Try Not To Panic: December is Here!

Renegade Holiday Fair, Circa 2012
Photo by Dan Grzeca

Ack! It's December, and I'm hitting the panic button for my holiday gift-making! This is the point at which I have to be honest with myself and decide whether or not it's possible for me to finish all of the knit and crochet projects on my to-do list; it may be time to admit defeat and purchase some gifts! Today being Cyber Monday, this is a great time to snap up some deals online to make your life easier. If you are in the market for some knitterly gifts, Marly Bird has an extensive list of Cyber Monday deals here on her website!

This is also a fantastic time of year to support other makers, either via Etsy or by going to a holiday craft fair. I'm fortunate to live in Chicago, where we have tons of holiday craft fairs this time of year - anything from larger affairs such as the DIY Trunkshow and the Renegade Craft Fair December Market to smaller shows such as the Handmade Market or Revolution Craft Show.

I've scaled back some of my gifting goals to include quickie holiday ornament projects such as the ones I've been collecting here on Pinterest. Of course, if you're still worried about a last-minute time crunch, perhaps some ready-made ornaments are more your speed. I recently came across these adorable knitted bear ornaments from the Mother Bear Project, which are a fundraiser for their efforts. The proceeds from each ornament sale allows them to mail 6 regular-sized Mother bears to children in Africa who are affected by HIV/AIDs.

Mother Bear Ornament

Here's another gift idea that just about everyone can enjoy: a club memberships! Last year, I was gifted a three-month membership to the Rare Beer Monthly Club and it flipping rocked. In fact, I've continued my monthly membership with a different beer offering from their list of choices - and they also have wine, cheese, and other options to please a variety of tastes (click here to check them out). Getting back to ideas for fibery folks, there are many yarn and fiber clubs which would be great options - a lot of indie dyers offer a monthly club with exclusive colorways, and there are also other clubs featuring related products such as the Slipped Stitch Studios monthly project bag club. I myself have my eye on a Cloudlover fiber membership this year!

Slipped Stitch Studios Adventure Time Notions Bag

I have one more idea for your crafty friends: a well-chosen project kit. Since we all have plenty of yarn for the most part, it's sometimes nice to have the whole caboodle so that you aren't faced with the challenge of finding the perfect project for your pretty new yarn. Some of my favorite kit sources include FreshStitches (for lovers of amigurumi crochet - she also has a kit club, but unfortunately memberships are closed til July 2015), Craftsy (which has sewing, knit and crochet project kits), and Bijou Basin Ranch - they even have a kit featuring one of my designs, the Forever Linked Hat & Mitts!

Forever Linked Hat & Mitts in Himalayan Trail Yarn (my favorite!)

I'd love to hear your gifting solutions for this time of year, too!

App Review & Giveaway: Stash 2 Go

The developers for a paid Ravelry app for iPad and iPhone called Stash 2 Go contacted me earlier this year to see if I was interested in writing a review or their app on their blog. While I don't own an iPad or iPhone, I was able to gift a download to a knitting friend who had an iPad and was willing to let me play around with it for the purposes of this review! This is the first time I've ever accessed Ravelry via an app (on my Android phone, I typically use the m.ravelry.com site), and I found most of it to be easy to use. Some of the features weren’t intuitive to me at first, but once I got the hang of the idiosyncracies, it was smooth sailing. Stash 2 Go makes the most of API functions Ravelry has opened up to developers (there are still several areas which have yet to be completed in the Ravelry programming interface, so developers can only implement what is available through www.ravelry.com/api ). Most of the app's functionality allows the user to view the ...

Australian Superfine Merino Yarn Review & Giveaway

After more than ten years of knitting, I can still have new experiences - even with well-covered territory such as merino yarn! This recent merino experience actually took me by surprise: I've spun with it, I've dyed it, I've knit with it, and I've even crocheted with it...I was pretty sure I knew all there was to know about merino! Turns out, there are four different classifications of merino fiber, sorted by micron count range . At the bottom of the spectrum is Strong Merino , which ranges from 26-22.9 microns; above that is Fine Merino , which ranges from 20.1-23 microns; next up is Extra Fine Merino, which ranges from 20-15.6 microns; and at the very top of the heap is Superfine Merino Wool , with a micron range of 18.5-15.6. If you're into numbers and wondering how these four classes stack up against other fibers you may be familiar with, here are a few for comparison's sake: BFL (Blue-Faced Leicester) has a micron range of 24-28, Cashmere goat down ...

A Finished Sweater, With Cat Hair

After losing Tilly and Robin within a year of each other, I sure didn't think I'd be finding cat hair in my knitting any time soon. But the universe had other ideas. Over the winter, a white feral cat adopted us. I'd noticed her when we moved into our apartment last summer - I would see her hiding in the bushes or sunning herself in the grass when she thought no one was looking. I assumed she was someone's cat until I realized how skittish she was around humans, plus she had a tipped ear, which is a universal sign that a feral/stray cat has been spayed. Neighbors confirmed that she was a feral kitty (descended from several generations of feral cats, in fact), and that she has survived on her wits and whatever food various residents put out for her. We had some bitterly cold days over the winter, and I just felt so sorry for this poor kitty! I started offering her treats and slowly gained her trust. She didn't even want to come inside our apartment at first, much le...

handmade by stefanie

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