handmade by stefanie

Last Friday afternoon, I took a few hours to check out the International Quilt Festival at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL. It had been a very long and somewhat stressful week at work, and to be honest, I didn't feel like I could spare those few hours...but I was SO glad I went anyway. It ended up being a much needed break from spending too much time at the computer, and I came home feeling refreshed and ready to return to work (which can be hard after you've left the house to do something fun). I ended up crossing off everything on my to-do list, even some of the things that had been eluding me all week. The show was smaller than I was expecting, but it was probably for the best because each booth was stuffed with colorful fabrics, notions, sewing machines, and gadjets. I thought that 2pm on Friday would be slow, and it probably was,  relatively speaking. Considering that there was quite a crowd and walking the floor was an exercise in patience at t...

Last weekend was one of my favorite yarny events of the season, YarnCon! I love this show because it focuses solely on independent makers, and this year's was the biggest and best yet. Vendor booths spilled out into the hallway and up into the balcony of the venue, and I think that this was the most varied and interesting collection of vendors yet. There were a lot more hand dyers this year, and all of them really brought their A games: unique yarns, gorgeous colorways, and LOTS to choose from. It was great to see so many returning vendors (Why Knot, Brew City Yarns, & Yarn Geek come to mind), but I would say that more than half were new to me, which made exploring the show floor really exciting. It really seemed like there was something for everyone, with each vendor bringing something unique to the mix. I did see a lot of the speckled yarns and gradients which are still really popular, and there were even more mini skeins for sale than I think I've ever seen at the ...

Today didn't start as expected. I woke up in Kansas City, after spending 7 hours on the Amtrak train from Chicago to KC yesterday. I was hoping to see my grandmother one last time, but very early this morning (around 3am), I'm told she passed peacefully while all of us were sleeping. I thought about postponing this entry until next week, but my grandmother actually read my blog regularly (with the help of my mom) and she would have loved to see this post, especially all of the sheep photos. So after debating all day, I am finally posting what I wrote on the train ride down here.  One of my favorite fall traditions is the annual trip to Jefferson, WI with my upstairs neighbor, Lauren, to attend the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival. My husband had the weekend off and decided to join us this year, and all three of us hit the road on Saturday morning.  There were a lot of the usual suspects at the show, along with some new faces, too. Every year, I look at the Jennie t...

Every 2 years, the Handweavers Guild of America (HGA) holds Convergence at a different location in the US - and for this year, it happened to be taking place in Milwaukee, WI, which is just a hop, skip and a jump from Chicago. It also happened to coincide with Stitches Midwest in Schaumburg, IL; rather than going to both, I opted to attend the event that I've never been to that is technically further away from where I live, but much less of a horrific drive, if you ask me (or anyone who lives in Chicago proper - are you taking notes, Stitches Midwest organizers who are definitely not reading this blog??). Anyway, my pal Lauren and I roadtripped to Milwaukee on Saturday to check out the Convergence marketplace and see some old friends - we both have spun on Team Louet for Spinzilla for the past 3 years, so of course we had to say hello to Dave from Louet: L-R: Dave, Lauren, and Me. Gotta love convention center lighting. The marketplace was small but had a nice selection of ...

I was pretty psyched to hear about the Ply Away retreat in my hometown of Kansas City (brought to you by the editors of Ply Magazine), and knew that it was quite likely I'd end up going, since I had a free place to stay in town with my family. This year has been off to a busy start, so why not include a short little jaunt to Kansas City this month? I flew down on Thursday with the intention of spending part of Friday and Saturday at the marketplace, and then taking my first-ever official spinning class on Sunday morning - Fractal Spinning with Jillian Moreno. That's more or less how things played out, though there was the added element of some family stuff mixed in - my grandpa was released from rehab after emergency hip replacement surgery a few months back, only to fall down, sprain his wrist, and - eventually - be readmitted to the care facility he was released from 48 hours prior within the time span of my visit. Thankfully he is doing quite well now, and I was glad I wa...

YarnCon is absolutely my favorite yarn/fiber show in the Chicagoland area, and this past weekend didn't disappoint. This year I was a full-on vendor, presiding over the Bijou Basin Ranch booth while the owners, Carl and Eileen, each had their own BBR booth at DFW in Texas and YarnFest in Colorado, respectively. Thankfully, I had help in the form of Lindy from Balwen Woodworks , who was sharing the space and handled most of the behind-the-scenes logistics. It was a great two days, and I especially enjoyed meeting people who made a point to stop by to say they followed me on Instagram and/or read my blog. It's always a surprise to me for some reason, I guess I think that once I write a post or publish a photo, it just goes out in the ether and no one bothers to look at it? Anyway, it was nice to meet some of you in person and talk about how much we love yarn. That's always a good conversation to have. Though I didn't stick to my "no buying yarn" rule, I t...