handmade by stefanie

The urge to spring clean our apartment has been difficult to resist lately, and my craft room has been especially in need of a good reorganization. I probably should have taken a "before" photo, but I would have been too embarrassed to share it on my blog - that's how disorganized it was! I've been scouring pinterest for inspiration for organizing my craft room lately, but what really started the ball rolling was a flash sale from Thirty-One , where I was able to snag three roomy collapsible storage bins for 50% off! I realized that they would be a great way to make the most of the ginormous armoire in the corner of the room, and that my spinning fiber would be much happier if it wasn't shut inside a plastic bin. As you can see, the first two bins are filled with fiber; though you can't tell in the above photo, the third bin is stuffed with my finished handspun skeins! I have plenty of cedar sachets and blocks placed throughout the armoire (including a bl...

Last weekend, I finished my handspun Terra Shawl ! It took pretty much both weekend days of working faithfully on the border stitch pattern, but I was so excited to finish that I didn't even think about working on anything else! As you can see, it's quite large, and it's soft and squishy, too! I've been wrapping myself up in it all week since it's still quite chilly here in Chicago. You may recall that I purchased the fiber from WEBS at the beginning of the year - 12 oz. total of Abstract Fibers' Targhee Top in the Gorge colorway. I started spinning it near the end of January and continued to work on it ever-so-slowly throughout February and into the beginning of March ! Thankfully, knitting the shawl was much faster than spinning the fiber into a usable yarn; the entire shawl  was completed in just 13 days! I used Jared Flood's Terra  shawl pattern from Brooklyn Tweed, which was super-easy to follow, and US 9 Nova Cubics needles from Knitter's...

I'm sure no one but me is noticing the lateness of this post, but it's just been that kind of week! I very nearly skipped today's post entirely, but in the end I decided to stay the course and try to keep up with my self-imposed blog schedule. I haven't accomplished much on my Cute Girl top for the #HKKAL, but I did manage to knit past the halfway point on Tyler's never-ending scarf of doom ! Look at how long (not to mention linty) it has become since I last posted a photo ! Over the weekend, I was inspired to try a little DIY fiber dyeing (using the 99-cent Paas easter egg color kit)! I'd been saving this naked Polwarth roving I picked up at the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool festival last fall for just the right time, and with the upcoming Spring Training spin-a-thon beginning next week, it seems like there's not time like the present! I'm thinking I want to hand-card it into rolags so that it makes a more consistently heathered yarn (plus it fu...

With the Tour de Fleece just around the corner and Spinzilla returning this fall, spring is a great time to get back into spinning shape! I'm not sure if you caught this video on YouTube just yet (plus: see if you can spot me!), but Spinzilla promises to be bigger and better than ever...you won't want to miss out! I'm excited to be the captain for #TeamLouet  once more, and I'm hoping to see some familiar faces on #TeamLouet later this year. What better way to level up our spinning skills (and welcome spinners of all skills to join our ranks, too) than a fun series of challenges to get spinning this spring. I hope you'll join me for a little spring training, sponsored by Louet and The Woolery! We'll be taking to our spindles and wheels on April 1, 2014 - see you then!   Yes, for now we are joining forces in the name of spinning, although at some point you will have to declare your loyalty to #TeamLouet or #TeamWoolery. For now, let's enjoy a litt...

It's FO Friday and for the first time this year, I find myself without a finished project to share! However, I've gotten lots of goodies in the mail recently which I haven't had a chance to blog about, so this seems like a good time to enable share. In preparation for the Great Craft Room Reorganization (more on that later), I ordered some of the new cedar blocks and sachets from Knit Picks to test drive: I also stocked up on Lavishea bars since they were having a buy 3, get 1 free sale (today is actually the last day - just put 3 bars in your shopping cart and then enter the scent you'd like to get free in the comments section at check-out...you're welcome!). Anyway, I ordered my tried-and-true Lavender bar, and then three new-to-me-scents to try out: Aloe & Clover, Vanilla Jasmine and Orange Pomander. I'm pleased to report that I am digging all three scents, but my new favorite is the Aloe & Clover - it's nice and fresh! I also wanted ...

I had a pretty productive weekend in just about every way: I ran some errands, got a few household chores taken care of, baked cupcakes, and even managed a little "me" time at the spa (something I should really do more often). Of course, I found some time to knit and crochet, too! I've made quite a bit of progress on the Terra Shawl - as you can see, last night I started the edging, and there was a fortuitous color placement where both plies of the handspun were suddenly all the deepest shade of teal. I love it! Of course, it is now at that too-big-to-fit-on-the-needles-and-be-photographed stage, so I'll just share a close-up of my favorite part: I also hit the halfway point on Tyler's scarf, but it's too overcast today to get a decent photo to share - you'll just have to take my word for it that it's coming along! The most progress was made on my #HKKAL project, however! On Friday night, I finished the last of the granny squares, and I spent a ...

My Etsy shop is officially reopened for 2014, and you'll not only find some of my best-selling knitting patterns , but I have also listed new mini-skein grab bags ! Check out this amazing list of luxury yarn possibilities: Anzula Dreamy & Squishy Baah La Jolla Sock Bijou Basin Ranch Lhasa Wilderness Black Toad MCN (Chicago Indie Dyer) Dream in Color Smooshy Green Mountain Spinnery Sock Art - Forest Grinning Gargoyle Seda Sock Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock MadelineTosh Merino Light Malabrigo Sock & Finito Neighborhood Fiber Co. Watershed Sock ShiBui Knits Sock Sincere Sheep Tenacious Sock Yarn Spud and Chloe Sock Sunday Knits Eden 3-ply Sweet Georgia Tough Love Sock The Wool Dispensary Deadly Stimulant (BFL Sock) Three Irish Girls Adorn Sock Trekking Bamboo XXL & Trekking XXL Valley Yarns Charlemont Kettle Dyed Wollglöckchen Handgefärbte Sockenwolle Each mini-skein is at least ten yards, but most have more yardage than that! It's...

My nephew Ethan turned one earlier this week, so of course I couldn't resist crocheting a few things from my favorite new book ( Modern Baby Crochet ) to celebrate! I started with the big project, the Asymmetrical Basket-Weave blanket . I chose my favorite superwash yarn, Berroco Vintage , and whipped up this blanket in just 12 days! Here is a shot of it blocking in my yarn room: ...And a finished shot - I can't believe how well it turned out! This is the biggest crochet project I've ever attempted, and I have to say I was a little nervous about it. However, it turned out well and I know that it will be well-loved for years to come! I had purchased an extra skein of yarn when I placed my WEBS order; since I was subbing in a yarn, I didn't want to run out! I ended up not needing my 'safety' skein of yarn, so I used it to crochet a matching Owl Hat ! In other news: Save Up to 50% on All Craftsy Classes! This weekend only, check out the  Craftsy  E...

New project alert! I couldn't resist casting on for a new project with my Targhee handspun ; after carefully scouring Ravelry, I decided to start the Terra Shawl from Brooklyn Tweed, which has been in my queue since February 7, 2011. I have been able to keep up with my daily goal of 4 granny squares for the Cute Girl Squares top , which is my Holla Knits KAL project! I currently have 36 of the 48 squares I need to proceed to the next step of the pattern, which will probably happen this weekend...after I weave in all of the many ends! In other news, I just started the third skein of yarn for Tyler's scarf (do you really need a progress photo?) and over the weekend, I finished knitting the body of my (no-longer) 30-day sweater . I tried it on and it fit just fine, but not exactly the way I wanted it to fit; I am clearly a bit off in my calculations. There is also a very noticeable line where I joined a new skein from what I thought was the same dye lot of yarn...but app...

After finishing these fingerless mitts at the beginning of the year, I had a small amount of SilverSpun yarn left over. I thought about knitting a new pair of gloves or mittens and using the remaining yarn to knit the fingertips for a few of the fingers, but then I had a brainstorm: why not use the remaining yarn to retrofit all of my mittens for smartphone use? So, one by one, I'll be embroidering little SilverSpun dots on each thumb so that I can use my phone when it's cold out without having to take off my mittens - starting with my Robot mittens! As you can see in this Vine video , it's quite easy to do, not to mention effective: 

I whipped up a few crocheted placemats recently when I needed a few last-minute gifts. They were the perfect one-skein project using some of the Cascade 220 Superwash yarn I bought from a Craftsy sale and the leftover safety skein of Berroco Vintage I'd purchased for another project. I used the Grit Stitch Placemat and Coaster set pattern from the Cult of Crochet, which is a free pattern on Ravelry. I was pretty happy with how they turned out, plus I learned a new crochet stitch pattern! Thanks for stopping by this week - for FO Friday inspiration, visit the  Tami's Amis blog . Have a crafty weekend! 

Ah, the first WIP Wednesday of March - and I have a new project to share! I finally started my Holla Knits KAL (HKKAL) project...which is actually a crocheted top, but it still counts! I'm making the Cute Girl Squares Tank by Allyson Dykhuizen with the 3 skeins of Valley Yarns Charlemont I bought from  WEBS in January. It involves making a LOT of granny squares, which luckily I am both good at and happy to do! My goal is to make four a day for the next ten days - so far I have hit the mark each day! My next project is something I've been working on rather quietly since the end of January: 12 ounces of dyed Targee Top from Abstract Fiber (also purchased at WEBS , as a matter of fact!). Since I have been working on a lot of time-sensitive knit and crochet projects, I haven't had much time to devote to spinning so far this year; then, near the end of February, I was having issues with my right shoulder which prevented me from spinning altogether. It was kind of a bumme...