handmade by stefanie

Congrats to  sisterrobinson , you are the lucky winner! I will contact you on Ravelry to arrange for the delivery of your prize. Thanks to everyone who entered this month's giveaway; if you didn't win, I encourage you to visit the ModeKnit Yarns website and give their yarns a try! Also, I'm having a luxury sock yarn mini skein grab bag sale in my Etsy shop , this week only! Enter HBSBLOG at checkout to get $3 off your order now through Midnight CDT on Friday, June 26. All US orders ship free via USPS First Class! I've added some pretty stellar yarns to the already-awesome lineup. There are hand-dyed yarns such Anzula, Leading Men Fiber Arts, and Manos del Uruguay plus other high-quality yarns such as Spud & Chloe Fine, Louet Gems Fingering, and more - and if you are looking for particular colors (or have other reasonable requests), I am happy to do what I can to put together a grab bag you'll love. You can see a full list of yarns & get more info abou...

While we all wait anxiously for the results of this year's Spinzilla (which should be announced later today with any luck!), I have a few random news items to share this week: I was thrilled to discover - nearly a week after the fact - that one of my designs was featured in Threadpanda's Friday Finds ! What's funny is that the Friday Finds feature is one of my favorites to check on a regular basis, but the one time it slips my mind - BOOM! There's my patterns! At any rate, I couldn't be more flattered to be included in such a lovely collection of patterns. Be sure to follow the Threadpanda blog for more great inspiration and enabling, it's definitely worth adding to your reading list. Sample grab bag from my Etsy shop In the world of podcasts, my Mini Skein Grab Bags were recently mentioned on 2 Tangled Skeins, and they said such nice things about them that I couldn't resist creating a special coupon code for their viewers to use in my Etsy shop ! C...

First off, let's start with the disclaimer: as a new affiliate, I was given a special code to create my first Blurb book for free using a preview of their new Designer Photo Book Template . The catch? I had less than a week to use the promo code, which meant that my first book with Blurb would be a whirlwind! I decided that the best place to start would be with my back catalog of patterns, so after much internal debate, I decided to do a sock retrospective called Super Socks! (what do you want? I was under a deadline). From start to finish, everything was totally easy and user-friendly. I used Bookify to drag and drop each page's graphics (I converted the PDF pages to PNGs for speed, I admit) and added in text and graphics elsewhere as need, easy peasy. Once I was done, I listed it for sale to the general public; all you have to do is order the first copy and set your price, then folks can choose which type of book they'd like to order. I myself ordered the hardcov...

Mr. Nubbins by Mercourier I don't want to stress you out by saying how many sleeps we have til xmas or anything, but it's go time!  I'm all about fast gifts I can make in a day (or two), and in the spirit of panicked last-minute knitting projects, I'm offering 20% off ALL of my patterns - just enter "GiftCute" at checkout! Then get ready to Gift Cute for real - because it's Mr. Nubbins to the rescue!  He and his counterpart, Lady Nubbins , are knit out of big 'ol bulky wool and fly off those US#13 needles. Button Bunnies I made all three Button Bunnies in a weekend's time, and you can make the whole trio or just knit one up for gifting purposes.  They're sure to delight no matter what!  Alien Hand Puppets are an adorable quick gift for young nieces and nephews.  If you make some out of cotton or bamboo and embroider eyes instead of using safety eyes, they'll double as fun washcloths for bathtime! Alien Hand Puppet Then ...

It's still quite cold here in Chicago, so I'm really glad I finally finished the last pattern in my Nest Egg series - a cowl to coordinate with the hat and fingerless gloves featuring the same cable pattern.  This cowl is so warm!  I've made a few cowls over the last year or so, and I always liked the way they turned out, but their either a) didn't cover enough of my neck or b) let the wind through the fabric because they had a lace pattern on them.  I know, I know - that last one I should have seen coming!  But sometimes, it's easy to get blindsided by how cool something looks that the practicality gets thrown right out the window. Practicality is, of course, very important when you're readying yourself for another Chicago winter - or waiting for one to finally throw in the towel! With that in mind, I created this extra-warm cabled cowl which is knit flat and cozily overlaps around the neck, secured with two buttons. Just the facts, ma'am: Pattern:...

Hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday! We decorated our first christmas tree (we've never lived anywhere with enough room to get one!), had dinner with family, and snuggled with our cats.  I even managed to sneak in some knitting time - so it was a good day all around. It's crunch time for us gift-knitting crafters, and in the spirit of black friday/cyber monday, i would like to offer up this coupon code for 10% off of your entire purchase from my etsy shop.  This is good til the end of the year - please enter coupon code BLOGHOLIDAY2010 when you check out.