handmade by stefanie

Over the weekend, I began my preparations to make the Warm in Here Thrummed Mittens from Marly Bird's Mittens & Gloves Galore class on Craftsy (you can read my full class review here ). This has been in my queue for a while now, and I have to say there have been many days I've wished for thrummed mittens, including last Friday when it was blustery and snowing here in Chicago! When I worked at Lorna's Laces , I dyed a bunch of Wooltop in various colors to use in needle felting projects...and since they never really happened, I thought this would be the perfect way to put them to good use. Plus, they happen to look pretty good with the yarn I picked out, some pretty multicolored yarn from Knit One Crochet Too . As you can see, I made a big o' pile of thrums this weekend - over 100, in fact! I hope that's enough, but I still have plenty of leftover fiber if I need to make more. Tonight I'm going to do my gauge swatch and then cast on for my first mitten....

Just one more week til I can reveal the details of my secret knitting (and crochet) projects! Luckily, I have plenty of other goodies to share between now and then. For example, my first shipment of the Fresh Stitches Just Add Stuffing Kit Club arrived last Thursday - it's a cute little crab! I also ordered some yarn from Doodlebug for the express purpose of crocheting even more amigurumi projects. I did a test knit for Kelbourne Woolens earlier this year and fell in love with Organik , which is a luscious blend of organic merino, alpaca and silk. Needless to say, it's a really beautiful yarn! Aaaaand if you still need some gifties for your fibery friends (or perhaps yourself!), Craftsy has some cool new stuff on sale ! Today is the last day to place your order for guaranteed delivery by Christmas, incidentally. You're welcome.

I'm teaming up with Alysson from The Sweatshop of Love and Sam from The Wool Dispensary to bring you these Button Bunny Kits containing everything you need to make a trio of adorable critters! Each kit includes: 1 printed pattern 1 full skein of Greater Poison and 30g/50 yds of contrasting color for pockets (you may choose from an array of colors!) 3 pairs of safety eyes 3 buttons Plus, each kit comes in your very own reusable Wool Dispensary project bag!  They'll be for sale this Saturday, November 19th at the DIY Trunk Show here in Chicago - look for them in the Sweatshop of Love booth !

it's true, the invasion begins this afternoon, just in time for the renegade craft fair this weekend!  so since you'll already be in the neighborhood, go ahead and drop by nina 's to see what's new (alien hand puppets alien hand puppets alien hand puppets) and squish some yarn!  and now for the back story:  (or, why is a thirty-year-old woman so obsessed with alien hand puppets?) last fall i was making lots of little finger puppets using leftover bits of sock yarn for a group show i did with my friends at beans and bagels.  at some point, i was skype-ing with my nephew, who always wants to see what toys i've been making, so i started showing him the finger puppets.  he picked out a favorite, and i filed it away for future reference.  fast-forward to late spring, when i needed a quick-knitting something to send to said nephew, who was graduating kindergarten.  and thus, the alien hand puppet was born!  you know the rest, if you've been read...