handmade by stefanie

A few weeks ago, I shared my my new hat pattern, A Most Addictive Slipped Stitch Hat , here on this blog. It's gotten such a great reception (yay!) that I've teamed up with the folks at Bijou Basin Branch to bring you a fun KAL for this project kit! If you were thinking about making this hat but haven't gotten the kit just yet, now is the perfect time, because there is a pretty sweet grand prize drawing for everyone who posts a photo of their finished hat in this Ravelry thread ! You can snag your discounted project kit here ; I'll also be knitting along because I didn't get to keep the samples pictured in the photos. Here are the colors I'll be making mine in, Scarlet and Natural Brown: I can't wait to see what everyone else chooses for their project! Besides joining the conversation here on Ravelry , you can also share your photos on Instagram using #bijoubasinranch in your post.

I've been working on this project since the middle of November, and it feels good to finally have it off the needles: presenting my finished Purlbreak shawl! Obviously, I'm thrilled to have this off the needles. I knit this project with 3 skeins of yarn that I was sent for review: Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering , a blend of 90% superfine/superwash merino and 10% nylon which is milled in Italy and hand-dyed in Canada (I love knowing where my yarn comes from!). This is a super-squishy yarn that feels soft to the touch, but has enough twist to it that it's not splitty, and I doubt it will pill much with time. It withstood ripping back to fix mistakes and dropped stitches, as well as plenty of abuse from being stuffed in my bag for knitting at the tap room. Hello, lovelies! It was a total delight to work with, and choosing 3 coordinating colors was super-easy because of how they are grouped as part of the Magic Dye Pot Series: each group has a letter (A thro...

Way back at the start of the year, I announced a few changes to the blog, notably that I'll only be posting once per week on Wednesdays. I also shared a link to a survey so that I could work on writing posts that are of more interest to my readers, and I have finally had a chance to sift through the results! First, thank you to the 36 kind people who took the time to respond to my survey. I got a lot of great answers, and hope to address as many of your questions and suggestions as I can in the year to come (Also, I sent a little thank-you gift to everyone who participated, so be sure to check your inbox today!). As far as blog post topics go, it looks like I'll be mixing in more tutorials and free patterns with my finished project posts, as they were the top 3 most voted-for topics: I'm not statistician, but it seems like there was a fairly even distribution of answers, so I'll definitely be mixing in other themes and topics whenever I'm able. I did g...

It's been hard keeping this one under wraps, but I'm pleased to announce that my newest hat pattern is now available at Bijoubasinranch.com. Say hello to  A Most Addictive Slipped Stitch Hat !  Project kits for this pattern are available here ; choose your favorite colors of Himalayan Trail yarn to create a hat that is uniquely you! A simple slipped-stitch pattern creates a fun visual element to this slouchy hat that's interesting to knit. The stitch pattern is easy to memorize, making it great for knit nights or on-the-go knitting. The pattern includes instructions for two variations of ribbing to start off your pattern - you can either knit the Corrugated Rib stitch as shown in the sample, or keep things simple with a stretchy K2, P2 rib. I also collaborated with the folks at Bijou Basin Ranch to share even more ideas for customizing your hat here on their blog . If you can knit stripes, you can make this hat! Click here to get your project kit, a...