handmade by stefanie

Over the last few weeks, a lot of knitting-related goodies have "accidentally" found their way into my house. First, I treated myself to a wrist ruler bracelet from I Love Handles after finding a 10% coupon code here . It's already come in handy when knitting while out and about! When I dug my Arwen Cardigan out of storage a few weeks ago, I realized that it could probably benefit from some sort of closure. Once upon a time, I'd sewn on a very tiny and ineffective hook and eye closure; it has since fallen off, and I will just be honest with you here: I'm too lazy to sew it back on. I've tried using shawl pins to keep it closed, and while they're effective, they look a little strange. Then I spotted this post on Instagram from one of my favorite bloggers, Miso Crafty Knits, where she used this closure from JUL on a sweater, and before I knew it, I'd ordered one for myself (act surprised, it's also black). What appeals to me is that it...

I know this isn't the first time I've mentioned it, but it really seems like everyone I know is expecting a baby in the next 6 months. Seriously, I am starting to lose track - or rather, I would, if I didn't keep a running list in Trello . At any rate, when I was sent skein of Winter Silk yarn from Mountain Colors to try out (yes, it was free!) I thought this was the perfect opportunity to get started on my ever-growing queue of baby gifts. Mountain Colors Mountain Silk yarn in Harmony Cottonwood The colorway is the perfect kind of non-gender-specific colorway I love to use for baby knits; I figure, if they know whether or not they'll be having a boy or a girl ahead of time, they'll be drowning in blue or pink. As for the yarn itself, it's a 50/50 blend of wool and silk with a lovely hand; very soft with just enough drape. Though it isn't superwash (something I try to take into consideration when knitting for new parents), I still think it's a gre...

In today's post, I'll be talking about how to successfully knit (or crochet!) with hand-dyed and variegated yarns!  Each skein of hand-dyed yarn is unique and often has subtle variations that might not be evident in the skein til you begin to knit with it. Shaded solids are often the easiest to manage when knitting a larger project, while variegated yarns behave differently depending on the dye process.  A selection of hand-dyed yarns. A general rule of thumb for hand-dyed yarns is to alternate skeins of yarn every couple of rows to minimize differences within the dye lot. Yes, I know it sounds fussy, but trust me - it works and it's worth the extra effort! Alternating skeins tricks the eye to blend the colors of each row, which makes it the knitted piece appear more uniform. Not only is this a handy trick when knitting with skeins from the same  dye lot, it also works if you are knitting with skeins from  different  dye lots! Don't believe me? Let's se...