handmade by stefanie

The handspinning obsession continues! I was recently sent 4oz of BFL spinning fiber from Mountain Colors to try out, and as soon as it arrived I couldn't wait to give it a spin - I don't think it lasted more than a few days in the house before I started to play with it. This is the Sun River colorway, which is described on the website as "bright violet and red-orange blended with deep burgundy and wine." Definitely an apt description! The 100% Blue Faced Leicester top is available in 28 hand-dyed colorways total ( click here to see all of the Mountain Colors yarn and fiber offerings; about midway down the page, you can see info about their spinning fiber and available colorway). At first touch, I would have classified this BFL to be in the middle range of general BFL softness; after spinning it, however, I would definitely move the needle towards the softer end of the spectrum, however. It DEFINITELY became softer as I spun with it! I decided to predraft my fi...

I'm still continuing with my all-grey, all-the-time theme for WIPs this week. Actually, that sock I posted about last week looks exactly the same, as it's sat in my bag untouched in favor of my other projects for the time being. I took my Tunisian scarf to knit with some friends at the coffee shop, where it was suggested that I could turn it into a nice buttony cowl instead. I've never had much attention span for scarves, so this is a pretty good solution to the issue of boredom I'm experiencing now that I feel reasonably proficient with the techniques, but I still haven't made a final call on scarf vs. cowl. The big news is that I cast on for the Lake Michigan Tee after finishing and blocking the swatch last week! I'm not very far along, but I'm excited to see how this shapes up, especially once I start adding the other yarns for my pseudo-ombre effect. I've been wanting to start a new project using non-grey yarn, but have been hemming and h...

Happy FO Friday! It's been a week since I finished Tyler's new gloves, but I wanted to save them for today's post. They were quick to knit - I made them in less than a week! - and I used some lovely hand-dyed BFL yarn I bought at the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival last fall. It was a huge skein of yarn, so I have plenty left over for more projects. I used the 5 in 1 Adventure pattern from Marly Bird's Mittens and Gloves Galore class on Craftsy ( click here to read my full class review from earlier this week; there is a special affiliate link for 50% off your class registration!). Conductive Thread from Knit Picks You can't see them, but there are two small silver dots on the index fingers of both gloves; late last year, I purchased some conductive thread from Knit Picks so that Tyler can operate his smartphone and iPod without having to take off his gloves! I know that Knit Picks is getting a beating for their mishandling of a security breach on...

Um, where  did July go?! The Tour de Fleece ended this past Sunday, and I can't even claim to have been an active participant, except for the fact that I did spin nearly every day...if even for just five minutes. I wish I'd had more time to see what others were doing and be a little more involved, but it's just been a crazy summer. I've checked in here and there, but mostly I've just been lone wolf-ing it. To recap, here are my modest accomplishments from this year's Tour de Fleece: Louet Camel/Silk top:  finished spinning up the singles and plied them together (photo  here ) Rhinofluff Handpainted BFL top in Barn Owl: Spun into a single to be plied with something else (photo here ) Spunky Eclectic Dark BFL top: Single is in-progress on my wheel still  (see below!); will most likely be plied with the Barn Owl BFL The real test will be if I continue my daily spinning and actually work through the giant fiber bin I've been accruing for quite some t...