handmade by stefanie

Fun fact: my husband and I are almost exactly 6 months apart in age (my half birthday is the day before his actual birthday later this month). I thought it would be fun to celebrate both with a little sale on Ravelry and Etsy! Ravelry Pattern Sale Enter HALFBDAY at checkout to get 50% off all of my patterns on Ravelry - including the Conversation Socks ebook! - now through May 18. Click here to visit my Ravelry pattern store! Etsy Shop Sale On Etsy, you can choose your discount below, good towards any of my current listings for mini skeins, hand dyed yarns, and handspun yarns. Plus, all US orders (still) ship FREE! Spend $10, get 10% off when you enter SPEND10 at checkout. Spend $20, get 20% off when you enter SPEND20 at checkout. Spend $30, get 30% off when you enter SPEND30 at checkout. All offers expire at Midnight MDT on Friday, May 18. Click here to visit my Etsy Shop!

For those of you who hexipuff, Zoom Loom, or are otherwise addicted to Sock Yarn Mini Skeins: I'm having a Black Friday early bird sale in my Etsy shop! Click here to snag your grab bags - limited quantity are available! Don't forget to enter the coupon code below when you check out for a 15% discount. Here are just a few awesome patterns which are great for sock yarn miniskeins: Mini Madness Crochet Ripple Cowl by Dana Freed Leftie by Martina Behm Pompom Chevron by Mariana Martins (Free!) The Beekeeper's Quilt by Tiny Owl Knits Gradient Mitts by Krista McCurdy (Free!) Temescal by Arlette Mini Skein Striped Socks by Xenia Baxter (Free!) Mini Skein Cowl by Joy McMillan Mini Mania Scarf by Sarah Core (Free!) Mosaic Happy Fingerless Gloves  by Taiga Hilliard Designs All orders ship FREE to US addresses (no coupon code needed) and include fun extras, too! If you have any special requests with regards to colors in your grab bag, just be sure to ente...

While we all wait anxiously for the results of this year's Spinzilla (which should be announced later today with any luck!), I have a few random news items to share this week: I was thrilled to discover - nearly a week after the fact - that one of my designs was featured in Threadpanda's Friday Finds ! What's funny is that the Friday Finds feature is one of my favorites to check on a regular basis, but the one time it slips my mind - BOOM! There's my patterns! At any rate, I couldn't be more flattered to be included in such a lovely collection of patterns. Be sure to follow the Threadpanda blog for more great inspiration and enabling, it's definitely worth adding to your reading list. Sample grab bag from my Etsy shop In the world of podcasts, my Mini Skein Grab Bags were recently mentioned on 2 Tangled Skeins, and they said such nice things about them that I couldn't resist creating a special coupon code for their viewers to use in my Etsy shop ! C...

My Etsy shop is officially reopened for 2014, and you'll not only find some of my best-selling knitting patterns , but I have also listed new mini-skein grab bags ! Check out this amazing list of luxury yarn possibilities: Anzula Dreamy & Squishy Baah La Jolla Sock Bijou Basin Ranch Lhasa Wilderness Black Toad MCN (Chicago Indie Dyer) Dream in Color Smooshy Green Mountain Spinnery Sock Art - Forest Grinning Gargoyle Seda Sock Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock MadelineTosh Merino Light Malabrigo Sock & Finito Neighborhood Fiber Co. Watershed Sock ShiBui Knits Sock Sincere Sheep Tenacious Sock Yarn Spud and Chloe Sock Sunday Knits Eden 3-ply Sweet Georgia Tough Love Sock The Wool Dispensary Deadly Stimulant (BFL Sock) Three Irish Girls Adorn Sock Trekking Bamboo XXL & Trekking XXL Valley Yarns Charlemont Kettle Dyed Wollglöckchen Handgefärbte Sockenwolle Each mini-skein is at least ten yards, but most have more yardage than that! It's...

I spent the weekend adding LOTS of great stuff to my newly-reopened Etsy shop : Mini skeins for hexipuff and zoom loom enthusiasts, hand-knit and -crocheted accessories and toys, and supplies for makers. Here are just a few  of the items that are currently for sale: Click here to check out the Handmade by Stefanie Etsy Shop (be sure to add me to your favorites, too)! I'll be adding new items weekly; the best way to stay updated is to follow me on twitter or pinterest . I'll also be posting photos and links on the HBS Facebook fan page !

I'm visiting family in KC this week, so today's post will be a little different than the usual "anything goes" blogs I typically share with you - below is just a short list of fun fibery things that have been rocking my post-TNNA world!  1. Yarnover Truck - How much do I wish we had a yarn truck here in Chicago?! These clever folks just won the 2013 Business Innovation Award at TNNA , and rightfully so! They even have exclusive colorways and patterns from folks like Anzula and FickleKnitter . I never thought I'd say it (what with the lack of sweater weather and all), but knitters in Southern California sure are lucky! Image courtesy of FickleKnitter 2. KnitCrate subscription service: I met these folks at TNNA and they are super-awesome. Ever since then, I have been wanting to sign up for their sock yarn subscription , even though I am usually not into spending my hard-earned money on yarn I can't pick out myself. However, after getting to kn...

I've got some really amazing buttons in my stash and often lamented to myself, if only they had a matching mate!  Here are my three favorite uses for forlorn yet fancy buttons: 1.  Find that perfect one-button project that needs something special to make it stand out.  I recently knit a cozy for my smartphone using some handspun I found in my stash (in the festivus colorway, no less!), and went scavenging through my button bins to find the perfect finishing button.  Tea Leaves 2.  Have a show-stopping 'accent' button at the top of the sweater, and similarly-colored buttons that match each other for the rest of the buttonholes.   This is my new favorite trick, one I employed to great effect on my Tea Leaves Cardigan .  3.  Let go of the notion that all your notions must all look alike and button your sweater with a hodgepodge of mismatched buttons!   I got this idea from a sweater model in Ysolda Teague 's TNNA booth in Columbus -...

Perhaps it's a symptom of working from home, but lately I've been getting more and more into the notion of home decorating.  I'm sure most interior decorators would still cringe at my lack of a cohesive anything in my environs (eclectic would be a really nice way of saying that most of our furnishings were bought off of craigslist or swiped from an alley), but I'm beginning to take an interest in how everything is looking at the home base these days. I recently inherited a treasure trove of vintage finds from my great-grandparents....glassware and linens aplenty!  Actually, there's so much, I'm selling some of it off in my etsy shop - it's kind of hard to let it all go, to be honest, but there's no way I can store all of it in our house.  I've had to be choosy in what I keep for myself, and the rest is up for grabs , bit by bit. Table runners were apparently big for my great-grandparents.  There are some really amazing embroidered ones, though...

I've been updating my etsy shop again!  I recently scored a big box of vintage linens from my great grandparents.  I'm slowly going through it to see what I absolutely must hang on to, but there's so much! I can't possibly store it all, much less use it in this lifetime.  I'd rather these pieces found a loving home, so I'm listing them in my etsy shop under a new section called 'vintage finds.' Above are some examples of what you might encounter in 'vintage finds' - and once they're gone, they're gone!  I've also been culling my personal button stash to bring my fellow crafters some fun little grab bags.  These mostly-vintage buttons are looking for a good home, and unlike other grab bags, I've made sure that there are plenty of matching buttons to offset the oddballs and one-of-a-kinds.  I've assembled these Big Button Booty Grab Bags by color family or attribute and bundled them into a cute plastic sandwich bag w...

Ever since Book 3 came out, I've been wanting to make an inverse version of my Kitchy Pleated Bag - and at last I've crossed that off my knitting to-do list.  The actual knitting part of the project only took a day and a half - so if you're looking for a fast project for a certain upcoming event next month, perhaps you might want to give this one a try!  (Which reminds me - be on the lookout for a Junkies-only discount on all the patterns in my Ravelry shop in honor of Malabrigo March) Pattern:  Kitchy Pleated Bag by yours truly - available only in Malabrigo Book 3 Yarn:  Malabrigo Chunky in Charrua (MC) and Frank Ochre (CC) Buttons:  Found Buttons - part of my Etsy shop   Bamboo Handles:  The Milliner's Daughter - Etsy shop Other notes:  If you choose to use a darker color (such as Charrua) as the MC on this bag, don't forget that darker-colored yarns felt more (and faster!) than lighter-colored yarns.  I actually did forget ...

Hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday! We decorated our first christmas tree (we've never lived anywhere with enough room to get one!), had dinner with family, and snuggled with our cats.  I even managed to sneak in some knitting time - so it was a good day all around. It's crunch time for us gift-knitting crafters, and in the spirit of black friday/cyber monday, i would like to offer up this coupon code for 10% off of your entire purchase from my etsy shop.  This is good til the end of the year - please enter coupon code BLOGHOLIDAY2010 when you check out.

first one out of the gate - a favorite of mine! congratulations to Julie from Maryland, who has the distinguished honor of being the first person to purchase buttons from my etsy shop !  i may or may not have mentioned this a few months back, but i have a HUGE button stash that i could never use up during my natural life.  they're mostly vintage, and there's a wide range of colors, styles, sizes - i have literally spent hours upon hours combing through my button stash, and every time i find exciting, new buttons i'd somehow never noticed before.  at any rate, i've been quietly (or not-so-quietly) listing them in my etsy shop these past few weeks, and now the word is out.  i'll be listing more found buttons each week, so keep checking back!  and if i haven't mentioned it before, the awesome graphics for my new button-y venture have been generously provided by (a different) Julie of Rotten Cupcakes !

By popular request, the Mr. Nubbins pattern is now available for purchase in my ravelry store and etsy shop!  All you need is a skein of Malabrigo Rasta, some safety eyes, buttons, and a couple of days to make the cutest gift anyone could hope to receive this season. Be warned, however - Mr. Nubbins may look innocent and cute, but he is actually quite the rascal.  Even when he isn't getting into trouble, he doesn't mind being the scapegoat for the occasional messy room or missing batch of cookies.  He plays well with others, but has been known to stack the deck when playing Go Fish. The details: Price: $6 Supplies: 1 skein Malabrigo Rasta  150g/90 yds, 100% Merino Small amount of black worsted-weight scrap yarn Small amount of worsted-weight scrap yarn in contrasting color (for bowtie) Set of US #13 double-pointed needles Set of US #6 needles (any type) 3 stitch holders Pair of 8mm safety eyes Poly-fil stuffing Tapestry needle Optional:  3 sm...