handmade by stefanie

Last year, I went to Creativation for the very first time , and I absolutely loved it. I've been going to industry trade shows ever since I started working at Stitchcraft Marketing , but until attending  Creativation , they have all been focused entirely on needlecraft (knitting, crochet, needlepoint, etc). Obviously, I love yarn and knitting, but every waking moment is filled with it, so it's really a fresh of breath air to spend time seeing other creative crafts outside of the yarn world. This year, I found myself drawn to a lot of the paper crafts - cardmaking in particular kept catching my eye, Some of the display samples were absolute works of art, far cooler than anything you would find in a card store. I wish I had taken more photos, but this is the only one I had on my phone: Concord and 9th The Edible Arts booths are always worth checking out because they make the most incredible things that I couldn't imagine eating, they're so spectacular. Las...

Marketplace Entrance I had a blast last weekend at VK Live! Chicago . I spent most of my time as a helper bee in the Bijou Basin Ranch Booth , though I also had plenty of time to chat with many of my other yarny friends. I loved the venue - the Palmer House Hilton is a really stunning location. The marketplace vendors were divided between two ballrooms on two different levels; I really liked the intimacy the smaller spaces provided. It was so much more manageable than walking into a giant convention center and being overwhelmed by row after row of vendors! For a first-time event, I think it went pretty well. I heard rumblings of various issues that displeased both vendors and attendees, but I also heard just as many (if not more) positive remarks. Throughout the weekend, I saw Vogue staffers running around like crazy - they were getting things done! Palmer House Hilton There were some really gorgeous booths - for the most part, the marketplace floor had the feel of a bouti...

Feeling German in Lincoln Square As luck would have it, all of my favorite things for fall converged upon this past weekend: Renegade Craft Fair, the German-American Festival in Lincoln Square, and the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival (this was my first time attending, but anything yarn-related falls under the rubric of 'favorite things for fall'). I'm not one for large crowds of people and, as a general rule, I don't leave the house very much on a day-to-day basis now that I work from home. However, these three events (plus my local farmer's market) were enough to tempt me away from the homestead and go out amongst my fellow humans. I'm so glad I did! On Friday night, Tyler and I hit the German-American Festival and had a few litres of beer. Yes, more than one...probably not the best plan ever, but it sure was fun! Plus, we arrived just as the festival opened, and there was nary a line for tickets, food or beer. That's the way to fly! You'll n...

I've just received word from Donna at Sister Arts that the Malabrigo trunk show has landed!   I'm so thrilled to be taking part in their upcoming knit night event this Thursday, December 8 from 7-10pm.  I'll be bringing lots of fun models (from Book 3 and otherwise) for you to check out.  The Stuffed Ostrich Toy , Kitchy Pleated Bag , and Quick Draw Socks will all be there in person along with the many other fantastic patterns by fellow contributors Stephen West, Julie Weisenberger, Kristen Rengren, Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark and Bree Miller.  As an added bonus, you'll enjoy 15% off your total purchase of any in-stock yarn & copy of Book 3.   Click here for more details on the Sister Arts website.   Hope to see you there!

Swimming in candy. Since Mr. Nubbins didn't get to go to Renegade or Stitches this year, I thought I should finally humor him and let him hitch a ride to YarnCon in my Wool Dispensary project bag.  Mr. Nubbins made a lot of friends on Saturday - he even spent some time hanging out in the candy bowl at the Windy City Knitting Guild table.  I managed to catch him before he ate all of the lollipops, fortunately. Sam is the yarn dyer! (Side note: I joined the WCKG at the beginning of the year but have yet to make it to a meeting - something always gets in the way!  Before it used to be work or a show, now it's stupid things like me forgetting because I was on a bus that got hit by a car - which actually happened last Tuesday!  The funny thing about that was, I was marooned fairly close to where the meeting was taking place, but because of my extreme annoyance at the situation, all thoughts of the meeting went out of my head as I concentrated on my Plan B for Ge...