handmade by stefanie

I'm on my way to Columbus, OH for the TNNA trade show today! I can't wait to share all of the cool stuff I see at the show next when I get back next week. In the mean time, I have been amassing a lovely selection of hats to send to my Aunt who is about to begin chemo soon (and I have a few more hats-in-progress which I'll be sharing as they're completed). The first new hat I've finished was one I worked on during my trip to Minneapolis using a super-special skein of yarn I'd been saving from the Sweet Georgia sock club, a tencel/merino blend in the Bubble Bath colorway: The pattern is Allyson Dykhuizen's  Lake Ontario  hat from the Summer issue of Knitscene, and I think the business of the colorway doesn't do justice to the chevron knit-and-purl patterning of the hat, though hopefully this closeup at least gives you a hint of what's going on, pattern-wise: The next hat I cast on was an old favorite - the Topiary Beanie from Weekend Hats us...

Happy WIP Wednesday! I'm starting today off in the most fun way possible - announcing the winner of the Manos Alegria giveaway for the Holla Knits blog tour! The lucky person is lindaran; I will be in touch with you to arrange for the delivery of your prize. Thanks so much to everyone who entered this contest! And now, onto the WIPs - I only have a few still on the needles after a pretty productive 3-day weekend! I finished and blocked the top yoke of the Lake Michigan Tee , then seamed and picked up for the body to knit in the Knight colorway of Skein Top Draw Socks . It's kind of at an awkward-to-photograph stage at the moment: I made a little bit of progress on the destash Rikke hat, though it's probably not very interesting to look at. It is, however, very soft, and I think my aunt will look good in it! I also started working on the stitch pattern section of the Bowdoin Hat from Holla Knits, which I am knitting with a skein of Sincere Sheep Tenacious Sock i...

I'm not sure if anyone noticed, but I really haven't been promoting the affiliate programs I'm signed up for lately, and that is mostly because I feel like the main site I am an affiliate for, Craftsy, is everywhere - and people are a little fatigued with the 24/4 promotion. Also, I'm guessing most of you have probably hit a wall for how many classes you can sign up for and only watch half of, which is pretty much where I'm at right now! I hope you don't mistake this for me knocking Craftsy - I still very much love the website and do refer back to the many classes I've taken quite a bit. However, I do have a fair number of classes I've purchased and have get to find the time to watch, and that's kind of a bummer. I keep telling myself - SOMEDAY! - but then that day never comes. Having said that, I simply couldn't say no to a full free month of Creativebug. This weekend only, they are generously offering myself and all of you dear readers a Cre...

My recent guest post on the Woolery blog ( click here if you missed it! ) was all I needed to get excited about spinning again, apparently. Last weekend, I finished the spinning project which I had started in April: some very vibrant dyed BFL top which I had actually purchased from the Woolery earlier this year (the colorway is called Poppies in Oz, which is pretty fitting!). If you are familiar with spinning BFL, you will be a little surprised with this fiber because it's not quite as silky as most commercially-available BFL tops. Instead, it feels quite sturdy, and that's because this particular fiber comes from New Zealand Blue-Faced Leicester sheep, whose fleece clocks in at the higher end of the micron count (remember, the lower the number, the softer the fiber!). Just because it's not silky-soft doesn't mean this fiber doesn't have a place in your spinning or knitting routine - in fact, I have big plans for the resulting skein of handspun, but I'm g...

As I mentioned on Monday, I made my Holla Knits debut earlier this week with my SpringTastic Socks . This ankle-length sock combines easy eyelet lace with cables to create a fun-to-knit sock that is also quite fast - all the better so you can wear them right away! It's shown above in Manos del Uruguay Alegria , which is a hand-dyed superwash merino sock yarn from the Manos Co-ops. I chose this yarn specifically because I have been wanting to try it ever since it came out, and besides all of the pretty color combinations to choose from, the yarn also has an interesting story: it's Fair Trade ! Each yarn is signed by the artisan who dyed it, and it also tells you which co-op made your yarn. The coloway shown above is Periquito, and it's even more vibrant in real life! You can view all of the colorways here on the Fairmount Fibers website (they distribute the yarn in North America and provided yarn support for this design). Every Manos yarn I've tried has be...

My knitting has taken a little detour recently: I can't stop making hats! Just before I left for Minneapolis, I received the news that my aunt was diagnosed with cancer. It was a shock to the family, but the prognosis is very good. Hopefully it's not too much of an invasion of her privacy to say that the tumor itself was already successfully removed, but she does have to undergo chemo as a precautionary measure. After getting over my initial surprise, my next thought was: she's going to need HATS. Lots of hats! Someone in my knitting group mentioned that people undergoing chemo have a tendency to get hot easily, which is something that hadn't occurred to me. But as I was digging through all of my finished hats which are looking for good homes, it seemed like most of them would be too warm, not only given the circumstances but also for the summer months ahead. Luckily, I have a ton of sock yarn in my stash and there is no shortage of great lightweight hat designs in fi...

First, congratulations to Hipknitizer, who won the Patons Superfine Merino giveaway on this blog! I will get in touch with you to arrange for the delivery of your prize. Thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway this month! Next, on to the exciting news: first, I am one of tomorrow's speakers at the Windy City Knitting Guild monthly meeting. May is the annual needle and yarn tasting, so I will be talking about Knitter's Pride products while folks give them a test drive. The meeting is free and open to non-members, FYI. It's held every third Tuesday of the month at the Sulzer Library at 6:45 pm. Second, the new issue of Holla Knits launches today, and I am excited to be a part of it! The Holla Knits Warm Weather Accessories issue has many firsts: it's the first time a sock design has been included in the collection, and guess what? It's by yours truly, and it's my Holla Knits Debut! This is also the first time that articles have been included in ...

Those of you who know me well are quite used to the fact that I rarely take requests. More specifically, I don't knit for hire in the sense that I will make you a sweater or (insert any handmade item here) for any sum of money. As most of you can probably commiserate, this policy is in place simply because I don't have enough hours in the day - I barely get enough time to make/design all of the things I want as it is! However, when your young nephew mentions (well in advance of his birthday, might I add) that he'd really love a hand-knit Pikachu , exceptions must be made! I used a free pattern  which I designed several years ago when his older brother requested the same - back then, I didn't know how to crochet, and those were the only patterns I'd come across on Ravelry, so I decided to come up with my own knit version. It's knit with Shine Worsted from KnitPicks, which is an incredibly soft blend of pima cotton and modal. I loved the yarn, but it p...

Last weekend, Tyler and I took a little road trip to Minneapolis for what was essentially a craft beer tour of the city. So! Much! Beer! I'm certainly not complaining, as it was all quite fantastic, but wow! I think we were both surprised by just how awesome the craft beer scene is in the Twin Cities. If you follow me on instagram, you may have seen some of these photos, but I have tried to find some additional pictures which I haven't posted yet to mix things up. I suppose I should start with the beer since there wasn't quite as much knitting that took place on vacation as I would have liked (but as you will see, there was some here and there!). Surly Beer  was the overwhelming theme of the trip - it was everywhere, and it was delicious! We found a really good place called  Nighthawks Diner  near our AirBnB which ended up being brand new (as in, it had just opened the week we arrived!), and they had a lot of great beers on tap. We even spent our last day at the ...

Head's up - this week only, I have a killer deal on luxury sock yarn mini skein grab bags in my Etsy shop : over 100g of fingering weight yarn for only $15! If you live in the US, that includes postage, and it's not much more to ship to Canada. Many of the yarns and colors are unique, hard-to-find, one-of-a-kind, exclusive, discontinued....you get the idea! Also, if you have a reasonable request (i.e. colors you love, colors you hate, no variegated colors, etc.), I am totally happy to honor that as I pack up your skeins. Oh, and I have a habit of including fun freebies with each order! Convinced? Click here to snag yours , there are only a limited quantity up for grabs! When they're gone, they'd gone!

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 ...