handmade by stefanie

It seems like forever since I've finished a pair of socks, especially since I've been working on this particular pair since the end of January. I purchased this dyed-to-order color inspired by Monet's Waterlilies on the Otter sock base from The Fawn and the Fox on etsy . I knew I was going to knit myself a pair of plain vanilla socks with it (pattern is from my brain), with the intention of adding an afterthought heel until I discovered that the heel-less socks fit me quite well. It took me a long time to decide what to do (put in the afterthought heels or wear them as tube socks?), but someone in my knitting group suggested that I do a little test drive to see if the heel-less sock was comfortable, or if it would move around in my shoes as I walked as tube socks tend to do. Last week, I finally remembered to do this little experiment, and I wore one of the socks while running errands. It passed the test, so I decided to take out the placeholder yarn and g...

I've finished several long-term projects lately, so I allowed myself to cast on a new project from this book I got for Christmas: I chose the Simple Sideways Mitt s using several of the yarns leftover from my very-recently-completed Fade (it's still in the blocking process, but look for finished Fade photos sometime next week!). I have no idea why I'm trying to cram it on these DPNs....apparently I just like the challenge?! Rather than seaming a cast on and bound off edge, I opted for a crocheted provisional cast on so that I can graft each end together when I'm finished knitting. This is my favorite provisional cast on because you just make a single crochet chain that's a little longer than the amount of stitches you need, and then you pick up and knit into the bumps underneath the crochet chain like. I made a (hopefully helpful) mini-tutorial for anyone who wants to give it a try: My current destash woven scarf is now past the halfway point, s...

I finished my third woven project! Carl at Bijou Basin Ranch asked me to weave a sample to be displayed in their booth at the Intermountain Weaving Conference in July, and I couldn't resist the change to try weaving with this luxurious yarn! Since I'm still a total novice, we agreed upon a very simple scarf using two skeins of Lhasa Wilderness in one of my favorite new colorways, Joseph. I'm still really nervous to have my weaving work on display for Real Weavers to look at (gulp!), but at least I won't be there to hear them remark on my still-figuring-it-out selvedges. This is what I tell myself, anyway! I loved weaving with this yarn - it's a yak/bamboo blend that is a bit slippery, so it did take some getting used to. In my sample, you can totally see where I started to get the hang of it: Thankfully, my finished scarf looks a lot better than the above swatch. If you want to try weaving this scarf project, I've shared my calcs and supply ...

Over the last few weeks, my crafting time was focused mainly on a few deadline projects that I couldn't share publicly. Now that they are done, I can get back to my regular WIPs, a few of which seem close to the finish line! The waterlilies socks are getting closer to the finish line - last night I started the toe shaping on the second sock! But the big news is that I'm on the FINAL color of Find Your Fade ; how did that happen?! I picked up the crocheted handspun blanket last weekend and discovered that it was just a few rows away from being done - so now the crocheting is complete, but I do have ALL of these glorious ends to weave in: Most of the yarn is big and fluffy, so I was excited to give these darning needles from Knitter's Pride a try - they've made the process so much easier since I don't have to struggle to thread each yarn end through a narrow needle eye! I also warped my loom for another destash scarf project, though I was i...

I know I haven't been blogging as much as I used to, but I don't want to get out of the habit since it's something I've always enjoyed doing. I've been working on a lot of long-term projects (some of which are secret) and haven't had an FO in quite some time, so that made it easy to skip Friday posts...and then I didn't want to keep posting the same projects with very little noticeable progress each Wednesday - basically, it was a slippery slope. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to start sharing what's new/interesting/noteworthy, especially when I don't have a finished project to share. For example, here's what's been tickling my fancy lately: Enamel Pins Has anyone else noticed the enamel pin craze ? I've been following this trend for a while (mostly on Instgram) but only recently hopped on the bandwagon. I was super excited when one of my clients, Bijou Basin Ranch, came out with a cute Yak Knitting enamel pin earlier this month ...

Last Friday afternoon, I took a few hours to check out the International Quilt Festival at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL. It had been a very long and somewhat stressful week at work, and to be honest, I didn't feel like I could spare those few hours...but I was SO glad I went anyway. It ended up being a much needed break from spending too much time at the computer, and I came home feeling refreshed and ready to return to work (which can be hard after you've left the house to do something fun). I ended up crossing off everything on my to-do list, even some of the things that had been eluding me all week. The show was smaller than I was expecting, but it was probably for the best because each booth was stuffed with colorful fabrics, notions, sewing machines, and gadjets. I thought that 2pm on Friday would be slow, and it probably was,  relatively speaking. Considering that there was quite a crowd and walking the floor was an exercise in patience at t...

Last weekend was one of my favorite yarny events of the season, YarnCon! I love this show because it focuses solely on independent makers, and this year's was the biggest and best yet. Vendor booths spilled out into the hallway and up into the balcony of the venue, and I think that this was the most varied and interesting collection of vendors yet. There were a lot more hand dyers this year, and all of them really brought their A games: unique yarns, gorgeous colorways, and LOTS to choose from. It was great to see so many returning vendors (Why Knot, Brew City Yarns, & Yarn Geek come to mind), but I would say that more than half were new to me, which made exploring the show floor really exciting. It really seemed like there was something for everyone, with each vendor bringing something unique to the mix. I did see a lot of the speckled yarns and gradients which are still really popular, and there were even more mini skeins for sale than I think I've ever seen at the ...