handmade by stefanie

Being a handspinner has its perks: you can create the exact yarn you want in terms of fiber content, color, and structure, provided you have the proper skill and materials. If you don't spin, you have to rely on the yarns you find in shops and at fiber festivals, which means that you can't always get your hands on a specific fiber, especially if it happens to be rare. The good news is that yarn producers are starting to get hip to the whole breed-specific thing, and now there are all kinds of unusual yarns and blends available to folks who might otherwise not encounter them outside of a fiber festival. Over the years I've enjoyed exploring specific breeds of sheep, from Polwarth to Gotland and all points in between. Last year, I purchased some Shetland batts at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival from Whispering Pines , a small farm in Wisconsin that raises registered Shetland Sheep. My fiber came with a photo of their sheep and some stats on the specific one who...

Confession time: I've been spinning yarn faster than I can knit with it (and let's not even talk about yarn purchases), so it's always exciting when I can find a good project to pair with handspun yarn. I had a ton of Swalesdale wool fiber that I'd hoped to turn into a sweater, but I changed my mind when I started spinning it because it seemed a little too scratchy for next-to-skin wear (plus, it had a ton of kemp and VM). It does, however, make a fabulous knitted pillow, and I thought the natural and the hand dyed green yarn would look great in my living room as an oversized pillow . I used US 17 needles and cast on 40 stitches, knitting each row for a simple garter stitch to make each piece, which I then crocheted together - so easy! I was able to buy a pillow insert on Amazon for less than $10, making this a pretty affordable project. When I spotted this free pattern from Manos del Uruguay , I wanted to knit it in the called-for yarn ( Serpentina ), but...

After a productive weekend, I am down to just two knitting projects on the needles: the shawl that I started last week, and a new hat project using some yarn I'll be reviewing soon. For the shawl, cashmere is the yarn of choice yet again - I'm knitting the  Inauguration Consolation pattern using 3 colors of yarn from Lux Adorna . I started a new hat project using a free pattern from Ravelry, Lake Reed by Asita Krebs. The yarn is a new option from Dalegarn called Lerke Pluss , and I'm excited to give it a try. I think it'll be great for this cabled stitch pattern! I also resurrected my Dillinger hat from time out (if you recall, I'd made a glaring error in the colorwork several inches back). On Sunday I frogged to where I got off track, and now I've resumed knitting - so far, so good...and Robing REALLY wanted to be in this shot, incidentally: I warped a new project on my loom this week, another scarf using some handspun yarn: And, of ...

This week is all about knitting sleeves! I finished the body of my Rockling Cardigan and started on the sleeves; usually I prefer two-at-a-time, but I just couldn't fathom doing that while managing several giant balls of the bulky yarn I'm knitting with. So, against my better judgement, I am knitting the sleeves one at a time on DPNs - but on the plus side, I finally get to give my Sirka Row Counter a proper test drive! I'll share more about the Sirka on a later post once I've used it more, but so far I am totally digging it. Last weekend, I started a baby sweater for one of the few people I will accept commission work from at this point (hint: they are all very closely related to me by blood). I'm knitting a pattern I've used before ( Seed Stitch Yoke Cardi ) from one of my favorite baby knitting books, 60 Quick Baby Knits . Since a few of my friends are also expecting later this spring/summer, I am hoping this motivates me to knit some more baby stuff ...

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 ...

As you probably guessed, I've been working hard to finish projects that are already on the needles so that I can start a few new projects when I'm in Germany for the H+H Show. Over the weekend, I finished my secret knitting project of blobby proportions - it took a good, solid afternoon of watching a Royals spring training game to finish that sucker up, but I think it turned out well and I plan to share the FO photos next week, once it's been gifted. After that, I set my sights on the Tortie Cat Socks ; on Sunday night, I finished the toes, and this week I am now working on the afterthought heels so that I can officially move this project into the "done" pile! I did start another handspun baby bear hat so that I had a simple knit I could take on-the-go; on Monday, I found myself randomly at the International Home & Housewares show at McCormick Place here in Chicago, which was a total trip. Seriously, that show was bonkers. I was so dumbfounded, the only...

You may have noticed I took Monday off from blogging (or perhaps you didn't notice at all, except for now I just drew attention to that fact). I took a four-day weekend to celebrate my "birthday staycation," which was pretty much just four days filled with doing as many craft projects as possible, mostly of the knitting variety. I probably made the most noticeable progress on my yak sweater , which is so. close. to. being. done. Please excuse the indoor photos and lighting, it has been really dark and rainy all week! Check out that oh-so-subtle gradient yoke: The Royals-inspired striped baby cardi with my Spinzilla prize yarn has also seen quite a bit of progress since last week: I continued to work on my one-pattern-repeat-a-day quota for the Miya Shawl KAL, and over the weekend I passed the halfway point - just look at how loooooong and hard-to-get-in-frame it's become! The spinning wheel also got dusted off as I embarked on a sheep to sweater project ...

I've been working on all of my WIPs pretty diligently since last week, but it really doesn't seem like much has been accomplished. There is, however, measurable progress - for instance, I am just 3 inches away from finishing my yak cardi sleeves and joining them to the body of the sweater for the yoke. I've almost finished the left side of the Broad Shoulders sweater (more on that here ), and my Miya shawl continues to grow. My entrelac cowl has definitely grown since last week - I am just zooming along on each wedge section. Surprisingly, this turned out to be a really great on-the-go knitting project, which is why I've made so much progress. It also got an awesome new home in the form of a project bag made for me by Kemper of the Junkyarn Podcast . Thanks, Kemper! Lastly, I've added a few more dino parts to the mix, though I'm not sure I'm going to finish by the end of the month for the Toy KAL I was kinda sorta but not really participating...

Week 1 of the Tour de Fleece is almost to a close, and I only have one finished skein to show for it. It's a lovely skein, for sure - 4oz of Rambouillet from the Cloudlover Fiber Club's February shipment (the colorway is named Paper Hearts). I've got approximately 126 yards of a 2-ply worsted weight, which will be great for more baby-related projects, I think! You might be wondering what happened with the Museum Grudge Match spinning project that I shared on Wednesday - by all accounts, I should be finished with this handspun project by now. And I would have been, if only my wheel hadn't broken on Wednesday night! I had just sat down to spin after a VERY long work day. I wasn't even five minutes in when the unthinkable happened: the small plastic/rubber piece which secures the footman to the treadle simply gave out. To be fair, this wheel has seen a LOT of action since I bought it used 3 years ago: at least two trips to Kansas City, two Tour de Fleeces, and tw...

Well, some of you might have already caught this post which accidentally went live LAST weekend. Oops! Thanks, Blogger publisher, for not accepting the publish date I entered the first time...ok, fine, that might  have been operator error on my part! At any rate, I apoligize if this gives you deja vu, and for those of you who are just now seeing this post for the first time: just pretend you didn't read this first paragraph! Ahem. I've been making some random toys lately and haven't gotten around to sharing them on the blog, so today's post is a hodgepodge of some toys that you might have already seen if you follow me on Instagram. After making my contributions to the #ProjectGnomeDiplomacy, I decided to keep with the tiny theme and made a wee little sheep with a tiny alpaca for a buddy: Keeping in the theme, I also crocheted this tiny snowman , which was a past FreshStitches kit club shipment that has been sitting in my WIP basket for several months. ...

My first Curl was finished at the beginning of the month! I started Caesious way back in January for the informal KAL in Hunter Hammersen's Ravelry group . Things kept popping up to distract me from working on it, but at last I got back on task and finished it up. The stitch pattern was easy to memorize and perfect for my variegated handspun yarn, spun from Malabrigo Nube . It's squishy and soft and fun to wear; I'm thinking of adding a button so that I can take advantage of the openwork stitch pattern which can serve as de facto buttonholes. I love that I was able to use up pretty much all of my yarn (I had a small amount left over which I used to wrap a birthday present); that's the beauty of the patterns from Curls - you just knit until you run out of yarn! I definitely plan to knit more patterns from this book! If you missed my review, click here to check it out . Have a crafty weekend!

Earlier this week, I gifted this crocheted owl pillow to my secret santa from my knitting group...none other than Allyson from the Sweatshop of Love ! I used the Owl Pillow pattern from Ana Paula Rimoli's book, Amigurumi at Home , and Swish Worsted, which is a lovely merino yarn from Knit Picks. Turns out it's great for crochet! Since I don't have an actual work party to attend this time of year, the holiday party that my knitting group throws is pretty much THE celebration of the season for me (other than weekly visits to the Christkindlmarket). It was a great party this year, and my secret santa (Laura from Ink Whale Design - we are a talented group!!) spoiled me with some gorgeous yarn from Hazel Knits and these hilarious gift tags & card: My other project for this week was answering the call put out on the Spinzilla blog for handspun bows made from yarns spun in this year's event. They'll be using the bows to create a colorful banner display at t...

After finishing such a long-term project as the chevron socks of doom , I decided to embark on some instant-gratification projects by making lots of tiny toys. There really is nothing more satisfying than a project you can make in a day or two that is also incredibly cute! I started out by mining my leftover yarn bin to make a Compact Cat in Pajamas : I also made a Little Luchador with some leftover yarn; I modified the pattern a bit to match a photo of a Lucha Libre wrestler I found online. I crocheted a stripey slug , which was - spoiler alert! - this month's FreshStitches Kit Club shipment. I love how it turned out! Last but not least, I finished my handspun squirrel late last night! Instead of using floofy yarn to knit the tail (as the pattern called for), I just made it with the same yarn I used for the rest of the squirrel. Some people on Ravelry added fringe to it afterwards in lieu of eyelash/novelty yarn, but I think I might just leave it as-is. Thanks fo...

Over the holiday weekend, I finished my handspun kerchief-turned shawl ! I still have a few yards left over after binding off, as I wasn't up for playing yarn chicken. The end result is an extremely soft, squishy triangle scarf that will undoubtedly keep me warm all winter long. I used the recipe from Joelle Hoverson's Last-Minute Knitted Gifts , which is a great source of knitting inspiration, especially when it comes to finding the perfect pattern for handspun yarn. I absolutely love all of the colors and the texture: Garter is fast becoming one of my favorite stitches! This week, I also finished my Stegosaurus for the FreshStitches/Spud & Chloë CAL : I have enough yarn left over to make an inverse version of the dino, too, so that will be a fun project to revisit later this month! Incidentally, it's not too late to join in on this CAL - there are prizes you can win just for finishing before the end of the month! Also, on Wednesday night I fi...