handmade by stefanie

When I became a Patternworks affiliate not too long ago ( click here if you missed the announcement ), I was offered a chance to receive a free product to review. Since they carry a lot of things I already love & use, I wanted to choose something that was totally new to me. I decided to give Ewe Ewe's Wooly Worsted a try because it's one of those yarns I've always meant to try knitting with, but just never got around to it. I remember spotting this yarn several years ago at my first TNNA, which I believe was also theirs as well. At the time, they had just 1 weight of yarn in a pretty palette of about 8 or so colors. Now they have expanded to include a host of other colors in both worsted & sport weights. The Wooly Worsted Color Wheel, courtesy of eweewe.com . Wooly Worsted in a machine washable 100% merino yarn that is spun in Italy, and it's got plenty of squish.  I was surprised to discover that this was a 3-ply yarn (I thought for sure it'd be 4...

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 finished my Foliage Cowl last Friday night, talk about speedy - it only took four days from start to finish! This project was super-easy and the epitome of instant-gratification. It's also a stellar example of the importance of blocking a finished project. Here is Exhibit A, my unblocked cowl: ...and now, Exhibit B, post-blocking:  I think the lace looks especially nice: I haven't had a chance to get any modeled shots since sunny days are hard to come by right now, but trust me, it's a nice chunky knit to snuggle up in this winter!  There are lots of great prizes up for grabs during the Holla Knits KAL , and there is plenty of time to join in the fun! The KAL runs through May 1, 2015, so grab some yarn and start your favorite Holla Knits design so you can win free patterns and maybe even some awesome goodies, too! Also, Craftsy is having a Valentine's sale this weekend, so if there were any classes you had your eye on, now is the 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...

Today I'm back in Chicago after spending a long weekend with my husband and our families in Kansas City. We both needed a trip out of town that wasn't for business (or a family emergency). This mini-vacation was laid-back, filled with food, family, friends, knitting, and most importantly....BEER! Early on in the trip, I finished my Indigo Swan Cowl . It proved to be the perfect train knitting project - an easy-to-memorize pattern that I could absentmindedly knit no matter how tired I got. I used up pretty much all of the skein, too - after binding off, there were only a few yards left. the first day we were in town was my Dad's sixtieth birthday, so my mom and I treated him to lunch at Beer Kitchen. Our server brought him some drunken donuts for dessert and he was a pretty happy guy! We stayed with Tyler's parents downtown and took some time one morning to explore the historic graveyard that their balcony overlooks. I lived in Kansas City til I was 23 and neve...