handmade by stefanie

Seems like I've been sharing a lot of sewing/quilting projects here lately, but I assure you, I am still knitting, and have recently completed a couple of hat projects, a scarf, and even a pair of socks! First up is the March Hat by Meghan Babin, which I made using some Plymouth Yarn Homestead Tweed I was gifted during the holidays and a Knit Picks faux fur pom. This pattern, which is available for free on Ravelry, features a simple yet stylish design that's easy to memorize as you knit. I also knit another hat for the donation bin using two strands of fingering weight yarn to create a tweedy effect. I based this project on the Mash it Up pattern by Babs Ausherman, but went a little off book as I knit, especially when it came time to do the crown decreases. The gold color is Shibuiknits Reed in Pollen and the lighter color is reclaimed from a past project, I'm not 100% sure of the name of the indie dyer or the colorway but I think it might be a sock yarn from KnitCircus. ...

Earlier in the year, I hit a bit of a slump with my weaving - things just weren't turning out the way I imagined, and I found that I was avoiding my loom as a result. This made me think about the things I like to weave, and why I took up weaving in the first place. Some of my favorite projects were simple, plainweave scarves that use up leftover bits of yarn. Light bulb! After a complete dishtowel fail, I decided it was time to get back to destash weaving (someone on Instagram calls this weaving alchemy , which sounds way cooler). I used a skein of Berroco Vintage that was left over from one of Tyler's sweaters as a warp, and then collected several bits and bobs, mini skeins, samples, and handspun leftovers to create a long piece of fabric to sew into pillows. I tried not to overthink the color sequencing too much, but that's just kind of how I roll. When I reached the end of the warp, I had quite a substantial piece of fabric (naturally I forgot to measure it - doh):...

Do you ever feel like you might have too much yarn? Most of us joke that there's no such thing as too much yarn , but on the other side of that coin is Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy (SABLE). It might be early for me, but I already have fears of SABLE, and to be perfectly honest, it makes me sad to look at so many beautiful skeins of yarn going unused, trapped in a storage bin. Perhaps I shouldn't have purchased the clear variety, or stacked them in my office so that I have a near-constant guilt trip as I work, but nevertheless, my stash is starting to bum me out. It's all filled with yarn....and there are more bins not pictured! Eep! Don't get me wrong - I've stashdived plenty for projects in recent years ( Find your Fade and So Faded , I'm looking at you especially). The problem is that those efforts are a mere drop in the bucket. Yarn keeps showing up on my doorstep to distract me from my best intentions. Now, let's add in one more f...

Over the last few weeks, my crafting time was focused mainly on a few deadline projects that I couldn't share publicly. Now that they are done, I can get back to my regular WIPs, a few of which seem close to the finish line! The waterlilies socks are getting closer to the finish line - last night I started the toe shaping on the second sock! But the big news is that I'm on the FINAL color of Find Your Fade ; how did that happen?! I picked up the crocheted handspun blanket last weekend and discovered that it was just a few rows away from being done - so now the crocheting is complete, but I do have ALL of these glorious ends to weave in: Most of the yarn is big and fluffy, so I was excited to give these darning needles from Knitter's Pride a try - they've made the process so much easier since I don't have to struggle to thread each yarn end through a narrow needle eye! I also warped my loom for another destash scarf project, though I was i...

One year and five months after starting my worsted weight Cozy Memories Blanket , it is officially in the "done" category! It's such a huge relief to have this project done, and I love the results. Of course, it could have been done much sooner if I had worked on it more consistently, but that's neither here nor there. The point is: it's done, I love it, and it looks great on our new couch! The finished blanket is 9x13 squares for a grand total of 117. I used this free pattern from Ravelry to knit modular mitered squares with all of my scrap yarn. I made a point to spend some time weaving in ends every so often so that I didn't cross the knitting finish line, only to have a nightmare of ends to weave in all at once. Clearly, Tilly appreciates the effort, and I was pretty happy to realize that I only had two rows with ends to weave in when I reached the finish line. Now I'm fighting the mad urge not to start a new scrap yarn blanket project, if you c...

The arm is ever-so-slowly getting better, but I am still working with limited time that can be spent knitting on any given day. I am trying to chip away at the various sock projects I have going, but since I can only spend about 30 minutes working on a sock project each day, that makes for some glacial progress. I did manage to hit a milestone on Tyler's Royals Socks , however - I put in the bright green waste yarn for the afterthought heel. Last weekend, I also finished some non-sock projects, which I decided was a great opportunity to cast on for some DK and worsted-weight projects. The first is using this skein of Powder River yarn from Mountain Meadow Wool; I cast on for the Merope Mitts using my favorite DPNs, Marblz. Next, I started an Astrid Hat with a skein of a new yarn called Naturally Nazareth, which will be debuting at TNNA next month from Kraemer Yarns . I'll be sharing more about this yarn once I finish this hat, but for now, I can tell you that I am real...

Last Friday, after a very long week, I decided to take the afternoon off of work....to reorganize my handspun yarn and fiber stash?! Indeed, that is what I ended up doing, and I discovered that I have accumulated SO MUCH handspun yarn that it no longer fit in the medium sized bin I've been using the past several years....and it was time to graduate to a much larger 66 qt. container. Naturally, this new container is now completely filled, as is the medium sized bin which formerly housed my handspun yarn and now kinda sorta but not really holds all of my spinning fiber stash: As you saw last week , I was already inspired to start making projects with handspun yarn, and this little exercise has only reinforced everything! On Saturday, I decided that I needed to make a baby sweater with some delightfully squishy handspun polwarth yarn I'd also dyed myself (because just knitting a baby gift with normal yarn is no longer enough). I have a couple of old standby baby sweaters I ...

I had quite the productive weekend, wherein I finished 2 out of 3 secret projects (and the third is now in the final stages of done-ness)! That meant I had plenty of time to to spend on my other WIPs and March Goals . My first order of business was finishing my Celery Slouch KAL project (more on that this Friday), deciding on a spinning project for March (more on that....eventually), and dusting off my Block Island Pullover , which has been rather lonely in the knitting basket of late.  On Monday night, I finished the first sleeve, and instead of diving into sleeve #2 right away, I decided to take some time to weave in all of the many  ends hiding on the inside of the sweater. It's not terribly exciting stuff, but I'll be glad I did it later on. Probably.  I also added several squares to my destash memory blanket ...in fact, I've already exceeded my modest goal of adding 2 squares each week (for a total of 8)! I'm getting totally addicted to picking out ...

It's true, I live in something of a fiber arts bubble: my world is 24/7 yarn and fiber. So when someone tells me they aren't familiar with the work of Hunter Hammersen, I am a bit shocked - especially now, with the huge success of her new book, Curls . Since its release near the end of last year, Curls has entered its third printing, and it hit the number-one spot on Amazon in the knitting books category. It's been mentioned on tons of blogs and podcasts, and we all pretty much agree: Curls is awesome and we want to knit every single one. The concept is both simple and amazing: easy-to-wear wraps which can be knit at any gauge. Whether you prefer a sock weight shawl or want to whip up a quick bulky wrap, all you have to do is grab your needles, pick a pattern, and cast on (I'm especially looking forward to putting some of my skeins of handspun yarn to good use). As Hunter explains in the introduction, she came across an interesting shape while swatching and quickly...

After finishing such a long-term project as the chevron socks of doom , I decided to embark on some instant-gratification projects by making lots of tiny toys. There really is nothing more satisfying than a project you can make in a day or two that is also incredibly cute! I started out by mining my leftover yarn bin to make a Compact Cat in Pajamas : I also made a Little Luchador with some leftover yarn; I modified the pattern a bit to match a photo of a Lucha Libre wrestler I found online. I crocheted a stripey slug , which was - spoiler alert! - this month's FreshStitches Kit Club shipment. I love how it turned out! Last but not least, I finished my handspun squirrel late last night! Instead of using floofy yarn to knit the tail (as the pattern called for), I just made it with the same yarn I used for the rest of the squirrel. Some people on Ravelry added fringe to it afterwards in lieu of eyelash/novelty yarn, but I think I might just leave it as-is. Thanks fo...

I don't technically have an FO to share today, but last week I crocheted this basket and now it is for sale in my Etsy shop ! I've found that crocheting baskets is a fun way to stay busy when I don't feel like concentrating on a crazy chart or complicated project; it's also great for destashing! I'll definitely be making more crocheted baskets in the future (and will try to explore some new color territory since my first two have all been in the brown/blue category). Next week should be a much more interesting FO Friday, I promise! In the mean time, have a fun & crafty weekend! 

With TNNA just around the corner, I've been working long hours and six-day weeks for the last week or so. By the time I'm ready to sign off for the day, my brain power is pretty much spent, so I've been really appreciating the simple knits this week. First, I found a nearly-finished Itty-Bitty Batty from 50 yards of Fun in my knitting basket! I gave him some ears and feet and now he's complete: I couldn't resist starting another project from the book, the Small-Peanuts Elephant . I used up every scrap of the grey and blue oddballs from my stash - in fact, I had to pinch-hit to get those legs finished. I was also gifted a skein of Spud & Chloe Outer , so I whipped up a Slope Hat by Susan B. Anderson in just one night of knitting! I accidentally ran it through the washing machine on the maximum-abuse setting - usually I choose the delicate cycle for my superwash yarns. It emerged relatively unscathed, especially considering the wild ride it went on...

I whipped up a few crocheted placemats recently when I needed a few last-minute gifts. They were the perfect one-skein project using some of the Cascade 220 Superwash yarn I bought from a Craftsy sale and the leftover safety skein of Berroco Vintage I'd purchased for another project. I used the Grit Stitch Placemat and Coaster set pattern from the Cult of Crochet, which is a free pattern on Ravelry. I was pretty happy with how they turned out, plus I learned a new crochet stitch pattern! Thanks for stopping by this week - for FO Friday inspiration, visit the  Tami's Amis blog . Have a crafty weekend!