handmade by stefanie

It's been a while since I've shared Raveler projects, so here's the latest, greatest projects to inspire you (clockwise from top left): Beentheredonethat's Stuffed Ostrich : Who doesn't love an ostrich playing piano?  S tickpixie's Hot Little Socks : Lacy Summer Socks knit with Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Flames! Annedon's Kitchy Pleated Bag : This Raveler has made several versions of this purse using my pattern from Malabrigo Book 3 . Love the silk lining and tag - so fancy! MrsNezbit's Lipstick Purse : Knit with Malabrigo Worsted in Comfy Junkie and Lipstick, this is a great variation of this pattern! NaiadDreams' Whale Hexiflat : Oh, those clever hexipuffers (and hexiflatters, too!) - I'm honored to know that my whale chart has found its way onto a few Beekeeper's Quilts!  For more FO Projects, visit the Tami's Amis blog !

I've been working on this sock pattern for a really long time; the first version was originally going to appear in Malabrigo Book 3 , but at the last minute I subbed in the Quick Draw Socks because the yarn they sent me for my original design was inadvertently a test yarn. Oops! (Side note: I loved the yarn, but have not yet seen it out on the market). So that would date this pattern to 2010....no, that's not a typo! Obviously, the pattern was shelved for a while as other things came up - other design work, the transition from working in a salon to working from home, general life craziness...you get the idea. Finally, late last year, I decided to revive this design and set to work. Then life interfered again: last-minute holiday gift knitting, busy season at work (and a job promotion!), and lots of traveling at the beginning of this year. Yet again, this pattern got relegated to the back-burner. Before we fast-forward to the present, where the sock pattern finally makes it...

In this free Craftsy class by Deb Robson, co-author of the Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook, you'll learn how to pay attention to the fiber content of the skein of yarn you're holding. As Deb notes in the introduction, lovely-hued yarns can often distract us from the characteristics of the yarn's fiber.  If you want to be satisfied with your finished project (not to mention have it last a long time), it's important to examine the fiber beneath the color. In the introduction, Deb covers the basics, sharing the four categories she uses to approach any new wool she comes across (fine, medium, long and double-coated). There are thousands of breeds and types of sheep; when working on her book with Carol Eckarius, they identified 125 breeds of sheep 'reasonably available" to english-speaking fiber folk alone...the book itself contains more than 200 breeds, but if they had keep going from there, it would have never been completed! Following the comprehensive int...

I took five projects with me to Kansas City; four FO's returned with me, and I started the fifth project on the train back to Chicago! I was halfway to the heel on sock #2 for the Jelly Beans Sock KAL before leaving for KC; about halfway through the train ride down, I realized I'd left the instructions at home . Genius! Luckily, I had sock #1 to use at a reference. I'm not terribly experienced with short-row heels, but I have to pat myself on the back and say I did a pretty good job with reverse-engineering sock #2, which was completed sans instructions. I can't tell which one is the off-book sock, can you? One note about the yarn ( Spinnery Sock Art - Forest  in Natural Gray): it bloomed quite nicely once I blocked it with a little Eucalan .  I'll have to give some of their hand-dyed colorways a try next! I know I shared a photo of my finished Tarragon Swan Cowl  earlier this week, but I wanted to share a photo with an actual humanoid (even if it is just m...

Both of my nephews are really into Pokemon (I suppose if anyone has kids under the age of 10, this is a ridiculously obvious statement, but bear with me), so for my nephew Jake's birthday this month, I thought I should knit him his very own Pikachu. Even though there are loads of cute Pokemon crochet amigurumi out there, I consider my newfound crochet skills remedial at best. Yep, better stick to the knitting on this one! Of the very few knitted Pikachu patterns I found, I couldn't find one that looked quite right, so I set to work making up my own. This necessitated a lot of research via google image search (and resulted in this pinboard of some of the crazier things I came across along the way) and lots of trial and error. I did write down the play-by-play of what I did and hope someone finds it helpful. Please be my guineau pigs (as in, test knitters) by downloading a free PDF from my Ravelry pattern store if you fancy! Should you find any errata, please kindly ale...

Today I'm back in Chicago after spending a long weekend with my husband and our families in Kansas City. We both needed a trip out of town that wasn't for business (or a family emergency). This mini-vacation was laid-back, filled with food, family, friends, knitting, and most importantly....BEER! Early on in the trip, I finished my Indigo Swan Cowl . It proved to be the perfect train knitting project - an easy-to-memorize pattern that I could absentmindedly knit no matter how tired I got. I used up pretty much all of the skein, too - after binding off, there were only a few yards left. the first day we were in town was my Dad's sixtieth birthday, so my mom and I treated him to lunch at Beer Kitchen. Our server brought him some drunken donuts for dessert and he was a pretty happy guy! We stayed with Tyler's parents downtown and took some time one morning to explore the historic graveyard that their balcony overlooks. I lived in Kansas City til I was 23 and neve...

Just announced:  Craftsy's Endless Summer Sale ! All weekend long (and ends at midnight on Monday, September 17), all online courses are only $19.99 (or less!). If you haven't taken a Craftsy course yet, it's a great time to give them a try; the average course costs between $30-$50. I admit, I'm kind of a serial Craftsy-course taker.  I learned to crochet via Vickie Howell's Crochet Lab ; Gwen Bortner taught me to Entrelac . I've signed up for Stacey Trock's Amigurumi Woodland Animals , Carol Feller's Celtic Cables , and Felicia Lo's Spinning Dyed Fibers , too. I even signed up for this workshop to make my own lip balms and body butters (I still haven't given a shot to date, but it'll happen...eventually). I hope you find something fun to broaden your crafting horizons this fall. Let me know what class you decide to sign up for!

I think I surprised even myself by finishing these socks in less than a month! There's something to be said for a simple, easy-to-memorize sock pattern. Cookie A's Lateral Socks were clearly the perfect choice for the gradual color changes of the yarn I used, Wisdom Poems Sock (purchased via Craftsy Deal ). I'm so happy with how these turned out, I may even make another pair sometime soon! Need some more FO Friday fun in your life? Click here  to check out more finished projects via the Tami's Amis blog!

Feeling German in Lincoln Square As luck would have it, all of my favorite things for fall converged upon this past weekend: Renegade Craft Fair, the German-American Festival in Lincoln Square, and the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival (this was my first time attending, but anything yarn-related falls under the rubric of 'favorite things for fall'). I'm not one for large crowds of people and, as a general rule, I don't leave the house very much on a day-to-day basis now that I work from home. However, these three events (plus my local farmer's market) were enough to tempt me away from the homestead and go out amongst my fellow humans. I'm so glad I did! On Friday night, Tyler and I hit the German-American Festival and had a few litres of beer. Yes, more than one...probably not the best plan ever, but it sure was fun! Plus, we arrived just as the festival opened, and there was nary a line for tickets, food or beer. That's the way to fly! You'll n...

Apparently, I've been knitting a lot of hats this year: L-R: Simple Things , Roscoe Village Hat , Amaranth Hat , Topiary Beanie , Hendreary Hat , East Falls Hat , and the Union Long Beanie.  I think there are even a few that are not pictured, these are just the ones I could find when rounding them up for a photo shoot! It's been quite a weekend - I attended the German American Festival, Renegade Craft Fair, and the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival! If anyone knows me, that is more "outings" than I typically partake of in the span of a month, much less one single weekend! I'll be sharing photos and other tidbits just as soon as I recover from all of the excitement!

Ever since I snagged Whimsical Little Knits 3, I've been dying to make this colorwork hat. I bought the yarn back in July during Bijou Basin Ranch 's Fourth of July flash sale, but didn't cast on til mid-August. It's a nice, easy-knitting colorwork hat and I'm really thrilled with how it turned out. Both colors are hand-dyed, but as you can see the Cadet blue color has a lot more variation within the skein, producing a kind of trippy effect! The yak/cormo blend yarn ( Bijou Bliss ) feels sturdy yet soft when you knit with it, but the real treat is what happens after you give it a good blocking: the yarn relaxes and blooms, becoming even softer than before! My hat actually grew in size to a slouchier version of a beanie. These are the kinds of surprises you get when you throw caution to the wind and don't gauge, but at least this time it was a pleasant  surprise. I'm hoping to wear this tomorrow, when I head up to the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool festi...

I wanted to take a few weeks before revisiting the two Fresh Designs Series books I have yet to review ( Fresh Designs: Sweaters and Fresh Designs: Men). For those of you who missed last month's review of Fresh Designs: Scarves and Fresh Designs: Shawls, you can click here to get up to speed. There are also a lot of general notes about the book series as a whole, which I'll summarize in the following bullet points before we move on to the task at hand: Graphics: A clean, modern aesthetic. Patterns are clearly written and laid out in a way that's easy to follow and include well-shot photos of each design. Bonus points for non-conventional models! Stitch patterns are written out and charted when necessary. Charts are readable and easy-to-follow (only one lace design has an unavoidably small chart) Patterns have all the information you need right there - no rifling through the book to find the symbol or abbreviation key.  Each garment has at least 4 size options, som...

I've had quite the productive weekend so far - I got caught up on work Saturday morning, finished a new design that's been on the needles since February of this year (and been in the works since last fall, truth be told), finished my nephew's birthday gift, and made some serious progress on my Jelly Beans and Lateral socks : Looking forward to making even more progress today. Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday weekend!