handmade by stefanie

I finished a baby sweater last month, but I didn't want to blog about it til I gave it to the parents-to-be! This is one of my favorite patterns from 60 Quick Baby Knits, the Seed Stitch Yoke Cardigan . I used some superwash yarn I'd hand-dyed myself back when I still worked at Lorna's Laces. The pooling turned out to be pretty interesting and almost looks like I planned it that way (though I assure you I did not!): Front Detail  Back Detail However, I think the crowning glory of this sweater is the adorable robot buttons: I recently discovered a new site called Indie Untangled , which is a way to discover awesome new folks in the fiber arts industry. You can sign up for their newsletter to be notified of shop updates, which is especially helpful for smaller businesses whose etsy shops aren't always consistently-stocked. Anyway, through Indie Untangled , I found a really awesome button-maker called Fastenation Studio , which is where I purchased t...

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 a little obsessed with buttons, and have a sizable collection of (mostly vintage) buttons - probably more than I could ever use in this lifetime, especially considering I often purchase new buttons for specific projects. I used to keep my buttons in a plastic storage container, but one day I decided that they would be a fun and crafty addition to my home decor. The above container is an antique jar which I found in my grandparents' basement a few years ago, and it has an interesting metal closure at the top; in fact, you can see a few of the crafty items which are doing double duty as home decor: my wooden drop spindle, various knitting needles, and of course - buttons! Since keeping fresh-cut flowers in our house isn't an option (our cats love to eat plants), I've started using vases to display other objects. I've also filled a clear cylindrical vase with buttons and thought that a few wooden needles would add a nice knitterly touch in the absence of flowers...

Instagrammed: Beulah Cardi If it seems like my blog is a little less active than usual, it's because I'm back in the submarine (the term Tyler and I use whenever we're working a ton and not coming up for much air).   TNNA is just around the corner and there is much to do between now and then!  Besides that, I am also trying to give myself some time off before things get all crazy busy again.  In a nutshell, that means that I am knitting faster than I can blog about it. The biggest knitting accomplishment of the past month would definitely be finishing my Beulah Cardigan .  It's been a while since I've done a skinny-yarn sweater, and this one was actually pretty quick to knit (relatively speaking).  What always takes me the longest is getting enough chutzpah to seam and sew on the buttons.  In this particular scenario, those final details took several weeks for me to complete. Unfortunately, that's quite standard for me. The pattern is Mercedes Ta...

I've got some really amazing buttons in my stash and often lamented to myself, if only they had a matching mate!  Here are my three favorite uses for forlorn yet fancy buttons: 1.  Find that perfect one-button project that needs something special to make it stand out.  I recently knit a cozy for my smartphone using some handspun I found in my stash (in the festivus colorway, no less!), and went scavenging through my button bins to find the perfect finishing button.  Tea Leaves 2.  Have a show-stopping 'accent' button at the top of the sweater, and similarly-colored buttons that match each other for the rest of the buttonholes.   This is my new favorite trick, one I employed to great effect on my Tea Leaves Cardigan .  3.  Let go of the notion that all your notions must all look alike and button your sweater with a hodgepodge of mismatched buttons!   I got this idea from a sweater model in Ysolda Teague 's TNNA booth in Columbus -...

I've been updating my etsy shop again!  I recently scored a big box of vintage linens from my great grandparents.  I'm slowly going through it to see what I absolutely must hang on to, but there's so much! I can't possibly store it all, much less use it in this lifetime.  I'd rather these pieces found a loving home, so I'm listing them in my etsy shop under a new section called 'vintage finds.' Above are some examples of what you might encounter in 'vintage finds' - and once they're gone, they're gone!  I've also been culling my personal button stash to bring my fellow crafters some fun little grab bags.  These mostly-vintage buttons are looking for a good home, and unlike other grab bags, I've made sure that there are plenty of matching buttons to offset the oddballs and one-of-a-kinds.  I've assembled these Big Button Booty Grab Bags by color family or attribute and bundled them into a cute plastic sandwich bag w...

Intense mustard yellow Just had lunch with one of my knitting buddies who is beginning to dye her own yarns - and of course, she let me squish and ooh and aah over her latest handiwork....not to mention bring home a few skeins to play around with!  I'm loving these shaded solids....not sure what designs I'll create with them, but rest assured I'll keep you posted.  Beautiful variegated blues Meanwhile, I'll probably have a new design ready to post by the end of the week, and with any luck, an FO or two!  Despite the tantalizing yarns trying to lure me into casting on for yet another project, I'm going to try to resist the urge until I get at least one or two things off the needles.  It's been weeks since I've touched my Koukla cardigan - also known as one of my Malabrigo March projects.  At this rate, it'll be done by next Malabrigo March!  Last week, in an attempt to rekindle my interest in knitting this lovely, lovely sweater, I finally made ...

Buttons! Glorious Buttons! Tea Leaves:  Fancy Buttons Today I'm playing the wild card!  It's time to talk about the joys of embellishments - namely, buttons, because the right buttons can make or break an FO.  Over the years I have acquired huge containers of buttons, and I never tire of sifting through them, time and time again, in search of the perfect accent for my project.  Each time, I come across buttons I hadn't noticed before.  With such a huge amount to dig through, I'm always amazed when I can find the right number of buttons I need, but it's rare when that isn't possible and I have to head to the craft store.  I have so many that I feel guilty keeping them all to myself, so I've taken to selling some in my Etsy shop and letting my friends shop my stash.  I recently used some very fancy buttons that I'd been saving for several years, waiting for the right project to come along.  That project happened to be the Tea Leaves...

Ever since Book 3 came out, I've been wanting to make an inverse version of my Kitchy Pleated Bag - and at last I've crossed that off my knitting to-do list.  The actual knitting part of the project only took a day and a half - so if you're looking for a fast project for a certain upcoming event next month, perhaps you might want to give this one a try!  (Which reminds me - be on the lookout for a Junkies-only discount on all the patterns in my Ravelry shop in honor of Malabrigo March) Pattern:  Kitchy Pleated Bag by yours truly - available only in Malabrigo Book 3 Yarn:  Malabrigo Chunky in Charrua (MC) and Frank Ochre (CC) Buttons:  Found Buttons - part of my Etsy shop   Bamboo Handles:  The Milliner's Daughter - Etsy shop Other notes:  If you choose to use a darker color (such as Charrua) as the MC on this bag, don't forget that darker-colored yarns felt more (and faster!) than lighter-colored yarns.  I actually did forget ...

first one out of the gate - a favorite of mine! congratulations to Julie from Maryland, who has the distinguished honor of being the first person to purchase buttons from my etsy shop !  i may or may not have mentioned this a few months back, but i have a HUGE button stash that i could never use up during my natural life.  they're mostly vintage, and there's a wide range of colors, styles, sizes - i have literally spent hours upon hours combing through my button stash, and every time i find exciting, new buttons i'd somehow never noticed before.  at any rate, i've been quietly (or not-so-quietly) listing them in my etsy shop these past few weeks, and now the word is out.  i'll be listing more found buttons each week, so keep checking back!  and if i haven't mentioned it before, the awesome graphics for my new button-y venture have been generously provided by (a different) Julie of Rotten Cupcakes !