handmade by stefanie

While I'm really enjoying all of these instant-gratification projects, I think it's time to start another sweater. I've had the yarn to knit the  Liathite Hoody  in my stash for exactly a year now, and I think it's the perfect antidote to my current sock yarn projects on the needle, since it's knit with Berroco Vintage Chunky. I find that varying my yarn weight/needle size from project to project really helps stave off hand or wrist pain. Since I don't have any FOs to share this week, I thought I would share the two swatches I finished recently for this project: Like most people, swatching isn't my favorite thing, but I know it's a necessary evil if I want my sweater to fit. Of course, even swatching isn't always foolproof - I have been spot on for gauge for sweater projects, yet still had a too-big-or-too-small finished sweater. Think about it: you're basing everything off a small swatch of fabric, which kind of makes sense, but in the grand ...

Another WIP Wednesday, and here I am with only fingering weight yarn projects on the needles. So much for mixing things up in terms of yarn weight and needle size! The good news is that I am closing in on the Xanadu Snowflake Cowl - I passed the halfway point over the weekend! It pretty much looks the same as last week (only a little longer), so I will spare you the same photo, but you can see it on my Ravelry page on on my earlier post this week where I shared some of the tips that have sped up this knitting process for me, click here if you missed it). Of course, I did finally cave and cast on for a pair of socks with the Tortoiseshell yarn I was eyeing last week. I decided to give two-at-a-time magic loop socks another go, and I am using the stitch pattern from Knowledge of What Was Sensible , which is one of the sock patterns from Hunter Hammersen's Fine Things for Plain Occasions . I'm making a few modifications along the way, which includes an afterthought heel so th...

Last month, I cast on for a really beautiful stranded colorwork project (the Xanadu Snowflake Cowl by Julie Crawford ) using a buttery sock cashmere yarn from Bijou Basin Ranch. Having knit several colorwork projects before, I really thought this would be a piece of cake, but I ended up struggling with it quite a bit at first, and progress was frustratingly slow until just recently. I think my main issue was that I had taken a fairly long break from stranded colorwork, and I was sorely out of practice. I couldn't quite get into the rhythm of the project, and I also wasn't able to spot mistakes until I had knit several stitches (and sometimes even rows  ahead), which made for a lot of frogging and maybe even some cursing here and there. But I stuck with it, and the more I kept working at it, the easier it got. And once I started getting the hang of the chart and working with the two yarns, things moved along just a little bit quicker. I also have three little "tricks...

For me, 2016 will most likely be the Year of the Hat. There are so many great patterns in my knitting library, and I am determined to shop from my stash and knit as many as possible this year since they are fun, useful and - most importantly - instant gratification. Over the weekend, I started a chunky weight hat when I needed a break from all of the teeny tiny yarn and needles from my current WIPs. The Library of Congress Hat from Tanis Gray's Capitol Knits was a super quick knit on size 9 needles: I also finished Tyler's Force Awakens hat , which he is pretty psyched about. Since I added in a fourth color and opted to cut yarn instead of carrying it up the inside, there were a lot of ends to weave it, but I think it was worth the effort. And as you can see, he is already enjoying it immensely! Also, for anyone who has an excess of hats looking for a good home, there is a collection happening right now for the 25,000 Tuques Project, which I discovered via the Knitmore G...

Welcome back to another installment of Knitting with Tiny Yarn! On today's episode, we have moderate progress to report.   The Snowflake Cowl continues to grow; in fact, I'm incredibly close to the halfway point - I kind of can't believe it myself, for a long time it felt like not progress was being made at all! My Alegria Hat has also gained an inch or two in the last week: And I am trying very, VERY hard to resist the siren call of socks, but this skein of yarn from Ancient Arts Yarns (which is dyed to match my tortie cat Tilly, from their Meow Collection ) keeps calling to me! My crafting time this week has been pretty limited, so I have yet to act on this urge - the closest I've come is to gather everything that might be used for said project to create this irresistible tableau: Will I cast on for a pair of socks tonight? Will I wait til the weekend? Will I wait til I get one of the above projects off the needles (snort)? I really don't know, anything...

The 3rd Annual Holla Knits KAL will run February 1-April 30, 2016, during which you can knit any Holla Knits pattern (or patterns!) to be eligible for tons of great prizes. Whether you like to knit accessories, or are looking to start your next sweater, there is something for everyone ( click here to read more on the Holla Knits blog ). I'll be hosting a project-specific KAL for the Spring-Tastic Socks here on Ravely & sharing everyone's progress on my blog, too. If you decide to knit along (and I hope you do!), be sure to use the #hkkal and #springtasticsocks hashtags on your social media posts! As an additional  bribe bonus, I'm offering up a yarny prize for anyone who purchases the Spring-Tastic Socks pattern between now and February 1 - the winner's choice of these 2 lovely skeins of hand-dyed sock yarn: The lucky winner will get their choice of these 2 yarns, Lorna's Laces Solemate in Skyway or Abstract Fiber Arts Super Sock in Iris. To be en...

I'm pretty excited to share my finished projects with the yarn I gifted my parents for Christmas (for any Kansas City Royals fans out there, check out the Nerd Girl yarns website for the Royals-inspired colors I used in these projects). My mom picked out a free cowl pattern by Jen Lucas, the Buckhorn Cowl . It ended up looking great in the variegated Be Royal colorway of 8-bit Sport. My dad chose a simple ribbed hat pattern for his yarn, Blue Okctober 8-bit Sport: Melissa LaBarre's Icehouse Hat . I am really looking forward to mailing these to my parents so they can enjoy wearing them for the rest of the winter!

I have to say, I'm really enjoying the instant-gratification projects I've been working on lately. It's a nice balance to my currently longterm project that's on the needles, the Snowflake Cowl . I'm now about halfway through the fourth chart repeat and this is starting to look....like a cowl! I also joined the dark side (or maybe it's the light side??) and cast on for a Force Awakens hat for Tyler. He's pretty psyched for me to finish this one, I think. I ended up starting another hat project so that I could have something simple on the needles that I could work on outside of the house - colorwork and mass transit generally don't mix. So I cast on for a super simple hat with this pretty new skein of Manos Alegria that hopped into my shopping cart when I was buying some Cascade Eco+ on closeout with my Webs gift card. And that crocheted snowman wall hanging continues to elude me! I have a few more pieces this week, but I need to get him finis...

It's been a really long time since I've released a totally new design: we're talking spring of last year , by my watch. It's not that I don't have ideas percolating, or that I haven't been working anything in secret - it's just that, for the better part of last year, I have been working on  wrestling with this cowl design - charting patterns, knitting, ripping out for several cycles before I finally found the golden combination. It seems like my go-to projects these days are "easy" stockinette/garter with just a few bells and whistles to add interest while I knit - but not too many bells and whistles, or I simply can't knit on them at the end of a long day of work when I am totally brain dead. Does anyone else have this problem?! I wanted this cowl to be something that was fun to knit and had the potential to be "weekday knitting" (or "conversation knitting" if you prefer). So, each time I found I couldn't master ...

This week, I kind of have a theme going - on Monday, I featured a new yarn from Ancient Arts Yarn called Big Squeeze ( click here if you missed it, there is a free hat pattern! ), and today, I have a project knit with another  new yarn from Ancient Arts called Reinvent ! This yarn is particularly intriguing because it is spun entirely from reclaimed luxury fibers, which you can't really tell when you hold it in your hand, though it is apparent that there is something a little different going on. There is a slight mohair halo, though the yarn itself is very smooth and well-plied - and it is STRONG. I was feeling too lazy to dig out my scissors and tried to break the yarn with my hands to no avail. It also aced the frog test quite beautifully, needless to say. I packed this yarn for my trip to Kansas City over the holidays, intending to knit a pattern from Hunter Hammersen's new book, Fine Things For Plain Occasions . I was trying to travel light, so I just made a cop...

I have lots of exciting new projects planned for January - I'm waiting on yarn to knit a Force Awakens hat for Tyler, though I have plenty to keep me busy til it arrives. Over the weekend, I finished my Dad's hat and started my Mom's cowl using the yarn I gifted her for Christmas from Nerd Girl Yarns and a free pattern by Jen Lucas . And yes, I watched the DVD while working on this project! I also started my final holiday decoration, a  crocheted snowman  for our front door, which will probably be finished just in time to pack everything away for next  year. So far, I just have the top hat completed: I'm still working on the Xanadu Snowflake Cowl , too - man, I didn't think this would be such a slow project for me, but that teeny tiny yarn is a killer! Thankfully, it's buttery soft and delightful to work with, and I am finally starting to get the hang of the chart so there is less ripping back when I miscount something (and I don't want to jinx ...

I've always wanted to revisit one of my super early designs, the  Snaky Cables Hat,  which is now available for free  here on Ravelry . I think it was the second thing I've ever designed (or maybe the third?) and I have learned so much between now and then. Even though it's a free pattern, it's still a reflection of my work, and I wanted to make sure it was the best it could be. So, when I recently got the chance to try out a skein of a new bulky weight yarn from Ancient Arts Yarn called Big Squeeze , I decided to re-knit this design to see where I needed to update the instructions. This turned out to be a great exercise, because I realized there was a bit of errata (the pattern neglects to specify which way the cables lean), and it could also benefit from the addition of charts to accompany the written instructions. As a result, I've added a supplement PDF which is available as a  free download here on Ravelry  - it includes both the errata and the charts fo...

Hope everyone had a safe & happy New Year's Eve last night! I can't believe this is my first blog post of 2016. This year will have me stepping outside of my comfort zone a bit, which is both exciting and anxiety-producing. What I'm most nervous about is some of the travel I'll be doing for work during the first six months of the year - besides the Ply retreat in Kansas City and the Summer TNNA Trade Show in DC, I will also be attending my first-ever H+H trade show in Cologne, Germany. I'm excited but also apprehensive, since it's been a long time since I've traveled internationally. However, not much should change here on the blog (I hope) - I plan to continue to share whatever I'm working on, reviews, new patterns, etc. in 2016. One of the things I'm really hoping to do is to get back into knitting socks this year, so I think it's pretty appropriate that my first FO post of 2016 is for a pair of socks - Tyler's Christmas socks , no le...