handmade by stefanie

Last week, the Canyon Steps Cowl KAL came to an end, and I just barely finished my project in time! This is my second time knitting this pattern because it's my own design for Bijou Basin Ranch, and the first one I made is now a display piece in their booth! This time around, I chose the Aasgard colorway from their collection of Valkyrie-inspired colorways (or Thor, if you'd rather!) that are dye on  Gobi  fingering yarn. Baby camel and silk is soooo divine (how could it not be?!), and I love the way the hand-dyed colors shimmer on this blend. The variegated color kind of hides the stitch pattern, but it's so darn pretty that I don't mind if the pattern gets a bit upstaged by the yarn color. It was still fun to knit and I'm super excited to keep this one for myself! Even though the KAL is over, you can still  get project kits here  if you are so inclined. I'd love to see your project if you do, so make sure to share it on Instagram with the #bijoubasi...

I can finally share this design that I've recently finished for Bijou Basin Ranch: presenting the Eyelet of the Tiger lace cowl, which is knit with 1 skein of Himalayan Summit . I was really excited to knit with this new yarn base, a 50/50 blend of Tibetan Yak and Superfine Merino that came out this fall. Designing for a variegated yarn is always a bit of a challenge, but I was really drawn to this colorway  from ModeKnit Yarns called Old Fashion Villain . Working with this yarn was so enjoyable - and even though it's super soft, it held up to multiple frogging sessions. And check out this stitch definition: You really can't ask for anything else in a yarn, and I'm itching to work with it once more. I bet cables and textured stitches also knit up great! You can buy project kits here , or get an individual copy of the pattern here - or, add it to your Ravelry queue . I can't wait to see this knit up in other colors of Himalayan Summit , be sure to...

Earlier this summer, I purchased my first-ever gradient yarn cake while visiting The Studio in Kansas City. They just happened to be hosting a trunk show from Apple Tree Knits, and I absolutely couldn't resist grabbing a skein of Plush Fingering in a pretty purple-to-blue gradient. Unbelievably, this is the only photo I took of this yarn before casting on, and I have to say it's not my best effort, nor is it my favorite (But hey, free Royals sunglasses!!): I spent a lot of time pondering what to make with this yarn - quite honestly, I was plagued with indecision as to what type of project would be best. But then I remembered seeing this gorgeous project on the Knitted Bliss blog , and I decided to shamelessly copy Julie's idea and cast on for a Starshower cowl .  Since I have issues styling shawls on myself, this is the ideal pattern for me: it's worn like a cowl but looks kinda like a shawl, and features the best parts of knitting both projects, which I like. ...

I have a fun new pattern, just in time for fall knitting! The Beyond the Wall Cowl was designed especially for those irresistible mini skeins, and I used a bundle of hand-dyed minis from Mountain Meadow Wool . You can get it for free when you sign up for the Mountain Meadow Wool newsletter. I loved working with this yarn, which is spun in Wyoming using wool fiber that is raised by ranchers in the western states. It's combed to create a smoother, softer yarn, and then hand-dyed in an array of beautiful colors! Each mini skein is 60 yards for a total of 255 yards; I chose the blue set which includes Charcoal, Spruce, Teal, and Turquois. You can play around with the color order to create fun combinations. To conserve yarn at cast-on, I recommend using the crochet cast-on method, which is usually a provisional method; when used to cast on with your working yarn, this method will not only save an yarn usage, it will match your bind-off nearly perfectly, too. Here is a great ...

This project has been off the needles for a good couple of weeks, and I have no idea why I procrastinated weaving in the two ends and blocking it. It seems silly, since neither of those tasks took more than a few minutes, but perhaps that's why it's been so easy to tell myself over and over again "I'll do that later!" and then move on with my day. At any rate, my Molten Metal KAL project is finally done! I used 1 skein of Lhasa Wilderness yarn from Bijou Basin Ranch , as did many others who participated in this KAL . If you are a really fast knitter, there is still 10 days left to complete your project and post it in this thread for your chance to win a prize. And discounted project kits are still available here ! I know I'm super-biased, but I think this is one of my favorite things I've ever designed. It's pretty rare when I want to knit something twice, but I was happy to do so, especially since I didn't get to keep the first one I...

The big news is that my cozy memories blanket is off the needles - it just need to have a few ends woven in and then get a nice blocking before I can officially call it done. Whew! It's a weight off my shoulder, that's for sure, and I'm pretty relieved to start July off with this project nearly crossed off my list. Now that I don't have to think about it, I can focus on chipping away at the many sock projects I have on the needles, as much as my hand/arm issues will allow. If I knit slowly enough and in short enough sessions, I can make a tiny bit of progress to inch towards my goal. For instance, over the holiday weekend, I reached HO status for the bright green BFL socks : I'm still plugging away on the Baa Ram Ewe cowl , which is just past the halfway point: Of course, for most of this month I will also be focusing some of my free time to spinning - last Saturday, the Tour de Fleece kicked off, and I decided to start off with some Targhee from Yarn Geek Fib...