers , directly across from Ysolda Teague 's booth - she built a yarn shop from the ground up!  I didn't have as much time to prowl the show floor as I did last year, but I think I was able to hit most of the highlights.  Besides that, I got to attend Marly Bird 's Designer Dinner (more on that later), the Vogue Knitting party, and the Craftsy party, so I really can't complain.  The downside to all of this was that I ran myself ragged and am now nursing a nasty co

Yet another hat has come off the needles, this time it's Connie Chang Chinchio's Union Long Beanie !  Ever since Weekend Hats came out, I've longed to make this hat.  I snapped up two skeins of Lhasa Wilderness in Teal via Craftsy (I am still addicted to their deals!) and knit this up fairly quickly - the only thing that took longer than picking out the perfect button, however, was the amount of time it took me to post about it here on my blog! Thanks to Tyler, we have yet another silly backyard FO photo (I assure you, I am merely stopping to sniff the lilies): Incidentally (and this is probably wholly inappropriate after such a silly photo), I'd just like to say thanks to everyone who's commented, e-mailed or texted me recently to say that my family is in their thoughts.  I really appreciate it, more than I could say in any blog post.  My family, friends, and even clients (who, quite honestly, I consider among my friends at this point) have been so supportiv

Grandpa and Grandma, looking dapper. On Monday, Grandpa completely stabilized and was taken off of 24-hour hospice; it seemed his journey would be a bit longer than expected.  I have to admit, I more than entertained the hope that he would linger for a while longer and perhaps I could attend the funeral upon my return from TNNA.  However, this morning my father called me just minutes after Grandpa passed away.  He was at peace and all of his sons were present; knowing that he was surrounded by family is certainly a comfort.  The funeral will be this Saturday in Kansas City, and though I am unable to attend, my sister in Portland found a flight back.  I'm glad that one of us can be there to lend support - I just wish I could join her! It's funny the things you find out about someone after they pass away - for instance, I had no idea that Grandma and Grandpa took my Dad and his brothers to the World's Fair in Montreal.  Though I knew that his career was in the Kansas ed

Mere days before I'm off to the TNNA trade show in Columbus, I found myself heading down to Kansas City unexpectedly.  Good thing Tyler had a three-day weekend and we live near an airport with 24-hour car rental, because last-minute plane fares were insane.  I suppose many would still chose the convenience of flying over a 9-hour drive both ways, but I would much rather do the crazy road trip.   Last Thursday night, my grandfather was moved into 24-hour hospice because he'd taken a turn for the worse; it seemed the timeline we were looking at would put the funeral smack dab in the middle of the TNNA trade show - isn't that how these things always go?  I'm sure my boss, coworkers, and clients would understand it if I chose to attend my grandfather's funeral instead of coming to the trade show, but then I would be letting all of them down and leave them holding a sizable bag (actually, they'd be screwed, because we need all hands on deck to staff the booth AND m

There is a CAL starting today in the Lorna's Laceaholics Ravelry group to kick off Kristin Omdahl's brand new design in Honor, Soldier Love .  I'm not entirely certain I have the crochet chops to  complete  this CAL, but thought it would be fun to try anyway! I'll be using Shepherd Sock...though I wish  I was using Honor, because it's a really soft and amazing Alpaca/Silk blend (I have a little in my stash, but not enough to use for this CAL).  I just couldn't get my act together to obtain the two skeins needed - all this pre-TNNA prep has been insane - and then I found some custom sock colors in my stash from back when I dyed yarn at Lorna's Laces.  The only problem is, which one to choose? From L-R: Inky, Grass Green & Firefly Stripe, and The Curse of Millhaven: The other burning question on my mind is, "Will I make it past the swatching stage?!"  There will be tutorial videos and help along the way, so hopefully there is enough hand

Instagrammed: Beulah Cardi If it seems like my blog is a little less active than usual, it's because I'm back in the submarine (the term Tyler and I use whenever we're working a ton and not coming up for much air).   TNNA is just around the corner and there is much to do between now and then!  Besides that, I am also trying to give myself some time off before things get all crazy busy again.  In a nutshell, that means that I am knitting faster than I can blog about it. The biggest knitting accomplishment of the past month would definitely be finishing my Beulah Cardigan .  It's been a while since I've done a skinny-yarn sweater, and this one was actually pretty quick to knit (relatively speaking).  What always takes me the longest is getting enough chutzpah to seam and sew on the buttons.  In this particular scenario, those final details took several weeks for me to complete. Unfortunately, that's quite standard for me. The pattern is Mercedes Tarasov

I have to say, I'm a big fan of Craftsy .  Their online workshops and courses are awesome, and I am kind of addicted to shopping their yarn deals.  This is the first time I've ever purchased a mystery box from them, however, and I've been eagerly awaiting its arrival!  There was apparently a delay with getting the boxes shipped out, and I received a nice note from Craftsy letting me know that it will be shipping - expedited - shortly and to please enjoy a free One-Skein Shrug Workshop for my trouble.  Pretty great customer service if you ask me! Anyway, I'm kind of obsessed with  Craftsy deals .  They're a lot like Groupon goods (another thing I'm addicted to) - for a limited period of time, certain products are available for purchase at a discount.  For example, a current deal is for 20% off skeins of Baah! La Jolla yarn in Grey Onyx .  The deals are constantly rotating, and there's usually a range of yarn choices and colors as well as other crafting pr

Amaranth: Organik Claystone Last month, I got the chance to help a client out and test knit a new hat pattern by Kate Gagnon Osborn, the  Amaranth Hat ! Perfect timing, considering I've just started to embark on Operation: Mad Hatter.  It also gave me a chance to give Organik from The Fibre Company a try - it's a blend of organik merino, alpaca and silk.  This is one of those yarns that has to be knit up to be fully appreciated - not that it isn't lovely in the skein, but once you have a bit of knitted fabric to touch, you realize just how soft and snuggly your finished project will be!  It reminds me of one of my favorite yarns that has been discontinued - Prairie Silk from Brown Sheep .  Many years ago, I made a sweater with Prairie Silk and it is still, to this day, one of my favorites.  Not only is it soft and warm, it has barely pilled in five-plus years - a feat I attribute to the addition of silk to the composition of the yarn.  I'm willing to place my