handmade by stefanie

Well, that was an unintentionally long blogging hiatus. I've had this tab open on my laptop for several months, but just couldn't figure out where to start - the longer it went on, the harder it became to write this post! Actually, I am still not sure where to begin, but I've decided to just. start. writing. So here goes. The biggest thing that's happened since my last post is that we bought a house! Back in January of this year, Tyler and I stumbled across a house that was about to go on sale in our neighborhood, and we were able to make an out-of-market deal. At the beginning of April, we closed and by mid-month we were ready to move in. We have been getting settled and making improvements ever since; it was built in 1935 so there is no shortage of home improvement projects for us! The second biggest piece of news is that Lulu moved with us and surprised us all by becoming an indoor cat. She loves her new life, which is filled with Cat TV, lots of snuggles, and comf...

After losing Tilly and Robin within a year of each other, I sure didn't think I'd be finding cat hair in my knitting any time soon. But the universe had other ideas. Over the winter, a white feral cat adopted us. I'd noticed her when we moved into our apartment last summer - I would see her hiding in the bushes or sunning herself in the grass when she thought no one was looking. I assumed she was someone's cat until I realized how skittish she was around humans, plus she had a tipped ear, which is a universal sign that a feral/stray cat has been spayed. Neighbors confirmed that she was a feral kitty (descended from several generations of feral cats, in fact), and that she has survived on her wits and whatever food various residents put out for her.  We had some bitterly cold days over the winter, and I just felt so sorry for this poor kitty! I started offering her treats and slowly gained her trust. She didn't even want to come inside our apartment at first, much le...

Last weekend, I discovered a pretty major mistake in my Dillinger Hat and put it in time out until I am ready to frog back and fix it. Can you spot where I went wrong? I don't always mind frogging, especially when I know it'll be worth it in the end (and it always is), but I'm having a hard time with this one because I was so excited to finish this hat over the weekend. I still managed to finish the baby sweater my sister requested, which meant that it was time to face my second sleeve syndrome head-on and pick the Rockling Cardigan back up. I'm not very far along, but that's only because Tilly keeps using it as a pillow every time I set it down for just a moment! I never have the heart to disturb her when she looks so blissful. So, I started a baby hat to match the afore-mentioned  sweater I just finished. It won't be long til I see my sister in Kansas City, and I would like to hand deliver them if I can! With TNNA just around the corne...

Robin is one tough kidney cat! Today is the three year anniversary of Robin's diagnosis of Chronic Renal Failure, so I wanted to do a little something different than my usual FO Friday post to celebrate how we'll he's being doing since we stabilized him after his last crash. I'd been puzzling on what that might be for a while, but hadn't come up with anything that seemed quite right. Then, I wandered into the Lucky Cat Crafts booth at SOAR and started talking to Kim, the owner. We talked about yarn, fiber, and cats, although at the time, it didn't occur to me to ask if she wanted to be featured on my blog, much less sponsor an awesome giveaway AND provide my readers with a special discount code towards anything in the Lucky Cat Craft Etsy Shop . After returning home, I emailed Kim and pretty much suggested all of the above to Kim and, clearly, she said yes! Turns out, she has a kitty of her own who has a seizure disorder - so we both have the common bo...

I'm not sure how this is possible, but I really haven't made much progress on my WIPs since last week. When I finally picked the Mountain Moss Shawl back up, I managed to totally bungle the few rows I eked out, which means I am now in the midst of undoing that work and have basically broken even since last week's post. My Emmanuelle Sweater has made some progress since last week; the sleeves are now completely finished; they looked misshapen and I was worried I'd have to frog back and re-knit the sleeve caps, but luckily a good blocking set things right. I've cast on for the back piece and have gotten past the ribbing and even started the increases, though I suspect it'll be slow going as I focus on gift-centric projects for the next month.  Of  course, Tilly wanted to photobomb my WIP shoot this morning - I'd like to think she's trying to help me in some way, but really she's just hoping I'll feed her early (and then maybe forget...

Ever since Robin was diagnosed with Chronic Renal Failure, he's been fed on top of the cat condo that we've had since we moved to Chicago in 2005. As you can imagine, after such a long time, it's not as pretty as it used to be...especially when a certain finicky cat gets wet food all over the place. Thankfully, that doesn't happen often, but it's been enough to cause some unsightly discoloration! For a while now, we've been using folded towels as a covering, but they end up being a little messy and don't fit very well, so I finally decided to crochet a quick little mat to cover Robin's feeding spot. I used some bulky yarn I purchased via Craftsy deals last fall (two skeins of Cascade Covington ) and a size L crochet hook - in just a few days, I had a nice new mat for my dear spoiled kitteh!

Rawr! Today's post was inspired by the folks who own the coolest hotel ever, a dinosaur-themed Best Western in Denver, Colorado. Earlier this week, the posted a request on their Facebook Fan page to have fans submit photos of their dinosaur-ified pets: This is the photo that started it all!  Artwork by twitter fan Erin Schmalfeld @eschmalf.  Since then, photos have been pouring in, and on Thursday night, Tyler and I worked on our own submissions starring Tilly and Robin! It sure beats cat breading , if you ask me! You can view all of the entries so far here on Facebook. Enjoy and happy Caturday!

On Friday, Tilly and Robin both had their comprehensive health exam (their favorite thing!) and each received a positive report from the vet. Tilly continues to lose weight; she's slimmed down to 12.6 pounds since her last visit. She still has a little ways to go, but they're happy with her progress. We're happy, too, because Tilly isn't limping around any more. Robin's kidney values continue to hold steady as well, so that was a relief to hear! His new thing is he gets really drooly at the vet (and, in general, he just drools a lot - when he naps....when he snuggles....when he gets his fluids....). I took this photo once we got home since it kind of looked like he had a beard o' drool. Today's entry is a short one, but I finished and made progress on a LOT of projects this weekend to share with you later this week. I hope to see you back here on WIP Wednesday and FO Friday!

Note: I do realize it's not Saturday today! This was the post I wrote yesterday before my internet connection went haywire. I decided to take my Ladybug out to the back porch to spin up my Wensleydale top, and now that my internet connection has mysteriously righted itself, I am sharing this post today!  I'm still spinning up a storm! This week, I pulled out two fibers from my stash: the first, 5 oz. Finn top from Spunky Eclectic in natural cream that I've had in my fiber stash for several years; the second, a braid of very pretty hand-dyed Wensleydale roving from Northbound Knitting , which I purchased earlier this year. I thought it might be interesting to spin singles from both of these fibers and ply them together, but a lot of that depends on how the Wensleydale spins up. The Finn (also known as Finnish Landrace or Finnsheep) was surprisingly lofty - you can't really see the halo in the photo below, but trust me, it's there! It was really a dream...

Happy FO Friday! I finished my first project from Amigurumi On The Go, which I bought recently via Craftsy Deals . This is the Cat Roundie Bag , which I modified a bit, mostly because I didn't want to sew on pieces of felt. Instead, I decided to crochet as many features as possible and embroider the rest. Below is what I did if you decide you'd like to do the same! The main yarn used is a lovely space-dyed purple from Manos Del Uruguay (just in time for their Fair Trade February celebration!); the contrasting colors are all bits and bobs from my amigurumi stash. This was a very quick project to make, though I highly recommend blocking the finished pieces (especially the round bag pieces) so that they lay nice and flat. Modifications - To Make Cat Features Cat Muzzle: Work first 6 rnds of bag front instructions in contrasting color. Fasten off. Cat Triangles (worked flat - make 5): Ch 2. Row 1: SC 3 sts into second stitch from hook. Row 2: CH 1, SC 3 sts. Row 3...

I have a few projects that I've been meaning to share, but just haven't gotten around to posting due to all the fun and excitement of VK Live. First, I finished my Gradient Serendipity Scarf in Himalayan Trail , a heavenly blend of merino and yak: I also crocheted some slippers that actually fit me! Holy crapazoids! I used the skein of Manos Wool Clasica in Forest Floor that I snagged via Craftsy deals a while back and paired it with some Berocco Peruvia that was lurking in my stash (sale alert! Craftsy is having a pre-Black Friday sale this week which includes some amazing deals on Manos yarn !). The pattern is available for free here on Craftsy and is super easy to whip up quick. Tilly approves of these slippers immensely - she kept rubbing her face on them like a weirdo. This was the best photo I could get of both her and  the slippers! I finally finished re-knitting the toes on Tyler's Cure nerd socks. Now that they're washed and blocked, they'...