handmade by stefanie

So many WIPs! I think this is the most projects I've had on the needles in quite some time; I usually try to keep to about 3 or 4 since any more than that kinda stress me out - but I find myself with 8 active WIPs on my needles & hook right now. Eep! I've made the most progress on these Ancient Arts socks since my last WIP Wednesday post - last weekend, I knit the Fish Lips Kiss heel on sock #2 and am doing a mad dash to the finish line: While traveling earlier this month, this Seraphim striped wrap became my go-to project for mindless, soothing knitting: I've also passed the halfway point on my Molten Metal KAL project: And I inherited a stockinette scarf project from my grandmother, which I feel compelled to finish in a somewhat timely fashion so that someone in my family can enjoy it this winter. There are a few projects who haven't gotten much action lately, but I am hoping to focus more on them this coming weekend before I am...

Spinzilla is just one week away - gulp! Between a very busy month for work and the unexpected week-long trip to KC earlier this month, I find that I am feeling quite unprepared for a week of spinning. This past weekend, I did at least find some time to dig through my fiber stash and make some plans. I've heard that Spinzilla is a great time to spin a sweater's worth of yarn, something I have never attempted, but I have been working off and on (mostly off) to spin through a large quantity of Louet Light Gray Swalesdale fiber with that purpose in mind. I've got about 2 pounds to go, and have been saving it for Spinzilla. While I love natural colored fiber, I sometimes get bored spinning with it, so I raided my stash to see what else I could spin to keep things interesting. I pulled out a half pound of Louet Dyed Merino in Brick, A braid of Nerd Girl Yarns Panda Blend Fiber in Parrotfish, and two BFL braids from Cloudlover in the Ginkgo colorway. For me,  getting t...

These two baby sweaters have been finished since the middle of August, but the buttons I ordered never showed up! After about a month of anxiously checking the mail box each day, I finally called the company I ordered from to ask why they still hadn't shown up. Apparently, they were on a truck that had yet to be unpacked for that entire 4 weeks. Ummm....ok. I ended up canceling the order and seized the opportunity to buy some buttons while I was in Kansas City last week and had access to a car. Honestly, I think I'm better off - these buttons are way cuter than the ones I picked up which are probably  still  on that truck. I used two skeins of Rowan Pure Wool to make a heavily modified version of the Easy Baby Cardigan from More Last Minute Knitted Gifts. Not sure I'd knit this pattern with these mods again, since it made it way more fussy, but the results are cute and I can't wait to finally gift these!

I’m not really a ‘summer’ person, but I finally found a reason to get excited about 90 degree weather: solar dyeing!  I’ve always wanted to try this technique, but usually don’t think about it till summer is long gone. Lucky for me, a box of undyed yarns from  Kraemer Yarns showed up on my doorstep not too long ago, prompting me to make some plans for dyeing experiments which I can share on this blog. Obviously, solar dyeing was my top priority, since I assume that there will be very few 90-degree days this fall (here’s hoping!).  It’s funny how, once you are actually looking forward to the next really hot day, they don’t show up! It took a few weeks of anxiously watching the weather forecasts, but there was finally a good day in August wherein I could give this a try. The upside of having to wait a few weeks? I could amass all of the supplies I needed! Here’s what I used to get the job done:  2-3 skeins of undyed yarn (I used 2 skeins of Jane ,...

Today didn't start as expected. I woke up in Kansas City, after spending 7 hours on the Amtrak train from Chicago to KC yesterday. I was hoping to see my grandmother one last time, but very early this morning (around 3am), I'm told she passed peacefully while all of us were sleeping. I thought about postponing this entry until next week, but my grandmother actually read my blog regularly (with the help of my mom) and she would have loved to see this post, especially all of the sheep photos. So after debating all day, I am finally posting what I wrote on the train ride down here.  One of my favorite fall traditions is the annual trip to Jefferson, WI with my upstairs neighbor, Lauren, to attend the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival. My husband had the weekend off and decided to join us this year, and all three of us hit the road on Saturday morning.  There were a lot of the usual suspects at the show, along with some new faces, too. Every year, I look at the Jennie t...

Today I have just one lonely hat to share - I recently finished the Finial Hat by Brenda Patipa, which is from the Winter 2015 issue of Knitscene. I used a new yarn that just came out earlier this year, Woolstok from Blue Sky Fibers. Even though this hat pattern looks complex, it was actually pretty easy to knit - the key was using stitch markers between pattern repeats. I'm looking forward to fall so I can start wearing all of the things I've been knitting this summer!

My WIPS have multiplied! I went a little crazy and started several new projects since last week. First, I needed an easier on-the-go-project, so I grabbed some yarn from my stash and started a simple bias striped scarf ...with lace weight yarn?! Clearly, it was a moment of insanity, but I really love the yarn - - Seraphim from Bijou Basin Ranch, a really soft angora with a hint of viscose. Speaking of Bijou Basin Ranch, I have a new cowl pattern out this week which uses another one of their lovely yarns, a yak/bamboo blend called Lhasa Wilderness. Here's my KAL project which I started on Monday; there is plenty of time to join our KAL, and you can find more details here if you are so inclined.  The sock project I shared last week did indeed end up getting frogged so that I could knit a different type of heel. After much thought, I decided to cross something off of my knitting bucket list by trying out the Fish Lips Kiss heel, and I'm so glad I did! I think t...

I'm so excited that fall is just around the corner - it's my favorite season, so I wanted to put out a new pattern to celebrate the arrival of September. Rather than my usual Ravelry release, however, I have partnered up with the folks at Bijou Basin Ranch to offer not just the pattern PDF for sale, but a discounted project kit so that you can get a skein of the luxurious Lhasa Wilderness yarn AND the pattern, too!   The Pattern Meet the  Molten Metal Cowl , which you can knit with just 1 skein of Lhasa Wilderness, shown here in the Mango Salsa colorway from Bijou Basin Ranch's indie dyer series. It uses two different stitch patterns (which are both written and charted) to create a fun-to-knit cowl you can knit using both variegated and semi-solid hand-dyed colorways. I love working with this soft, lustrous yarn, especially since I know that the finished project will look great for years to come - the strength of the bamboo is the perfect complement to the y...

I finally finished a pair of socks ! The yarn is a custom blend of 100% BFL from Succulent Fibers that I got in a sock yarn club earlier this year - I call the color light saber green. The pattern is something I made up and should probably turn into a pattern at some point, but for now, I'm just going to enjoy having an actual pair of socks fresh off the needles.