handmade by stefanie

On the Amtrak train back to Chicago, I was able to finish my project for this month's KAL in the Knitter's Pride group ! I'm also double-dipping, so these socks are my project for the Seasonal Sock Syndrome KAL in the Delusional Knitter group as well. Best of all....they are DONE! I used my own Chittery Chattery sock pattern from Conversation Socks and knit this version in two different colors of GEMS Sport , Teal and Willow. As you can see, Tyler is the model for the socks. After the photo shoot was done, he actually asked me if they were sport weight socks - yes, he knew there was something different from the fingering-weight socks that I usually knit. Turns out, he likes the sport weight socks better because he felt like they were softer and breathed easier. He actually refused to take them off post-photo shoot. I guess they're his now! If you want to see more projects from the Conversation Socks ebook, click here . This is the last day to get $2

I took a quick trip down to Kansas City over the weekend for a friend's wedding and to visit family, so I had plenty of knitting time during the 14-hour (total) train trip! I made the most progress on my test knitting project (which I can't share with you just yet), but my Chittery Chattery Socks are now complete and I started a new fingering-weight baby sweater : Since returning to Chicago, I've been scrambling to get the house ready for my parents to visit, and of course, paid work needs to happen at some point, too! I've been able to sneak in a few rows here and there for my Excelsior , however: On my trip, I was able to find a few spare moments to visit the new location of The Studio Knitting & Needlepoint , one of my favorite shops to visit when I'm in town. Since I missed VK Live in Chicago last weekend, I treated myself to a skein of Anzula Sebastian . That's a pretty good consolation prize, I think! I also came home to this pretty skei

Graphic Knits By Alexis Winslow Interweave/F+W; $24.99 http://bit.ly/1vYisdT When I was asked if I wanted to review Alexis Winslow's new book, Graphic Knits: 20 Designs in Bold, Beautiful Color , I leapt at the chance. I had already been admiring many of the patterns on Ravelry , and to be honest, I was planning on buying the book for myself if I didn't get it as a holiday gift this year. Then, of course, a copy shows up on my doorstep courtesy of the kind people at Interweave! The projects which first caught my eye were several of the designs featuring all-over bold geometric elements: the Rook Pullover , Orly Cardigan , and the cover project, the Trilogy Cardigan all have that "punch" you would expect from a book called Graphic Knits . However, there are many other interpretations of "Graphic Knits" explored throughout the book as the author plays with color and stitch patterns to create a graphic mood. The designs featuring smaller elemen

I was psyched to finally get this project off the needles, especially before embarking on a long train trip down to KC for a wedding this weekend. That means I get to start some new projects, right?! Last month, I was able to snag one of the limited-edition skeins of Tibetan Dream yarn hand-dyed by Miss Babs, and I couldn't resist immediately casting on for a pair of soft, warm, and yak-y socks. I love the way they turned out! The pattern is perfect for a variegated yarn such as this, and it's also interesting to knit. For the most part, it was my on-the-go project, and now they are going to be my go-to socks for fall! Pattern: Wedge by Cookie A from knit. sock. love. Yarn: Tibetan Dream from Bijou Basin Ranch in Seaside, a limited-edition color dyed by Miss Babs Have a fun & crafty weekend!

The results from Spinzilla 2014 are in! Congratulations to Team Fancy Tiger Crafts, who defended their title well and won the golden niddy noddy for the second year in a row with a total of 171,492.6 yards. I'm pleased to say that Team Louet came in third place with a total of 156,852.920 yards. My own total turned out to be 3,404 once I'd added in the leftover singles from all of my Spinzilla projects, putting me in the Monster Mile club along with 881 other spinners; you can see all of my finished Spinzilla yarns  here on last week's post . Click here to check out the rest of this year's Spinzilla results! Yesterday I came down with a bug and was out of commission for most of the day, and now I'm scrambling to get caught up on work and chores before I head to KC for a friend's wedding this weekend. It's amazing how much losing just one day can throw things off! I thought about not posting a blog today at all, but in the end decided I could spare

While we all wait anxiously for the results of this year's Spinzilla (which should be announced later today with any luck!), I have a few random news items to share this week: I was thrilled to discover - nearly a week after the fact - that one of my designs was featured in Threadpanda's Friday Finds ! What's funny is that the Friday Finds feature is one of my favorites to check on a regular basis, but the one time it slips my mind - BOOM! There's my patterns! At any rate, I couldn't be more flattered to be included in such a lovely collection of patterns. Be sure to follow the Threadpanda blog for more great inspiration and enabling, it's definitely worth adding to your reading list. Sample grab bag from my Etsy shop In the world of podcasts, my Mini Skein Grab Bags were recently mentioned on 2 Tangled Skeins, and they said such nice things about them that I couldn't resist creating a special coupon code for their viewers to use in my Etsy shop ! C

With a few weeks left before the official KAL end date, my Chill Chaser is complete! Over the weekend, I wove in the ends; on Monday night, I sewed the sleeves onto the body. On Tuesday, I blocked it out, but it wasn't totally dry until yesterday. Last night, I sewed on the buttons...which means I wasn't able to get photos taken of the totally-finished sweater til this morning, which is why this post is a little later than usual. As you can see, it fits me perfectly. I used the same colors of Spud & Chloë Sweater as pictured in the pattern photo, Manatee & Turtle. I'm knitting it as part of the Chill Chaser KAL which is happening here on Ravelry - and if you'd like to participate by knitting a child-size version of the sweater, it's not too late to join in, since the KAL ends on October 31.  Check out those awesome robot buttons - do they look familiar? I used them earlier this year on a friend's baby sweater, and I've been obsessed with th

Now that Spinzilla is officially over and I have double-checked my yardage calculations to include the leftover singles from my plied yarns for a total of 3404 yards, I am returning to the projects which have been forlorn in my knitting corner for the past week. Over the weekend, I finished the Chill Chaser sweater I had on the needles (spoiler alert for Friday!) and made some serious progress on my Chittery Chattery socks for various KALs which I'm participating in (more on those here ). I have only knit a few more rounds of my Wedge socks since last week's WIP Wednesday post, so it's probably not worth posting a photograph today. However, I did start something NEW as a reward for finishing a project over the weekend. For quite some time, I've been wanting to cast on for    Excelsior  from the  Holla Knits Home Collection , and the   Sweatshop of Love Fall KAL  which started at the beginning of this month is the perfect excuse! I'm using 3 colors of  Spu

The results won't be in for the team totals til later this week at the earliest, but last night I finished up my final Spinzilla project and tallied up my finished yardage for a grand total of 3372 (unofficially; I will probably be checking my math before submitting my final tally!). During the course of the week, I spun approximately 3 pounds of fiber total, most of which I plied, though some of I decided to leave as a single ply. The cats were not terribly thrilled that I was spinning so much this past week; when I knit, they often snuggle up to me on the couch, but it's a bit tougher to snuggle whilst I spin - not that they didn't try! Spinning with cats: is there any other way? I began the week with some easy projects to get back into spinning: pencil roving (Louet Northern Lights), Louet Cheviot, and a Corriedale Cross braid from YarnHollow were among the first projects I embarked upon. The Malabrigo Nube roving took longer than I was anticipating because

I finished my first (of many) October KAL projects this week! This first one is for the   Hops & Hanks Fall KAL , and it's knit with a new exclusive base of yarn available at  A Good Yarn Sarasota  called  A Good Yarn Fingering . You can choose from a 50g skein for $15 or a full 4oz skein for $32. I used a 50g skein in the Autumn Jewels colorway, and I have enough left over to knit another pair of socks or perhaps even a matching hat! Knit with A Good Yarn Fingering in Autumn Jewels Speaking of which....this pattern is from my back catalog,  the  Sweetest Baby Socks . When I originally designed these socks, I used one of my favorite superwash yarns for gifted items, Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock. Knit with Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Sunshine While I would still very much recommend this yarn, the put-up has changed for Shepherd Sock, which makes purchasing a skein of it specifically for this project a tad impractical (however, if you have a leftover skein l

Since I was traveling last week, I strategically packed only two projects to work on in hopes that I would come home with as many FOs. Despite encountering a lot  of delays in my air travel, my plan didn't quite work out as I thought it would, although the Wedge Socks are now at HO status! The lighting in the photo above doesn't really do justice to the colorway, so here is a close-up shot which is a little more true to color: My Chill Chaser is much closer to being done; I finished knitting the sleeves and just need to attach them to the sweater - but first, I want to finish knitting the hood: Last but not least, my Chittery Chattery socks are knitting up nice and quick, especially considering the fact that I've had very little time to work on them! In other news, Craftsy is offering some great deals on project kits which are only available by clicking on my affiliate links below. I thought I'd share them for anyone who is looking for simple &

Spinzilla starts today! I spent all of this past weekend making sure my fiber was prepped, though I'm not doing anything terribly fancy for this year's event: most of the fibers I am spinning with are hand-dyed roving, so I've just predrafted them into thinner strips to spin directly from the top. Since the focus is on speed and yardage, I had earmarked a few easy-to-spin projects for this week especially. First, the final set of batts from earlier this year: Next on my to-do list, some Louet Northern Lights in Icy Winter, which I'll spin as-is since it's already pencil roving: My latest fiber acquisition is two braids of Malabrigo Nube which I purchased when I was in Minneapolis last week: I was just in town for a few days on official Stitchcraft business, but managed to stop by Crafty Planet for a little fiber stash enhancement. They have a really amazing selection of fabrics, sewing and embroidery supplies in addition to yarn, of course. It