handmade by stefanie

Shout it from the mountaintops: my Find Your Fade shawl is officially done! Look at how gargantuan this thing is: I started it on January 2 of this year after being inspired by all of the beautiful color combinations I'd seen posted on Instagram, and realizing that I could probably find 7 skeins of sock yarn within my own stash to make one for myself. Sure enough, I dove into my stash and found exactly what I needed! Here are the yarns I ended up using, in order: Koigu KPPPM - Black/White/Grey (they just have color numbers instead of names) Ancient Arts 80/20 Merino/Nylon Fingering - Russian Blue Fleur de Fiber Asbury Sock - Dirty Martini Susquehanna Knitting Company Sparkle Sock - Winter Waves Hazel Knits Artisan Sock - Aquarius Leading Men Fiber Arts Show Stopper - Drama Queen Koigu KPPPM - Black/Purple I'm hoping this becomes my go-to shawl in the fall - or maybe even the spring since it's been on the chillier side here in Chicago. I find...

I've been focusing on the Rockling Cardigan since it's my oldest WIP currently on the needles. I am almost finished with the body of the sweater - last night, I started the final section of ribbing before bind off! I'm also working on the second destash sideways mitt with my leftover Fade yarn. Currently, it looks like a mess of spaghetti, especially since the first mitt is still on the needles while I figure out a way to graft the ends together and leave a spot for the thumb...a detail I'd neglected to think about when I decided to sub in a provisional cast on. Oops! One new WIP is joining the mix this week: I started a cowl project with some chunky handspun yarn using the Aspen Cowl pattern by Andi Javori, which you can find  here  in the Interweave store. (note: affiliate link). I still have the same project on the loom as last week and I've only added about 10 inches, so there's not much to report on the weaving front. Here's hoping ...

I've finished several long-term projects lately, so I allowed myself to cast on a new project from this book I got for Christmas: I chose the Simple Sideways Mitt s using several of the yarns leftover from my very-recently-completed Fade (it's still in the blocking process, but look for finished Fade photos sometime next week!). I have no idea why I'm trying to cram it on these DPNs....apparently I just like the challenge?! Rather than seaming a cast on and bound off edge, I opted for a crocheted provisional cast on so that I can graft each end together when I'm finished knitting. This is my favorite provisional cast on because you just make a single crochet chain that's a little longer than the amount of stitches you need, and then you pick up and knit into the bumps underneath the crochet chain like. I made a (hopefully helpful) mini-tutorial for anyone who wants to give it a try: My current destash woven scarf is now past the halfway point, s...

Happy WIP Wednesday! Thanks for joining me this week; I only have a few projects that I can share on this blog (the rest are top secret!). I was really hoping I'd be finished with my Emmanuelle sweater sleeves for this week's WIP Wednesday blog post, but I feel just short of my goal: On the plus side, I made a decent amount of progress on my Mountain Moss Shawl since last week: Over the weekend, I started a Panda Puppet from Itty Bitty Toys when I realized I hadn't made any projects using books from my library since June. It's also a destash project, which is another goal of mine for 2013. So far I just have the first half of the puppet body finished: Thanks for joining me this week! For more WIP Wednesday inspiration, visit the  Tami's Amis Blog !

Since I finished my final Malabrigo March project over the weekend (which I'll blog about this Friday), I decided to start swatching for my next sweater project. Though it's still pretty chilly in these parts, I expect any day now I'll be in need of yet another cropped cardigan, and I just happened to have the yarn and pattern for Marly Bird's Breezy Bolero waiting in the wings. I whipped up my first swatch and discovered that I've become quite the loose knitter, so I'm working on swatch number 2 with slightly smaller needles. Hopefully that'll do the trick and I can cast on soon! I've also made some major progress on the Destash Constitution Hall Scarf  - as you can see, I've started the next phase of striping! I even snuck in a few rows while at the sold out Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds show this past Monday. I know it's slightly off-topic, but I feel the need to write about it because we had front row tickets (which we didn't find ou...