handmade by stefanie

First off, congrats to Laura (aka skiddoo0 on Instagram), who is the winner of last week's Kraemer Yarns project kit giveaway. I'll contact you shortly to arrange the delivery of your prize. Many thanks to everyone who entered this giveaway! Frogging Failed FO's Most of us have a few projects that didn't turn out as planned. Some Finished Objects (FOs) fall out of the rotation in favor of newer, more exciting projects - if you knit or crochet for long enough, it's bound to happen. But there are always those finished projects that fall short of expectations: perhaps the gauge was a bit off, the colors didn't play together as well as you'd hoped, or the yarn subbed in proved to be a poor choice, even though you were certain it was a great choice at the time. Only recently have I been able to spot those dealbreakers which resulted in an unloved/unused FO before  I reach the binding off or finishing stage; earlier in my knitting and crocheting, I woul...

My main project continues to be the Pokemon Hunting mittens , because I really don't want to lose my fingers to frostbite, but obviously I am not going to stop playing Pokemon Go just because it's cold out. I mean, this week's update includes Pikachu in Santa Hats! Come on! Anyway, I realized on Saturday morning that I had mis-read the pattern and didn't work P2 before and after the gusset stitch markers. OOPS! It was an easy (if not time consuming) fix to drop all of the stitches down and use a crochet hook to pick them back up the other way. But then I knit all of the thumb increases and realized that my tiny thumb did not need quite so many stitches....and I ripped back a bit to modify the pattern to use less thumb stitches than written. On the plus side, they are coming along - yesterday I finished the index finger and started the mitten part for the rest of the fingers! Honestly, if I weren't so sick of ripping back, I would probably go all the ...

It really doesn't seem like much has happened since this time last week, but I have  been knitting! I resurrected a sock WIP, which was my focus for a lot of this past weekend: Unfortunately, I don't think I like the new type of heel construction I used, and I am leaning heavily towards frogging back to re-knit the heel. And the project I started last week from Curls 2? I made a mistake and didn't notice for a few rows, and decided I should just rip it out and start again, since I wasn't very far along to begin with (it's the project below on the left). However, I did start the Rockling Cardigan that I was swatching for last week, though I'm not very far along (it's the project below on the right). And that's pretty much it - I'm still working on the crochet handspun blanket, but it doesn't look terribly different from the last time I shared a photo.  I do have an FO to share this Friday, so see you then! 

ribbit? Well, there's no other way to say it, so I'll just come out with it:  I lost my velocity on the oscilloscope shawl . Once I hit the halfway point - which is actually where things get easier, since you begin decreasing - I lost interest. It's a rare day indeed when I contemplate frogging a project when it's halfway done, but I have my reasons: 1. It became apparent that I wouldn't finish it in time for the wedding I wanted to wear it to. 2. The weather report for that particular weekend said it would be far too warm for anything woolen....which ended up being the complete opposite, and I ended up having to buy jeans at Forever 21 because I was freezing to death in the summer skirts that I'd packed. 3. I messed up the first few rows of the decrease chart. 4. Though I could fix those mistakes fairly easily, I am too lazy to do so. It's a big decision to abandon ship halfway through the ride, but I'm not really enjoying the ride, so why spe...