handmade by stefanie

The Tour de Fleece may be over, but I am still spinning through the Louet Spinzilla July Fiber Pack I received earlier this month! Each month between now and Spinzilla , a new discounted fiber pack will be available at louet.com - and if you are coveting this particular assortment of fabulous fibers, you are in luck: there are still some July Fiber packs available here . You may recall when I shared this photo a few weeks ago: From top to bottom: 1/2 lb Optim 100% Merino Top, 1/2 lb Wool/Linen 60/40 Top, 2 oz 100% Cashmere, 1/2 lb Dyed Merino Top in Tawny Gold, 1/2 lb Super Fine Flax Top, 1 lb Grey Gotland Sliver & 1/2 lb Dark Coopworth. Since then, I've spun through about half of the fiber at this point (1.5 lbs, to be exact), and I can honestly say that I've enjoyed each selection so far. I started with a really easy-spinning fiber, the Dark Coopworth (below, middle). It was very light, lofty and a total breeze to work with. My next pick was the wool/linen top (

Though I am still spinning even though the Tour de Fleece ended this past Sunday, I wanted to focus back on knitting for today's post. I started a new project last Friday using some exciting yarn from Bijou Basin Ranch - one of several limited-edition colorways of Tibetan Dream yarn hand-dyed by Miss Babs, in fact! They are available online right now - or you can snag a skein or two at Stitches Midwest next month. I'm knitting the Leonarda Shawl by Laura Chau, which is my project for the #KPChauKAL happening here on Ravelry . There are some pretty awesome prizes up for grabs, and any of Laura's neckwear patterns are eligible for this KAL (plus - there is a coupon code for your pattern purchase!). I have definitely been favoring this project because I need to have it done in time for Stitches (more on that later). It's already at that awkward-to-photograph stage, so I'm taking that to be a good sign that I am on track to meet this goal!  The bird's eye

This was my third year spinning in the Tour de Fleece , and it became unexpectedly challenging when one of my spinning wheels broke during the first week of the event. The wheel ended up being out of commission for much of the tour due to an unfortunate inventory mixup which resulted in having the incorrect part shipped to me twice, and the correct part finally showing up at the beginning of the final week of the event. It was a bummer, to say the least, but on the plus side, I did learn three very important lessons: Cleaning, oiling, tightening screws, and other regular maintenance is a good idea, but don't count on that being enough.  If you have a wheel which is several years old, has seen a lot of action (tally up the number of TDFs and Spinzillas!), or was previously used, the likelihood is higher that something might give out is increased. Plus, even the best-maintained wheel is going to break down at some point from normal use. Things wear out - it happens! Keeping spare

The Tour de Fleece ends this Sunday, and I'm hoping to get a few more spinning projects finished up this weekend. However, I have a LOT of new skeins to share since last Friday's post, starting with the Quick's Point fiber from Cloudlover. It's a generous 360 yards of a two-ply sport weight....and I'm thinking it wants to be SOCKS! Last weekend, I plied the Coopworth into a really lovely two-ply worsted, and I am pretty sure it will want to be a cowl or some fingerless gloves: Yesterday was the "challenge day" for the tour, and since I had a pretty big queue for plying, I decided to see how many singles I could work through in just one day. I started with the Museum Grudge Match singles, since that project had been in progress the longest. Then I quickly plied the wool/flax singles : After that, I ran out of steam. I could have started the dyed merino , but I decided to save it til today. When I'm done with work for the day, I plan on pl

Are you sitting down? Ok, good. BECAUSE I FINALLY FIXED MY BROKEN SPINNING WHEEL. I apologize for the all caps, but it was truly a monumental day when the CORRECT part arrived on Monday of this week and I was finally able to get my second wheel back into action. As a bonus, they sent me an extra part so that I will have one on hand for the next time this happens (which I assume will be waaaay in the future)!At any rate, I was psyched to finish the second single of my Museum Grudge Match Fiber : Of course, since my regular plying wheel has been taking up the single-spinning slack, there is now a queue for project to be plied. Over the weekend, I finished 8oz of a wool/linen blend from the July Louet Spinzilla Fiber Pack : And THEN (also over the weekend, before the correct part to fix my second spinning wheel arrived, mind you) I started spinning some Louet Dyed Merino in Tawny Gold : I've already started the second single for this project, and once it's finished, I ca

Before we launch into today's Take 5 guest blog post, I want to announce the winner of this month's giveaway: congratulations are in order for SaraMCrafts, whose comment was randomly selected to win the Adventures in Mochimochi Land prize pack! I'll get in touch with you on Ravelry to arrange for the delivery of your prize. Thanks to everyone who entered this giveaway!  Jac & Megan-Anne of the  Lattes & Llamas blog . Today's Take 5 Guest Post is something I'm pretty sure everyone can relate to: Megan-Anne Llama from the Lattes & Llamas blog shares the top 5 times her FO project was massively under-appreciated. And she's got some doozies for you - I had to pick my jaw up off the floor multiple times while reading these stories! It's a bit like Festivus with the airing of the grievances (but perhaps minus the feats of strength?), and I encourage you to share your own tales of woe in the comments so that we can all sympathize. This is a s

I've spent a lot of time spinning and knitting this week (at least it seems that way), yet I only have a few totally finished skeins to share here on my blog. How is that possible?! Well, the incorrect replacement part for my broken wheel has now been shipped to me twice. TWICE. I don't want to name names, because the company I ordered it from has been sufficiently apologetic both times, and I think they might even expedite shipment this time for my trouble. Alas, my Museum Grudge Match spinning project is still very much in limbo, but as I said before - at least I have a backup wheel! On the plus side, I was able to finish the Organic Polwarth from  Classy Squid Fiber Co. which I started after The Unfortunate Incident occurred. I plied both singles together last Friday afternoon and the resulting skein is SO soft! The resulting skein is approximately 215 yards of 2-ply sport weight. Over the weekend, I spun 8oz of superwash merino/nylon from Cloudlover  in the Quick&

The spinning wheel breakdown of last week definitely hampered my spinning output, coupled with the swift arrival of...the wrong part to fix it! Luckily, it was just an honest mix-up and the correct part is on its way to me. At least, I hope it is - the error was on the end of the shipper, so here's hoping they don't make the same mistake twice! Thankfully, the point of the Tour de Fleece isn't to spin as much yardage as possible - if this had happened during Spinzilla, I would probably be having another in a series of meltdowns right about now. Instead, I'm just trying to enjoy the process of spinning each day and feeling thankful that I do have a second wheel which I enjoy using every bit as much as my Victoria. Over the weekend, I spun singles from 8 oz. of superwash merino/nylon from Cloudlover in a special colorway called Quick's Point : I have yet to ply them together because I got completely distracted by a huge box of fiber which arrived on Monday from

Adventures in Mochimochi Land After working with Anna Hrachovec and the organizers of YarnCon on the Project Gnome Diplomacy project earlier this year, my enthusiasm for knitting tiny toys came out of hibernation. So I couldn't say no when Anna offered to have a few copies of her newest book, Adventures in Mochimochi Land , sent my way for a review and giveaway.  It was a pretty exciting day when the package arrived, and that night, I sat down at my kitchen table to page through the book while I waited for dinner to cook. The book contains 3 short stories set in Mochimochi Land, "a magical place where everything, from the trees to the microwaves, is alive and squishy," as the book's introduction notes. These colorful, whimsical knitted creations have a propensity to get into silly predicaments, and each of the three tales are an entertaining read which you can enjoy in under a half an hour - unless, of course, you can spare a little extra time to pore over al

Week 1 of the Tour de Fleece is almost to a close, and I only have one finished skein to show for it. It's a lovely skein, for sure - 4oz of Rambouillet from the Cloudlover Fiber Club's February shipment (the colorway is named Paper Hearts). I've got approximately 126 yards of a 2-ply worsted weight, which will be great for more baby-related projects, I think! You might be wondering what happened with the Museum Grudge Match spinning project that I shared on Wednesday - by all accounts, I should be finished with this handspun project by now. And I would have been, if only my wheel hadn't broken on Wednesday night! I had just sat down to spin after a VERY long work day. I wasn't even five minutes in when the unthinkable happened: the small plastic/rubber piece which secures the footman to the treadle simply gave out. To be fair, this wheel has seen a LOT of action since I bought it used 3 years ago: at least two trips to Kansas City, two Tour de Fleeces, and tw

For most of July, I'll be sharing my spinning-in-progress along with my regular knit & crochet WIPs each Wednesday! Currently, I am working through the Museum Grudge Match fiber I bought in the CJ Koho/Yarn Hollow booth at YarnCon earlier this year. I just finished the first 4oz. single and started #2 late last night: When I needed a break from spinning on Monday night, I decided to indulge my startitis and cast on for a new project with Spud & Chloe Fine sock yarn: The pattern is called One Fine Day , and I am making mine in the Lipstick and Sidewalk colorways. I also have been working on some new designs which I are part of my July goals, but of course I can't share them just yet...and that pretty much wraps things up for this week. Thanks for joining me!

Besides the obvious need for spinning fiber (and lots of it), I thought I would share some of the supplies which I have in my toolkit for this year's Tour de Fleece . Actual tools have already come in handy: one of the first things I did was tighten all of the screws on both of my wheels before I started my first spinning project on July 4th. My Louet Victoria wheel uses a hexawrench (1); for the Schacht Ladybug, I can use a regular phillips-head screwdriver (3). While I was thinking of it, I decided to clean both wheels with a bit of Murphy's Oil Soap (5) and a damp cloth to remove any dirt which might have accrued, concentrating especially on the treadles. After everything dried, I used a little wheel wax (6) to condition the wood. I also am keeping this cute little bottle of spinning wheel oil (7) handy for any squeaks which pop up - note the long needle-nose tip for easy application! Most of these tools can be bought at a hardware store or Target; I did purchase Rosie&

I realized I never shared my finished handspun pookies on my blog - oops! This pattern is so fun and quick to knit - and it's perfect for handspun yarn! I plan on making more of these cute little guys throughout the summer. My other FO is kind of a big one: my first-ever Knitscene article! I've been keeping this under my hat for quite some time and am SO excited that I can finally let the cat out of the bag (pun intended - sorry!). Look for my designer profile of Mari Chiba Luke in the 10th anniversary issue of Knitscene , along with some really awesome patterns that are a must-knit for fall...I'm having a hard time deciding which one should jump to the top of my queue first, though I think the Pennant Cardi might be THE ONE. If you aren't already a subscriber, you can look for it at your LYS or purchase a copy of the magazine in the Interweave store . Bonus: this weekend, they're having a Fourth of July tent sale and you can save and additional  10%