handmade by stefanie

It's been over two months since I cast on for the Leonarda Wrap with the gorgeous skeins of One Silky Merino I bought at the Fiber Story booth at Stitches Midwest. Despite having successfully knit this project before, I ran into some issues as I neared the home stretch which had nothing to do with the pattern and everything  to do with my inability to follow it correctly. Eventually, things righted themselves, and I managed to finish and block my project to perfection! I absolutely loved this yarn, so I was a bit disappointed to find very little info about it on Ravelry or the internet at large - it's almost like they're trying to keep it a secret! Given the scarcity, I'm pretty happy I indulged in a few skeins when I saw it at Stitches. I only wish I hadn't misplaced the label and could tell you the name of this colorway! Pattern: Leonarda by Laura Chau - includes instructions for rectangular wrap shown here, plus two sizes of a triangular shawl. Yarn: Fi...

I've been working on all of my WIPs pretty diligently since last week, but it really doesn't seem like much has been accomplished. There is, however, measurable progress - for instance, I am just 3 inches away from finishing my yak cardi sleeves and joining them to the body of the sweater for the yoke. I've almost finished the left side of the Broad Shoulders sweater (more on that here ), and my Miya shawl continues to grow. My entrelac cowl has definitely grown since last week - I am just zooming along on each wedge section. Surprisingly, this turned out to be a really great on-the-go knitting project, which is why I've made so much progress. It also got an awesome new home in the form of a project bag made for me by Kemper of the Junkyarn Podcast . Thanks, Kemper! Lastly, I've added a few more dino parts to the mix, though I'm not sure I'm going to finish by the end of the month for the Toy KAL I was kinda sorta but not really participating...

It's been about 5 weeks since the Broad Shoulders Midwestern Knits KAL started, and I am nowhere near where I thought I'd be! My proposed "schedule" which I drafted at the start of the KAL was this: September Goal: Work body up to Central Chicago section (that’s four stitch pattern sections spread over 2.5 weeks - I think we can probably get further than that with any luck!)  October Goal: Finish body and work sleeve 1.  November Goal: Work sleeve 2 & buttonband. Since the KAL actually ends on December 14, that allows two weeks for catching up...and I am clearly going to need it! By the end of September, I'd barely gotten through the first two stitch patterns. September turned out to be the busiest month ever - both in terms of work and general life stuff. By the time I had a chance to sit down and knit at the end of the day, my brain was fried, and I had a hard time handling anything other than stockinette stitch. In fact, when I did attempt to kni...

As I've mentioned before, my friend Jen Geigley recently released an awesome book of patterns called WEEKEND: Simple, Modern Knits . You can read more about it here on my official review - and guess what? I'm reopening the giveaway, because the person whose name I drew never claimed their prize! So click here to find out how you can win a copy of this awesome book, plus a Knitter's Pride Nova Platina chunky interchangeable needle set. Last weekend, Jen was actually here in Chicago for a trunk show and book signing at Nina! I was so glad I could stop by to say hello to Jen, as well as many of my other knitting friends who also happened to be there, too. After the trunk show, I grabbed a drink at Bangers and Lace with Jen and Heidi from Hands Occupied - guess whose beer is at the dark end of that spectrum! Since there is a KAL happening all month long for WEEKEND , I figured I should probably start another project from the book to work on while I was out and about - s...

I'm still chugging away on my two grey sweaters: over the weekend, I separated for the armholes and began working the left front on my Broad Shoulders KAL sweater! And knitting sleeves two-at-a-time for my Pennant Cardi has proven to be an excellent bar knitting project. I'm usually a homebody, but lately I've found myself out and about way more than usual, and so I've managed to make a lot of progress since last week - it's probably hard to tell, but the sleeves are about elbow length now! I've started the second section of the Miya Shawl for the KAL that's happening here on Ravelry , and I have to say I am loving the yarn. Would you believe this is my first-ever 100% cashmere yarn I've ever knit with? But the biggest news is that I have started two NON-GREY projects (yes, all caps is very necessary there) since last week! First, I dusted off my crochet hook and started working on one of my recent FreshStitches Kit Club shipments: a yellow br...

Today's a special blog post, just so I can do a bit of bragging: my Spinzilla team won the Golden Niddy Noddy! I couldn't be more proud of Team Louet North America . What a tremendous group of spinners! To reblog from our team sponsor's post announcing our team's stats: 24 of 25 registered spinners reported yardage & will be receiving our Team Thank-you gift valued at $100! We’ll be creating a special fiber pack for our hard-working spinners which includes two 1/2 lb. bags of Merino Silk, a 1/2 lb. bag of Dyed Merino and a Lavishea Spinzilla lotion bar! 21 of 25 registered spinners are in the Monster Mile Club! This means that they will receive an additional gift from us (their choice of in-stock fibers valued at $100)! Eight of our spinners reported 5-digit yardage! As a team, we spun a total of 271,607 yards – that’s just over 154 miles, or the equivalent of 5.8 marathons! We’ve far surpassed our team total from last year (156,853) as well as the win...

Recently, local(ish) designer Jen Lucas messaged me to ask if I'd like to review her newest book, Sock-Yarn Accessories . As you know, I am not one to turn down such an enticing offer, and within the week, a copy had arrived on my doorstep! Most of us probably have quite a bit of sock yarn already in our stashes - it's always a good choice for impulse buying, since you know you'll use it eventually ....and I know that a lot of folks don't even count sock yarn towards stash! This book is the perfect way to put some of those skeins to work: there are 20 patterns in all ranging from scarves, shawls, socks, cowls, hats, mitts, and even a market bag - and they ALL use fingering weight yarn! I am really excited to shop from my stash and cast on for a few new projects this fall, especially since there are several quick-to-knit designs that would also make great holiday gifts. For those of you who are really  ambitious, there are even four matched sets within the book f...

I really don't recommend traveling during Spinzilla . While I somehow managed to crack 3,000 yards, I didn't exceed last year's total by any stretch of the imagination. As I mentioned prior to the start of the event, I opted to ply very few of my singles during the course of the event, mostly because I wouldn't have access to two wheels whilst traveling. I'm not sure I would employ that strategy again, but it did have its pluses and minuses, and my idae for winding singles off into center-pull balls so that I could free up bobbins worked our marginally well, though you probably noticed in the photo above that some of those balls are a bit messy. This weekend, I plan to start plying some of these singles once I decide on how I'd like to approach that - so I'll be sharing more details of those skeins as I finish them (or at the very least, on Instagram and/or my Ravelry handspun stash page). All in all, my finished total was 3209 yards, which is pretty ...

Now that Spinzilla is done, I have a lot of singles to ply since this year's strategy did not include plying during the event (for the most part). I'll be sharing my Spinzilla results later this week, and this weekend I plan on plying some of these projects so that they are officially done . In the mean time....my grey knitting project streak continues. While the Leonarda shawl is officially off the needles (but still in need of a good blocking), I have replaced it with....another grey shawl. I promise that my next  project will be in a non-grey yarn, but I couldn't resist this new cashmere yarn from Bijou Basin Ranch for the Miya Shawl KAL which started on Monday: While traveling last week, I left the Broad Shoulders sweater in Chicago, but I have been working on it since arriving back in town and there has been some progress made since last week: I did happen to take my two-at-a-time sleeves for my Pennant cardi, and made some decent progress on the trip: N...

Before the start of Spinzilla, I finished knitting my project for the Perspectives Mystery KAL - and now it's time to unveil the secret! This was a fun project to knit and probably the only Mystery KAL I've participated in recently where I finished/liked the resulting project! The length of the cowl makes it really easy to wear, not to mention adds a little extra warmth. I used a Mountain Colors Perspectives kit , which has mini-skeins of Crazyfoot sock dyed in gradients. This is my first time knitting with this yarn, which is a superwash Merino/nylon, and I would definitely make more projects with it because it's such a nice balance of softness vs. sturdiness. You can view more MKAL projects here on Ravelry !

Spinzilla started at 12:01 AM on October 5, and I have been spinning up a storm with every free moment I get. Since the start, I have filled a total of 5 bobbins: the three at the bottom are spun from  Louet Jacob fiber, the top right was spun from some of my blending board rolags, and the top right is a braid of fiber from the Cloudlover fiber club. I know my original plan was to wait til Spinzilla was over to ply, but that cake of singles you see in the photo above didn't go so well (the other side is NOT a pretty picture!). I decided to ply all of the Jacob singles into a 3-ply so that my Victoria bobbins could be efficiently cleared, and then I really went for broke, spinning with more blending board rolags and nearly filled a sixth  bobbin! It's safe to say that Spinzilla is off to a great start for me. Of course, I haven't found much time to knit, but I did make some progress on my WIPs over the weekend. For instance, I realized that I hadn't ripped far enou...

Fall's arrival has given me major startitis, and in addition to the Broad Shoulders sweater KAL I'm leading now through December 13, I've been unable to resist several more -alongs which are taking place in October, such as..... Weekend KAL This is a freeform KAL happening now through October 30th, and participants can knit any project from Jen Geigley's Weekend for a chance to win a mystery prize (knowing Jen, it'll be totally awesome)! To me, this book is absolutely perfect for handspun yarn, and I've already picked out a few skeins from my stash to use this month. If you missed my review of this great new book, click here to get caught up . Then check out all of the KAL details here on Jen's website !   Toy-along This one's happening here in the Victorian Studio Podcast group on Ravelry , and it's another freeform KAL allowing participants to knit or crochet any toy project they like for a chance to win some great prizes! I have be...

Congratulations to Jenny , you've won the WEEKEND and Knitter's Pride needle set giveaway ! To claim your prize, you can email me at stefaniegr(at)stitchcraftmarketing(dot)com! Thanks to everyone who entered this contest - don't forget to follow my blog on Bloglovin so you don't miss any more chances to win awesome prizes! This week's FO is a fun little frog hat which I knit in a new yarn from Knit Picks, Mighty Stitch . I was a little surprised with how much I liked this yarn - it's a blend of 80% acrylic and 20% wool. I sometimes find acrylic yarns really hard to deal with, especially when it comes time to weave in those pesky ends - I feel like they're always popping out! That wasn't an issue here, and I am also quite happy with the overall stitch definition. I'd definitely buy this yarn again, especially for gift projects since it's superwash, not to mention it's a really great value (208 yards for $3.49). I used the Frog Hat patt...