handmade by stefanie

Happy WIP Wednesday! First, a quick update on my Macbook Pro - last night, I worked up the courage to fire it up and it WORKED! We didn't lose any data, either, so I feel extremely lucky and relieved. Good to know - rice is your friend should liquids invade your electronics. I am still plodding along on my Destash Dolman , which has seen modest progress since last week; I am halfway through stripe #15: Over the weekend, I decided to do a little stash diving to find the perfect yarn to make a scarf or cowl to  complement my new winter coat, and came across 4 skeins of Wisdom Yarns Limerick in a bright emerald green with a few subtle turquoise hues mixed in. I snapped it up shortly after Thanksgiving via Craftsy Deals* with no real plan for it, I just wanted it because it was pretty. I thought this might be a good choice for the Calm Cowl , which is a free crochet pattern on Ravelry. I'm nearly through the first ball of yarn, too! The main project that I've been foc...

As promised, here are a few more photos of the Panoramic Stole - I'm loving it! It turned out even better than expected, and I still can't believe I knit the entire thing in less than a month. I am always amazed at how quickly I can finish large projects if I don't allow myself to get distracted by startitis...and I think I am starting to like this new approach to starting (or rather, not  starting) projects. On Friday night, I was all set to work when disaster struck - somehow I managed to spill tea all over my Macbook Pro. It immediately turned itself off and I snatched it off of the desk and turned it upside down hoping that some of the liquid would drain out. Then I cleaned up the lake of tea that had formed on the desk, inching closer to our other Macbook which shares the same desk, and began googling what to do about my crisis at hand. Conventional wisdom and various friends who have been through the same experience told me that my initial reaction was correct...

My Panoramic Stole is done, and ahead of schedule, too; I wanted to finish by the end of this month at the latest, though my real goal was to bind off at the close of this coming weekend. I did end up omitting a panel, as I was running out of yarn: I have 14g left over, which is definitely not enough to make it through another mesh panel, let alone the short-row garter section. I was a little worried about cutting things short, so to speak, but everything ended up just fine - my shawl is very close to the 80" length listed in the pattern, in fact. I'm sure that if I wanted to block to the specific dimensions given, I could easily hit those marks! Here's a shot of it blocking in my yarn room. Once it's dry, I'll be sure to take an "action" shot of me lounging around the house in my pretty new shawl! The pattern is from Coastal Knits , which my husband got me for Christmas, and I used two skeins of Malabrigo Sock in Chocolate Amargo. In other exci...

Happy WIP Wednesday! I've made more progress on my Destash Dolman - now I'm up to twelve and a half stripes! On Monday night, I finished the Panoramic Stole that I started on Christmas day, which meant I was free to start a new project (or two!). I've been wanting a new pair of legwarmers, so I went shopping from my stash and decided to find the perfect pattern for the skein of The Uncommon Thread's Heavenly Fingering in Zitouni that a friend gave me last summer. The yarn is aptly named - it is incredibly soft, silky, and (you guessed it) heavenly to work with. I decided to make the Spanish Moss Legwarmers from November Knits , which I got for Christmas. That got me thinking about all of the wonderful books I received as gifts last year, or acquired at TNNA, or have had on my shelf for years.....so I decided that I would see how many projects I could make from my extensive knitting & crochet library this year, just for fun. The other project I star...

I've been a non-participating member of the Spin Your Stash group on Ravelry for many years, but I think the time has come to quit lurking and be a joiner! My spin-o-lution this year is simple - to spin through my stash. Last week, I took stock: 1. Multicolor Merino Roving , 6.6 oz - purchased at the Yarn Barn of Kansas 2. Natural Black Alpaca Roving , 4 oz. - purchased from New Era Fiber at Stitches Midwest 3. Charcoal 70/30 Alpaca/Silk Blend Top , 4 oz. - purchased from Spunky Eclectic 4. Natural Cream Finn Top , 5 oz. - purchased from Spunky Eclectic 5. Dyed Falkland Top (Cloudy Night colorway) , 4 oz - purchased from Pumpkinhaus booth at YarnCon 6. Natural Merino/Silk Fiber , 4.75 oz - can't remember where this came from! 7. Red Alpaca Top , 6 oz - originally purchased from Spunky Eclectic in a natural cream, dyed by me back when I still worked at Lorna's Laces. 8. Light Brown Romney Top , 4 oz - gifted by a friend 9. Dark Brown BFL Top , 6 oz - purchased ...

Happy FO Friday! Today I have a project to share from each of my fiber-related hobbies: knitting, crocheting, and spinning! I bound off for this Mesh Top on January 5, but it's taken some time to weave in all the ends, block properly, and take some decent photos, hence the delay in sharing it on this blog. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out - honestly, I just assumed it would be a huge disaster - laceweight yarn and I aren't on very friendly terms. I'm surprised that it didn't take longer to knit, and I think it'll be nice to wear this spring. I used a pattern from Patternfish (the Filtes Shetland 1354 Open Dolman by Michelle Porter) and only used one and half skeins of Bijou Basin Ranch Shangri-La , which is a luxurious 50-50 blend of yak and silk. I have enough left over to make something fun, too (just as soon as I'm ready to get back on the laceweight bandwagon). Last week, I crocheted these birds for our kickstarter rewards for the two peo...

Amazingly, I've been avoiding startitis this month, spending most of of my crafting time working on the Destash Dolman I started earlier this month and the Panoramic Stole I began on Christmas Day. Don't get me wrong - there are TONS of projects I'm dying to start, but for some reason I am content to work on these with the hope of finishing them much earlier than expected (and, of course, giving me free reign to start something new!). The Destash Dolman has become my outside-of-the-house/transit project, since I don't need to reference the pattern while I'm working. I've definitely made some good progress after a few adventures outside of the homestead: last WIP Wednesday, I had three stripes completed - now I'm up to 8! The Panoramic Stole has seen the most progress, especially since I've been working on it diligently for the past four days. I finished up the first skein of yarn on Monday night and have reached the point in knitting where I...

Ever since I pledged my first project on Kickstarter to help The Wool Dispensary get started, I've been hungry to find and fund more interesting projects via the site. Late last year, my band successfully raised funds to release the first two 7" vinyl singles in a 4-single series, so I know how hard people have to work to meet their funding goals - it's definitely not easy! Last year, I funded a project by my poster-making friends Nick and Nadine of Sonnenzimmer  to help them create and print a book of their work. It just arrived in the mail at the beginning of this month; it's so exciting to physically hold the finished product in your hands and know that you played a small part in that object becoming a reality. Last year, I also funded a local brewing start-up (which culminated in a beertastic brewery tour right before Christmas), a graphic novel called the Intrepid Girlbot , and a gorgeous quarterly magazine for crafty folk by Susan Gibbs and Jeannie Bloch c...

Whatever happened to the Darn-A-Thon ? I found myself wondering this over the weekend - the holidays really put this project on the back burner, but yesterday I decided to resurrect it by repairing the first pair of socks I ever knit for myself. These socks were knit just before the dawn of Ravelry (if any of us can remember that time!), so they aren't even entered in my notebook, but the yarn is from Knit Picks . In my early knitting days, I didn't know there was a whole world of yarn outside of a Michael's store - I had only recently discovered Knit Picks! I hadn't even encountered this thing called 'luxury yarn', and I had just moved to Chicago after spending three years in Portland, OR. Even though I grew up in the midwest, I knew my first winter back would be tough (boy was it ever!) and I would need some wool socks to get me through. Of course, I had no idea how to make socks, as I was still pretty new to the whole knitting scene. My very first order...

I've got another round of secret knitting to share with you this week! I have several baby-related FO's that haven't been blogged on the offchance that my SIL would come across the photos - a slim chance, but not one that I'd was willing to risk! I put together a Box O' Baby for my brother- and sister-in-law, who are expecting next month. We're really excited to have a nephew here in town! The spoiling has already begun.... Monster Booties   I knit these in Michigan colors (my brother-in-law is a fan) using two colors of Berroco Ultra Alpaca using the pattern from Rebecca Danger's Knit a Monster Nursery book. Too cute! Earflap Hat One thing I know for sure: babies need hats! I had leftover yarn from the booties, so I whipped up a hat to match. I used the Pointy Monster Hat pattern from the same book, though I omitted the moster face. I thought that might be overkill! Kimono Cardi   I love making baby sweaters - they're so fast! -...

After the last several months of knitting primarily for others, I am very happy to indulge in a little selfish knitting for the start of this year. I haven't made too many resolutions for 2013 thus far, but I do know this: I need to knit myself more sweaters this year. It just needs to happen. I also would like to fold this in with another ongoing goal I challenge myself with each year: destashing! I have many sweater's-worth quantities of yarn in my stash, and it's criminal that they haven't become beautiful wardrobe staples by now. I finished the lacy top I was knitting with Bijou Basin Ranch's yak/silk laceweight yarn, Shangri-La (thought I still need to photograph it and share it with the world at large), so I decided to cast on for another dolman-style top using some sock yarn for my stash and  breaking my cardigans-only rule for sweater-making yet again. Go figure! While I'd love to make the Roxborough Dolman with the yarn specified, Canopy Finger...

Santa was very good to me this year, and not just in the realm of knitterly gifts. My destash efforts will be much easier with the bevvy of new books that were under my Christmas tree: Coastal Knits , Mostly Mittens , November Knits , Colorwork Creations , Cast On Bind Off , and Alice Starmore's Charts for Color Knitting . I also got a pretty new fabric case for my interchangeable needles (plus one of the tips sizes I was lacking) and some Karbonz circulars, which I'm excited to try with the metal tips - I have a pair of  the original DPNs without the tips, so I'm interested to compare them. I think I'm finally gotten back into the swing of things upon our return to Chicago - working, knitting, spinning, etc. I've finished a few projects over this past weekend that I'll be sharing on this blog just as soon as I can get them photographed; I also have one more round of Secret Knitting that I'll be posting later this week. See you on WIP Wednesday!

Happy FO Friday! Today I'm sharing the last two projects completed in 2012. Both were made during the course of my trip to Kansas City for the holidays. I crocheted this cute little crab on the train ride down from Chicago - it was a great way to spend the first few hours of the trip! Tyler and I named him Eugene (I've been watching a lot of Spongebob Squarepants on Netflix streaming) and he became my little buddy for the duration of our trip. He's sitting atop my pretty new Knitter's Pride needle case that I got for Christmas, though I think his permanent home will be somewhere in my office. The yarn, safety eyes and pattern were part of the first shipment of the Fresh Stitches Just Add Stuffing Kit Club - the perfect thing to grab and go when packing! The Here and There hat by Veera Välimäki  has been lurking in my queue since early last year, so I figured this trip would be the perfect time to cast on. I knit it in similar colors to those pictured in the pa...

We're back in Chicago and it's time to get back to my usual blogging and work schedule. There are two projects left over from 2012 to share on my first WIP Wednesday of 2013 - so far, I have resisted the urge to cast on for anything else! I've made some major progress on the lacy mesh top I've been knitting with Shangri-La . While I was in Kansas City, I finished the first piece, undid the provisional cast-on at the start, and began the second piece from those stitches. On the train yesterday, I was able to complete the sleeves and decrease down to the body of the sweater. It won't be long til I'm totally done - I hope to be seaming and blocking by next week! My second WIP was started on Christmas day and will definitely be a long-term project: I'm making the Panoramic Stole from Coastal Knits using a skein of Malabrigo Sock in Chocolate Amargo. I traded the yarn from a friend ( check out her blog here ) and was looking for a good project to put it t...