handmade by stefanie

This year, the only holiday gifts I plan to knit are for the wee little ones in my life, and today's project definitely fits that bill. It's knit with Spud & Chloe Sweater  yarn using a new pattern they just released, the Pint-Sized Pullover by Sarah Smuland. When I saw this pattern, I immediately starting thinking about the two skeins of Sweater I already had in my stash to make a colorblock variation of this pattern. This is a nice, basic pattern to have in your arsenal because you can knit it as-is, or get a bit creative by adding stripes or colorwork. It knits up quickly and there are three size options (I knit the 4-8 months size). As you can see below, I also modified this pattern to include a button closure instead of the twist ties because I found the perfect little button to use in my stash: I should also mention that there is a bonus pattern for a fingering weight hat included with this pattern, which I have yet to knit, but it should be great for dest...

After finishing my Delta Hat KAL project last week, I somehow resisted the urge to start any new projects over the weekend. I'm surprised too! I think I made the most progress on my Argent curl, which is soooooo close to being done!  I also put in some time working on my yak sweater  from Knitscene - I am so excited to wear this in the fall. Of course, it's pretty bunchy and scrunchy at the moment, but I think  it's starting to look more sweater-like these days: Probably the most neglected project is the Leonarda Wrap , but even that got a little love at my knitting group over the weekend. There is even noticeable progress since last week, since I have finished the garter section and moved on to the elongated garter section, though it is still at that hard-to-photograph stage I love so much:  That's pretty much it for this week - short and sweet! I'm looking forward to sharing some of my recently-finished projects for babies for this week's FO...

First off, congratulations to  LuckyPenny , who is the winner of this month's giveaway ! I'll contact you to arrange for the delivery of your prize which was generously donated by the folks at VK Live Chicago - free marketplace admission and 2 free classes this October! Speaking of October events, now is probably a good time to say: Spinzilla is coming! Team member registration will open on September 1 (we'd love to have you on Team Louet! ) and I am already starting to plan my strategy for this weeklong event. Enter my new favorite fiber prep tool: the Louet Blending Board. I've been coveting this board which debuted late last year (or maybe it was at the beginning of this year?), but they have been a little hard to come by because they are so popular! Finally my patience paid off and I was happily surprised last week to see a Louet box on my doorstep. I opened up the box, watched a couple of YouTube videos about blending boards, and I was off! My fiber stash i...

I have a new hat, fresh off the needles! This is my project for the Delta Hat KAL that's happening over in the Hands Occupied Ravelry group through the end of this month: I used Himalayan Trail , one of my favorite Bijou Basin Ranch yarns (and also the yarn which the pattern happens to call for). The color I chose is Continental Blue - a nice, rich navy (and hey, it's not green!). I did add in a few extra rounds of the garter brim because I was a little worried that the hat might be a bit shallow for my head - and I had a nice little bit of yarn left over at the end, so I probably could have added in a few more if I cared to. Also, I went up a needle size because I am apparently a tight knitter these days! You'll notice I have some pretty spiffy buttons - they are made from salvaged tool handles, so each set of buttons is unique! Full disclosure: they are made by my friend Lindy, the talented woodworker behind Balwen Woodworks (you can find out more about this Chica...

I think I've finally stopped starting all of the things  and have moved on to phase II, wherein I try not to neglect any of the projects currently on the needles. Ahem. After fixing a silly mistake on my Leonarda Wrap , it's seen some nice progress; in fact, I just finished the easy peasy garter and am ready to start the next phase, elongated garter: Over the weekend, I also made some progress on my Delta Hat for the KAL...but that wasn't after having to frog back a bit when I realized I had somehow gotten a bit off in the stitch pattern. Luckily, a few well-placed stitch markers were all it took to get me back on track: And I finally knit enough on my Argent curl to start seeing a hint of color change! After knitting a few swatches, I was able to start my Pennant Cardi last Thursday, and I've made some slow and steady progress on the ribbing: My destash mitered square blanket even saw some action - in fact, Tilly helped me pick out the colors for the...

Mochimochiland art installation from VK Live 2013 (image by me) Vogue Knitting Live is returning to Chicago October 2-4, 2015! It will be in the centrally-located Palmer House Hilton in downtown Chicago, which is a gorgeous historic building. Locals will be able to get to the venue quite easily, and if you're traveling from out of town, you can just hop on the train to get downtown from the airport. I'm most looking forward to the marketplace full of yarny vendors ( click here to see who will be there this year! ), which has a lot to offer in addition to shopping: Free fashion shows from Vogue Knitting , Koigu, Rowan, and Universal. Knit art gallery featuring artists such as Anna Hrachovec of Mochimochiland and Nic White. A yarn tasting lounge where you can try the latest yarns and test out Knitter's Pride needles. A complimentary ball-winding station for those of you who can't wait to cast on a project with your new yarn!  The relax and unwind lounge ...

It's been quite a while since I finished the  Reeds and Rushes Cowl  - as in, just over a month! I'm not sure how this slipped past the FO Friday radar, but at long last, here is one of my most recent FOs using handspun yarn: I ended up making my cowl a little bigger than the original pattern calls for - measured flat, mine is 11.5"x7". To do this, I went up a few needle sizes and added several more pattern repeats before unzipping my provisional cast-on and grafting the cowl closed. I really love how the stitch pattern and yarn look together, though I think that I would add more of a garter stitch border at the top and the bottom if I were to knit this design again. The pattern is available for free  here on Ravelry , and I used some of my handspun yarn which you can read more about  here .

In the last week, I've finished the 3 main projects I had on the needles, which turned out to be perfectly timed with Stitches Midwest . There's nothing like coming home from a show with a pile of new yarn and actually getting to use it   right away , so I indulged in startitis and have been casting on with reckless abandon! I got a test color in Shangri-La yarn, and I wasn't sure what to do with it since I am not normally a fan of laceweight yarn, and it also wasn't a full 200-yard skein. Then I remembered that a Hunter Hammersen Curl could be knit with any yarn weight and any yardage....and I was off! I'm knitting Argent , which is looking quite lovely in this shimmery yak/silk blend yarn: My rainy Sunday afternoon knitting was to start the Delta Hat by Heidi Gustad for the KAL that is happening right now here on Ravelry . I chose the very-difficult-to-photograph Continental Blue colorway of Himalayan Trail yarn (which, as you know, is one of my faves -...

Stitches booty! The fall yarn & fiber festival season kicked off (for me, anyway) at Stitches Midwest in Schaumburg this past weekend! I only attended the marketplace on Friday this time around; usually I go out for one or both weekend days, but to be honest, one day was totally enough since I wasn't signed up for any classes or events. I know I complain about this every year, but the drive to Schaumburg from the city is NOT fun, and since I don't have a car, I have to rely on the kindness of my knitting friends to get me out there since I'm not keen to repeat last year's Metra/shuttle experience . The marketplace seemed smaller this year, but a good mix overall (if you can excuse the three aloe/lotion vendors which were all in the same row, which seemed like an major oversight for whomever planned the vendor layout - maybe I'm the only person who notices or cares about such things?!) Anyway, there were a lot of the vendors I expected to see, and severa...

I'm always a fan of multitasking, so when I was asked to knit a display piece for the Bijou Basin Ranch booth using one of Laura Chau's shawl patterns, I was pretty excited to cast on as part of the #KPChauKAL that is currently happening here in the Knitter's Pride Ravelry group . Two, two mints in one! I was a little nervous that I wouldn't be done in time for Stitches Midwest this weekend, but I bound off on Tuesday night and had it blocking the next day (it had to share the usual blocking space with some homebrewing equipment, though): The pattern is the Leonarda Shawl , and I knit the larger size option for the triangle version (the pattern also includes instructions to knit a smaller triangle shawl as well as a rectangular wrap). Rebel that I am, I didn't gauge beforehand, which totally came back to haunt me when I was far enough in to start worrying that I might run out of yarn because I was a little off on the suggested gauge. OOPS. The good news is th...

Wow, this week has been crazy! I've been logging extra hours for my day job, then spending most of my crafting time working on the Bijou Basin Ranch Shawl  like my life depended on it. I'm happy to report that it's off the needles and blocking as I type, though that also means that I've worked on very little else since last week's post . Pretty much the only project with noticeable progress is the Fine top: I know it's not much, but at least it's starting to look more like something wearable! The only other thing I have to share is a bit of enabling. I know that Alicia from Woolen Diversions and the Sweet Sheep Body Shoppe is a reader of my own blog (and vice versa), and I've been meaning to give her lotion bars and lip balms a try for quite some time. Well, I couldn't resist the free shipping offer for Knitted Bliss blog readers , and my order arrived over the weekend: I ordered Chamomile Bergamot and Blackberry Sage lotion bars & Lem...

August already?! It's time to check back in on the previous months' goals and set some new ones for the month ahead. This summer has been insanely busy in ways I could (or would) have never predicted. Even with my attempt at a "stress-free" list of goals for July, I was only marginally successful in my quests...but at least I didn't stress about it, which is totally fine by me! Well, at least I had a successful Tour de Fleece ! JULY GOALS 1.  Spin with  Team Cloudlover for the Tour de Fleece .   100% a chieved!  2.  Spend a few hours each weekend working on design ideas. 50% achieved; the last few weeks I've been working on a project which took precedence over everything else because it's a display piece for Stitches Midwest.  3.  Try to make some more of the small projects which have been in my queue for a while. Kinda sorta....I made several small projects in July, but they weren't from patterns that have been languishing in my queue. However, ...