handmade by stefanie

Once I knew for sure that I was going to Berlin this March, I decided I should finally finish the Berlin Hat pattern, which is the companion to the Berlin Cowl , so that I could do a photo shoot for both in Berlin . The Berlin Cowl pattern now has a friend - click here to get both patterns for just $9! Tyler and I only spent two days in Berlin before heading to Cologne for H+H, so we barely scratched the surface of the city - but what we saw, we loved, and we both agreed that we'd jump at the chance to go back (if you are just wanting to see photos of the  Berlin Hat , I recommend scrolling down - because first I am going to make all of you look at some trip photos). Yup, that sign says "Wienerstrasse" - you're welcome. We stayed in a neighborhood called Kreuzberg, which was covered in graffiti (which I loved). When we'd walk around, I kept stopping to take photos of the doors which were just covered in the stuff. But it was really every...

It's been a really long time since I've released a totally new design: we're talking spring of last year , by my watch. It's not that I don't have ideas percolating, or that I haven't been working anything in secret - it's just that, for the better part of last year, I have been working on  wrestling with this cowl design - charting patterns, knitting, ripping out for several cycles before I finally found the golden combination. It seems like my go-to projects these days are "easy" stockinette/garter with just a few bells and whistles to add interest while I knit - but not too many bells and whistles, or I simply can't knit on them at the end of a long day of work when I am totally brain dead. Does anyone else have this problem?! I wanted this cowl to be something that was fun to knit and had the potential to be "weekday knitting" (or "conversation knitting" if you prefer). So, each time I found I couldn't master ...

I'm way too excited about this week's FOs! The first is the Pokemon Card Deck Bag I made for my nephew's birthday, which was earlier this week! I ended up making up my own design, though it was heavily inspired by this free pattern on Ravelry . However, I wanted to construct mine a bit differently and crochet it in the round, so that necessitated a lot of changes; factor in my crazy-loose style of crochet, and I ended up starting from ground zero, more or less. The second FO for this week might be a bit of a spoiler, though I hope it's not - I just can't wait another week to blog about it! I finished my FreshStitches Mystery CAL project, and it turned out to be a super-cute puppy! Also, if you're just now tuning in, I have a new sport-weight sock design that came out this week! Air Quotes are the second-to-last design from my Conversation Socks ebook, and you can read more about them here ! Thanks for joining me this week. Have a crafty wee...

I'm pleased to start the week off with a brand-new sock pattern, the Air Quotes Socks ! They are the second-to-last design from Conversation Socks , and I am beyond thrilled to have this ebook so close to completion. In fact, my goal is release the final pattern two weeks from now, and you know what that means - the ebook price will increase once more! The  cable panels on the front of the Air Quotes Socks remind me of the old-timey quotation marks (in journalism class, we called them 66 and 99); the cuff is ribbed on the back to ensure excellent fit. The stitches are very easy to read so that you can fly through the pattern without needing to constantly consult the chart, and they are the perfect way to show off the beautiful hand-dyed colors from Baah Yarn . Bonus: the superwash merino of Sonoma is soft and easy-care! If you're just joining me, here's the deal: all 5 designs are written for sport weight yarn on US #3 needles; each pattern was created with the ...

A while back, I was working on a Berlin Cowl in Baah Shasta worsted for myself, and then it mysteriously disappeared from mention on this blog. What happened, you ask? Deadline knitting relegated it to the hibernation pile. After the dust of TNNA settled, I was able to pick it back up and finish knitting it at last. Please pardon the goofy smile, I was a bit silly at yesterday's photo shoot. I'm very excited about this FO because it's one of my favorite designs that I've released recently; also, this cowl is for me to keep. Oh joy!  My other FO is something that I've actually been done with for quite some time - I just couldn't find the right buttons! On a whim, I decided to visit The Needle Shop in North Center on my way to the Windy City Knitting Guild meeting earlier this week, and there I found the perfect buttons....and then some! Adding to my button stash.... Here I am squinting into the sun and trying to smile whilst wearing my North...

I'm heading down to the TNNA Trade Show in Indianapolis today, so I have pre-scheduled this post to unveil my newest design: the Pedi Purls socks! My feet often  get cold while waiting for my nail polish to dry; a bright pair of toeless socks are a fun solution to the problem! I designed these socks in Baah Sonoma especially for the trade show; they will be on display in the Lavishea booth because they were inspired by a new Lavishea product making its TNNA debut, I'll try to get a shot from the booth to share for you next week. The concept behind these socks is something I'll be exploring more this summer (hint, hint): quick-to-knit sock projects which have interesting stitch patterns that are easy to memorize, allowing you to work on them while on-the-go.  The pattern is written to fit the average woman's foot and can be easily customized for size if you are familiar with sock-knitting. There are also instructions for adding a toe to your socks, b...

This week, I released a new pattern that is perfect for last-minute gift knitting emergencies: the Berlin Cowl can be knit up in a weekend using just one skein of worsted weight yarn. Named after one of my favorite Lou Reed songs, the Berlin Cowl is simple yet complex at the same time - you can definitely take this project to knit night! The statement cable is easy to work amidst a garter stitch background, a combination which will perfect show off any of the hand-dyed colors Baah Yarns' Shasta worsted. I chose this yarn not only for the gorgeous color options, but because it is easy-care, too! My husband and I decided to do our photo shoot at the Christkindlmarket , which is our favorite holiday tradition here in Chicago. It's modeled after open-air markets in Germany, and you can get traditional food, beer, and hot spiced wine to enjoy while browsing all kinds of traditional goods such as cuckoo clocks, glass ornaments, candies and more. Naturally, the day of the shoot ...

I finished my Emmanuelle Sweater a few weeks ago, and it's been in heavy rotation ever since. It's hard to believe that this is the first chance I've gotten to take proper photographs, but that's just how things have been lately. This is the second sweater pattern I've knit by the designer, Mercedes Tarasovitch-Clark , and I really like the way it fits. I'm not super-great at intarsia, so I do find myself wishing that my chevrons were a little neater; if I were doing it all over again, I think I would knit the front and back pieces and then add in the chevrons with duplicate stitch afterwards just because I hate intarsia so much. I realize that is a totally insane notion to even entertain, but that should only speak to my true feelings where intarsia is concerned. Maybe someday I'll make friends with this technique, but it's not likely to happen any time soon. At any rate, the instructions were easy to follow and I had no issues with my yarn subst...

I'm sure today's FO projects are no surprise to returning readers - nonetheless, I am beyond pleased to present my finished cardigan from the 30-Day Sweater Challenge! Rather than using the framework provided to design my own sweater (trust me, that's next on my list once I finish my holiday gift-making), I applied the concepts of the 30 Day Sweater ebook to a pattern I purchased on Ravelry, Bonne Marie Burns' Uma Cardigan . When I printed out my pattern, I assigned 30 Day Sweater outline . This proved to be an enormous help, because it broke everything into manageable tasks and also encouraged a little healthy competition not to fall behind. a day to each step along the way that corresponded with the Another thing I really liked was all of the moral support I got along the way from the Yarn Nation crew and my fellow challenge-takers: the live Sweater Knitting Show every weekday, the virtual knit night each Wednesday evening, and the social media channels (Rave...

Before the start of last weekend, I was more than a little nervous that I would be finished with the knitting of my 30 Day Sweater , but somehow - against all odds - I am! Last night I bound off for sleeve #2 and wove in the nightmare of ends that was created by alternating skeins. Honestly, it wasn't that bad; all told, it took less than 20 minutes. It was definitely worth it, since there are no weird transitions or pooling between the skeins. As seen on Instagram: Finish line hands! Those are only a few of the ends I had to weave in, BTW. I even had enough time to block it in some Lavender Eucalan ; it is now laying it flat to dry in my yarn room. I'm so psyched that I was able to knit a me-sized sweater in 30 days! I gotta admit, I was a bit dubious since I'm a rather slow sweater knitter, historically speaking. However, when you break it into small, manageable daily tasks, it's incredibly easy to reach this goal. I even fell a little behind near the end but s...

Happy Spinning and Weaving Week! I am celebrating by spinning as much as possible for Spinzilla in addition to working on my two knit-along projects for October.  So far, I have spun and plied 380 yards of yarn, not counting these singles I spun up last night: In the "totally complete" pile, I have 4oz. of natural black alpaca and the 4oz. Columbia/Rambouillet painted roving (bought last month in Kansas City at  The Studio ) which are both spun and plied. The black alpaca yarn is really giving me fits when it comes to photographing it - hopefully I'll have time to do a better job, but for now this is going to have to do: I'm using the Louet Victoria wheel to spin my singles, and then plying them on my Ladybug . It's proving to be a really efficient system, since I tend to spin my singles at night (which takes longer), then ply in the morning whilst feeding the cats (which is markedly speedier). Currently, I'm working on an alpaca/silk blend on the V...

I can't believe I'm blogging for the third day in a row this week (I also can't believe it's already October, but that's another story entirely)! As I'm sure you guessed by yesterday's post , today's WIPs are none other than...KAL projects! I was able to knit the cuff of my Scalloped Rib Sock yesterday: Incidentally, it's not too late to join in the fun - did I mention that there are prizes ? Then, after I finished work for the day (around 7:30, mind you), I got cracking on my Uma Sweater for the 30 Day Sweater Challenge . I also went through the pattern instructions to assign a date to each section to help keep me on track. I'm pleased to say that I made it to my goal for day one with flying colors and even started on Day 2 before it was time to go to bed! In other news, I thought I'd try to do the Yarn Photo a Day Challenge this month....because Spinzilla , two KALs, and a possible new pattern launch simply aren't enough, esp...

I finally have an exciting update on my Emmanuelle Sweater : I've started the Chevrons on the front piece! Woo hoo! So far, so good; I'm hoping the other colors I have planned will play well with everything else. With any luck, I can get this final piece knitted by the end of next week, which means I am on track for finishing this by the end of the month (I hope I didn't just jinx myself there). This would mean that it'll be one of the fastest adult-sized sweaters I've knit to date. I've also made some major progress on the Mountain Moss lace edging and it should be finished by the end of this coming weekend, too - which means I can start something new! I still have plenty of gift projects to knock out between now and December, so I'll be less stressed once I can finish this 'selfish' project and get back to gift knitting/crocheting. Of course, life has a way of throwing monkey wrenches into the best-laid plans, doesn't it? First, I'...