handmade by stefanie

Before the start of last weekend, I was more than a little nervous that I would be finished with the knitting of my 30 Day Sweater , but somehow - against all odds - I am! Last night I bound off for sleeve #2 and wove in the nightmare of ends that was created by alternating skeins. Honestly, it wasn't that bad; all told, it took less than 20 minutes. It was definitely worth it, since there are no weird transitions or pooling between the skeins. As seen on Instagram: Finish line hands! Those are only a few of the ends I had to weave in, BTW. I even had enough time to block it in some Lavender Eucalan ; it is now laying it flat to dry in my yarn room. I'm so psyched that I was able to knit a me-sized sweater in 30 days! I gotta admit, I was a bit dubious since I'm a rather slow sweater knitter, historically speaking. However, when you break it into small, manageable daily tasks, it's incredibly easy to reach this goal. I even fell a little behind near the end but s...

The final SOAR (Spin Off Autumn Retreat) took place in St. Charles, IL last week; though I didn't get to take any classes, my pal Lauren and I did shop the vendor marketplace on Saturday. It was a small, well-curated affair that had temptation at every turn. I really wish I had remembered to pack one of the "good" cameras, because all I was able to take was a few instagrams; luckily Lauren had packed her camera and could fill in some of the gaps. The Marketplace Floor Sara Natani spinning with a Navajo spindle I love small shows like this - for one, they aren't nearly so overwhelming (and I get easily overwhelmed since most of my days are spent in my home office with only the cats and my husband for company). Another bonus is that they often have a mixture of small and medium-sized companies with a few larger ones to balance out the mix, while larger (read: more expensive) shows are usually comprised of the bigger companies with a few medium-sized ones scatt...

Since I'm concentrating on my two October KAL projects, I don't have any FOs to share this week. I can't even think of the last time this has happened! Luckily, I have a consolation prize to offer you: today only, there is a huge flash sale happening over on Craftsy ! From time to time, I blog about Craftsy: the classes I've taken , the yarn I've bought , etc. I usually just assume that everyone knows about Craftsy since I've been obsessed with it since its early days, but for those of you who are just now discovering it, today seems like a good time to give a more formal introduction: in a nutshell,  Craftsy is a worldwide craft community offering online classes. It also has a pattern marketplace where independent designers can sell their patterns; a supply shop with great deals on yarn, fabric, and class kits; and a project section where members share pictures of their latest craft successes. They have over two million members, and they aren't just f...

When you're participating in two KALs, the thing to do is start a new project, right? That's what I thought! Over the weekend, I was had the uncontrollable urge to start an entrelac cowl with some of my handspun yarn from Spinzilla . It's been a while since I've made an entrelac project, so I re-watched several lessons from Gwen Bortner's Entrelac Craftsy class to refresh my memory for each step. I decided to use the Cloudlover Polwarth (which is two dyed colorways inspired by The Nightmare Before Christmas), though I might not have enough to finish the cowl - I might end up knitting the next tier in the alpaca/silk handspun before finishing off with more of the Cloudlover handspun . Despite this distraction, I made some great progress on my Baah KAL sock - the first sock is finished and I'm already working on sock #2! I had to take the cats to the vet yesterday and managed to work through two repeats of the leg; my goal is to be completely finished b...

It's been a week since Spinzilla wound down (last Sunday night, October 13 at midnight EST, to be exact). Since then, each team has calculated and submitted their yardage for a grand total of nearly 1.4 million yards of yarn! For those of you who were wondering, the exact number for all participating teams was 1,373,175.06 yards. I'm proud to say that my team ( Team Louet ) was in the top five with a grand total of 63,964 yards. For my contribution, I spun through every bit of fiber I'd set aside for the event (but don't worry, my fiber stash isn't  totally  depleted) for a total of 2,390 yards. Before you're too impressed with that number, I should mention that one of my teammate spun over 11,000 yards (over eight pounds of fiber) during Spinzilla! Not only that, the winning team was Team FancyTiger; they earned the golden niddy noddy by spinning a whopping 94,939.73 yards total! All in all, it was a really great event that I look forward to doing again...

I'm so excited to announce that I have a new sock pattern! The Windmill of the Autumn Sky Socks are a celebration of my favorite time of year, and I chose a nice, autumnal color from Fleece Artist (the sample is knitted in the "Rust" colorway of Nova Sock ). They feature a simple lace pattern that will keep you interested as you knit, but won't stress you out by being overly complicated. I'm all about lovely, soothing knits for fall.  The stitch pattern also lets the subtle variations of hand-dyed yarns take center stage. Plus, they make a great gift if you're starting to panic about your holiday gift-making!  The name of this pattern is kind of a mouthful, but I became obsessed with a song by Asteroid #4 and couldn't get the song title out of my mind whenever I thought about these socks! Somehow - long though it is - it just suited them perfectly, and the name stuck. Plus, the lace pattern kind of looks like windmills! Unfortunately, t...

It's been nice to get back to knitting after spending the better part of my free time spinning last week for Spinzilla (more on that later). I'd worked ahead on my 30 Day Sweater so that I wouldn't fall too far behind; while I'd like to be further ahead, I think it's doable to finish the body by October 19th, which is the catch-up day before starting the sleeves. It's certainly starting to look more sweater-y, don't you think? I did manage to work on my KAL sock during Spinzilla, since it was a good project to take out of the house. Over the weekend, I finished the gusset shaping, so I should have a finished sock by the end of this weekend! Incidentally, it's not too late to join our KAL - there is even a yarny prize!  Of course, I have a big 'ol pile of projects that need finishing work - ends woven in, buttons sewed on, and seams seamed. A few of these projects are top-secret baby gifts, but one also happens to be my Emmanuelle Sweater ...

I spent the weekend adding LOTS of great stuff to my newly-reopened Etsy shop : Mini skeins for hexipuff and zoom loom enthusiasts, hand-knit and -crocheted accessories and toys, and supplies for makers. Here are just a few  of the items that are currently for sale: Click here to check out the Handmade by Stefanie Etsy Shop (be sure to add me to your favorites, too)! I'll be adding new items weekly; the best way to stay updated is to follow me on twitter or pinterest . I'll also be posting photos and links on the HBS Facebook fan page !

Click here to check out the Craftsy flash sale! There are plenty of classes on sale for less than $20 (many of which I've already reviewed , so you already know how great they are) - whether you knit, crochet, bake, or sew, you're sure to find a class you'll love. A couple of my top class picks for this weekend's sale are: But be sure to click here to see everything that's on sale: Craftsy Flash Sale October 12th & 13th - Up to 63% Off Your Favorite Classes!

Waaay back in Malabrigo March , I had a crocheted critter who didn't quite turn out how I was expecting - apparently, I am a very loose crocheter! I wrestled with whether or not I should try felting my Moose so that he wasn't so floppy, but decided to sleep on it....for almost six months! Finally, I decided it was time to take a chance and give this little Moose the ride of his life in my washing machine. I'm actually pretty happy I did, because look at how he turned out! His antlers are no longer floppy and he looks even cuter! I'd had a similar issue with my FreshStitches Mystery CAL project from earlier this summer, so guess who was next on the carnival ride? They turned out fairly well, though I discovered that the Lopi yarn I'd used was not such a great choice for felting (I ended up having to shave off a considerable amount of fuzz). I already have found the Roos a new home and somehow managed to forget to photograph the felted version before they went...

Happy Spinning and Weaving Week! I am celebrating by spinning as much as possible for Spinzilla in addition to working on my two knit-along projects for October.  So far, I have spun and plied 380 yards of yarn, not counting these singles I spun up last night: In the "totally complete" pile, I have 4oz. of natural black alpaca and the 4oz. Columbia/Rambouillet painted roving (bought last month in Kansas City at  The Studio ) which are both spun and plied. The black alpaca yarn is really giving me fits when it comes to photographing it - hopefully I'll have time to do a better job, but for now this is going to have to do: I'm using the Louet Victoria wheel to spin my singles, and then plying them on my Ladybug . It's proving to be a really efficient system, since I tend to spin my singles at night (which takes longer), then ply in the morning whilst feeding the cats (which is markedly speedier). Currently, I'm working on an alpaca/silk blend on the V...

Last night at midnight EST (which is 11pm my time), I started spinning some alpaca that's been in my fiber stash for a few years now. It only took an hour to fill up my first bobbin - and thus, Spinzilla has commenced! Natural black Alpaca single - so hard to photograph! Tomorrow I plan on finishing this alpaca and then starting on one of the many pretty handpainted rovings I've earmarked for this event; I believe I've neglected to mention two very recent acquisitions from last week when I succumbed to Cloudlover's special Spinzilla deal for 15% off orders. I couldn't resist this dyed Polwarth in special colors inspired by The Nightmare Before Christmas. Since they're local, I also got my fiber super-fast - as in, the very next day! Cloudlover  Dyed Polwarth Roving in Sandy Claws & Zero. I'm quite excited to be the team captain for Team Louet during this first-ever event celebrating Spinning and Weaving Week . We have a fantastic team fill...

Last night, I actually went out instead of doing my usual Friday night (or any  night) routine of knitting and Netflixing. My favorite LYS, Windy Knitty , was previewing their fall yarns (The Fibre Company, Rowan, Noro, Titus, etc.) and the Knitter's Pride line, including the new Nova Cubics, Bamboo and Karbonz. I took the fancy camera and everyone was a good sport about me taking photos. Since I'm usually working in the vacuum of my home office, it was really awesome to be a fly on the wall and hear everyone talk about what needles and yarns they preferred. Sometimes, the conversation is a lot different than the one that takes place online, since the anonymity of the interwebs often begets a higher incidence of complaining. I'm speaking in generalities, of course - and it's true that most people don't go out of their way to share positive feedback, both online in real life (revenge-seeking Yelp-ers, I'm thinking of you!). For the most part, the fiber communi...

You may recall earlier this year when I crocheted a few Angry Birds for my nephew Rhys' birthday, but just in case, here's a photo to help jog your memory: For his brother Jake's birthday last month, I thought I'd send out a few more to complete the set. Now they'll have something to catapult their angry birds towards (plus one more bird to add to the arsenal). Patterns are available for free here from Adorable Amigurumi. They are really well-written and great for beginner crocheters! Thanks for stopping by this week - for more FO Friday inspiration, visit the  Tami's Amis blog ! Have a crafty weekend! 

I can't believe I'm blogging for the third day in a row this week (I also can't believe it's already October, but that's another story entirely)! As I'm sure you guessed by yesterday's post , today's WIPs are none other than...KAL projects! I was able to knit the cuff of my Scalloped Rib Sock yesterday: Incidentally, it's not too late to join in the fun - did I mention that there are prizes ? Then, after I finished work for the day (around 7:30, mind you), I got cracking on my Uma Sweater for the 30 Day Sweater Challenge . I also went through the pattern instructions to assign a date to each section to help keep me on track. I'm pleased to say that I made it to my goal for day one with flying colors and even started on Day 2 before it was time to go to bed! In other news, I thought I'd try to do the Yarn Photo a Day Challenge this month....because Spinzilla , two KALs, and a possible new pattern launch simply aren't enough, esp...

Today is a special post, since I'm starting not one but TWO excellent KALs this month! Lorna's Laces Fisherman in 36ns Chocolate. I'm joining thousands of knitters as we take the Yarn Nation 30 Day Sweater Challenge , and you can, too, by clicking this link ! I'll be using some yarn from my stash (two skeins of Lorna's Laces Fisherman in Chocolate) and the Uma pattern from Chic Knits . Originally, I was going to follow the recipe found in the 30-Day Sweater eBook (available here ), but I had a hard time deciding what to do - did I want to do some colorwork? What about cables or some sort of stitch pattern? Did I really have time to figure all of this out, even with the easy-to-use formula provided in the eBook? Probably, but I must admit that I am kind of lazy when it comes to sweater-knitting: I'll wing it for just about any other project, but for sweaters, I prefer to use existing patterns. I know that I should step outside my comfort zone this time,...