handmade by stefanie

The chevron socks of DOOM are finally getting closer to being done, thanks to an 18-hour roadtrip earlier this month. Basically, I forced myself to work on this project as much as I could while en route to Kansas City, where we visited family and celebrated our 9-year (!) wedding anniversary. We ended up bringing home some beertastic souvenirs, of course! Over the weekend, I finally grafted the second sock together and began the arduous task of knitting the cuffs and toes. I apologize for the all caps, but.....I AM NOW TWO TOES AWAY FROM HAVING THIS PROJECT OFF THE NEEDLES!  Needless to say, I am really looking forward to this project being done. I know I will love the socks once they're done - the yarn is incredible and they will be super-duper warm, too. However, knitting socks sideways is definitely not for me. I can't stress this enough. I have been working on them since the beginning of May, so it will be a huge relief to go into August with a clean slate.  ...

Over the holiday weekend, I finished my handspun kerchief-turned shawl ! I still have a few yards left over after binding off, as I wasn't up for playing yarn chicken. The end result is an extremely soft, squishy triangle scarf that will undoubtedly keep me warm all winter long. I used the recipe from Joelle Hoverson's Last-Minute Knitted Gifts , which is a great source of knitting inspiration, especially when it comes to finding the perfect pattern for handspun yarn. I absolutely love all of the colors and the texture: Garter is fast becoming one of my favorite stitches! This week, I also finished my Stegosaurus for the FreshStitches/Spud & Chloë CAL : I have enough yarn left over to make an inverse version of the dino, too, so that will be a fun project to revisit later this month! Incidentally, it's not too late to join in on this CAL - there are prizes you can win just for finishing before the end of the month! Also, on Wednesday night I fi...

I had a very productive holiday weekend! Not only did I start my crocheted Spikey the Stegosaurus for the Spud & Chloë/FreshStitches CAL .... ...I also made some progress on the chevron yak socks which have admittedly taken the backburner these last couple of weeks - I'm just about ready to start the first round of gusset shaping! I indulged a bit of startitis and started a Little Luchador from 50 Yards of Fun - it's a gift for Tyler's boss, who helped me secure a day off in secret for my birthday gift to Tyler (I bought him tickets to the Beer Camp tour that'll be visiting Chicago later this month!). Finally, I have been spinning up a storm for #TeamSasquatch for the Tour de Fleece! Days 1-3 were spent spinning two BFL singles: on the left is some green, gold and grey BFL from Yarnhollow and on the right is some green and brown BFL from Anzula. I'd been intending to ply them together from the start, but then I started to second-guess...

This month I'm participating in two super-fun events! The first is the Tour de Fleece , which starts today. This year, I actually joined a team ( Team Sasquatch ) instead of being a rogue spinner as I've done in years past. I'm hoping I can keep up with the schedule, even though I'll be traveling a bit in the middle of it (thankfully, I have a foldable spinning wheel). I'm been totally smitten with spinning lately, and I couldn't resist starting just one more project  before the Tour de Fleece; earlier this week, I spun two singles from a couple of the batts I made last weekend. Here are the resulting skeins: Today, I am starting my first spinning project for the tour, 4 oz. braid of Superwash BFL I bought last month during Yarnhollow 's 40% off June sale:  I hope you'll join me back here on Monday, because I have written a special post talking about one of my spinning wheels at the request of a reader!  My other fun event for July is...

I finished my snowman crochet-along project for the FreshStitches choose your own adventure CAL - isn't he adorable? I plan on making at least one more this holiday season once I finish my more pressing gift projects! The yarn I used is Drops NEPAL , which is a nice-quality, affordable worsted weight that comes in a wide range of colors (I ordered mine from the NordicMart ). It's really easy to crochet with, and I've been liking it for amigurumi projects especially. In other news, I snapped up a FreshStitches project bag just before the holiday when they were on sale for only $6! Isn't the fabric adorable? I know that I have quite the collection of project bags, but it was time to retire a few from the rotation. While I was justifying things to myself, I remembered I had a paypal balance, and before I knew it I'd bought myself this cute new bag.  Speaking of things I don't actually need...my SweetGeorgia sock yarn arrived earlier this week! I ha...

It's that time of year when I can't share many of my actual WIPs for fear of the recipient taking note and spoiling the surprise. Luckily, I can't seem to resist starting projects for myself, so hopefully that will keep things marginally interesting between now and Christmas. First, I've made some noticeable progress on my Marin Shawl : I'm also participating in the FreshStitches Snowman CAL that started last week. I've already finished five pieces: the head and body, carrot nose, scarf and and hat! I am using various colors of Drops Nepal, which I ordered from the Nordic Mart . It's become my favorite amigurumi yarn because the colors are lovely, it's easy to work with, and the price is nice, too! Their shipping is also super-fast; I ordered the yarn last Wednesday and had it in my hot little hands a mere two days later. Now that, I really  like! Finally, happy Thanksgiving to those of you who will be celebrating tomorrow! I plan to cook a lo...

Over the weekend, I cast on for the  Marin Shawl  by Ysolda Teague, which is the only big project left on my gift knitting list. I'm using some lovely sock yarn from  Hazel Knits  and my Karbonz interchangeables. So far, it's knitting up fairly quickly, considering it's a pay-attention/stay-at-home project due to the amount of charts involved. Here is a progress shot of my Mystery KAL cowl project - today the third and final clue is released, so I'll be able to share this again on Friday as a FO, with any luck! What's conspicuously missing is my crocheted socks - or perhaps they weren't conspicuously missing til I pointed it out?! At any rate, after much debate over the weekend, I decided to frog them. It wasn't an issue with the pattern - it was easy to follow and I gained a lot of new skills in the process! I just wasn't loving the yarn/pattern combination, and coupled with the issue of fitting my absurdly small feet, I decided this was the b...

Though I finished my Mystery CAL project late, I could have shared this for  FO Friday a few weeks ago. Apparently, I was so over-the-moon about finally finishing my Destash Dolman and Sincere Sheep sweaters, I forgot to include my adorable new marsupial friend! Oops! My kangaroo ended up being rather large because I am a really loose crocheter and (for reasons still unknown to me) I didn't go down a few crochet hook sizes as I usually do for amigurumi projects. So, it's a little loosey-goosey and there are definitely places where you can see the stuffing if you're looking for it. I used 4 skeins of Lopi yarn I snapped up via Craftsy Deals for a song; it was a little scratchy at first but I gave the Roos a bath and now they are much more snuggly! Pattern: Amber the Kangaroo by Stacey Trock Yarn:  Lett-Lopi Icelandic Yarn Thanks for stopping by this week - for more FO Friday inspiration, visit the  Tami's Amis blog !  Have a crafty weekend!

I'm getting serious about amigurumi this year! In January, I decided to set up an amigurumi station in my living room so that everything I need - safety eyes, crochet hooks, and YARN of course! - is all in one place (not pictured: poly-fill stuffing, but it's been added to the general vicinity since this photo was taken). Each drawer is filled with worsted-weight yarn that has been earmarked for amigurumi: the top drawer contains small bits and bobs of leftover yarn; the middle drawer contains half-used skeins that would be suitable for accent colors; and the bottom drawer is stuffed with full skeins of yarn just waiting to become something cute. My husband bought me Stacey Trock's Crocheted Softies book for my birthday last year (which incidentally was the anniversary of its publication!), and since then it has been my #1 source for cute amigurumi patterns. Several holiday gifts were made from this book, in fact! Recently, I purchased Amigurumi On The Go via Cra...

Hooray, it's WIP Wednesday! After a productive weekend of crafting (and instagramming what I've been crafting), I'm excited to share everything I've been working on. As of last night, I began the toe shaping on my second pair of Lateral Socks  by Cookie A, which means that these will be off the needles and onto my sock blockers before the weekend kicks off! I'm also nearly done with all of the monkey bits for the first of many Jerry the Musical Monkey  toys! I'll be allocating some time this weekend to sew in ends and assemble Mr. Monkey before I cast on for a buddy. Here are the monkey feet before I finished them on Monday! I also started and completed my first-ever CAL in a matter of days! Here are my progress shots as I worked on Jack the Tiny Pumpkin by Stacey Trock; I'll be sharing my finished pumpkin this Friday. I might even make a few more this month - it was such a fast and easy pattern to crochet! Finally, I cast on for a baby blanket wit...

Earlier this year, I signed up for Vicki Howell's Crochet Lab class on Craftsy.com , determined to re-learn how to crochet. This was the first class I took on the Craftsy platform, and as you can tell by how often I reference and support Craftsy on this blog, I was impressed! I would (and have) definitely recommend this class for anyone who wants to learn how to crochet. Vicki is enthusiastic and good at explaining things in a way that is easy to grasp, encouraging folks to find the way that's easiest for them to do rather than insisting that what she is demonstrating is the only correct way to crochet. This is something I find very refreshing about Craftsy courses in general - the instructors are very good about either demonstrating a few ways to accomplish the same thing, or, at the very least, encouraging their students to experiment and do what comes naturally to them. The instructions were clear and easy to follow; for each technique, there is a close-up of Vic...

There is a CAL starting today in the Lorna's Laceaholics Ravelry group to kick off Kristin Omdahl's brand new design in Honor, Soldier Love .  I'm not entirely certain I have the crochet chops to  complete  this CAL, but thought it would be fun to try anyway! I'll be using Shepherd Sock...though I wish  I was using Honor, because it's a really soft and amazing Alpaca/Silk blend (I have a little in my stash, but not enough to use for this CAL).  I just couldn't get my act together to obtain the two skeins needed - all this pre-TNNA prep has been insane - and then I found some custom sock colors in my stash from back when I dyed yarn at Lorna's Laces.  The only problem is, which one to choose? From L-R: Inky, Grass Green & Firefly Stripe, and The Curse of Millhaven: The other burning question on my mind is, "Will I make it past the swatching stage?!"  There will be tutorial videos and help along the way, so hopefully there is enough hand...