handmade by stefanie

Ever since its launch one year ago, Pom Pom Quarterly has been one of those publications I knew I should keep my eye on. Each issue has had at least a few patterns that piqued my curiosity, but I never purchased an issue til now: with postage and the exchange rate, I wound up paying about $20 USD for the printed copy (which includes a PDF download as well). I know that seems pretty steep, but the Summer 2013 issue celebrating Pom Pom's one-year anniversary is just too good to pass up...and worth every penny! The paper stock is good quality (and smells great, if that's the kind of thing you're into!), and every page is printed in full color. There are many photos of each pattern - all 7 patterns include well-written instructions with schematics and charts and are mostly knit with indie-dyed yarn (Yarn Love, The Uncommon Thread, Skein, and Sweet Georgia, for example). There are three interesting feature articles and two pages with technique illustrations, plus a deliciou...

For Malabrigo March , I bought a beautiful skein of Arroyo in Plomo that was begging to become a sweater of some sort. Of course, I only purchased one skein, so that means I'll be making a cropped cardigan or shrug of some sort. After scouring Ravelry for something that matched what was in my head, I decided that I needed to DIY it. As luck would have it, I was researching apps for an article that will soon be published, and came across Raglanify from ShhStudios , a knitting pattern generator for making top-down sweaters with raglan shaping, as the name would imply. I purchased this app from the Google Play store for $0.99 (there is also an iPhone/iPad version for the same price) and immediately fired it up!  The screenshots provided in the app store are pretty much exactly what you get: after choosing your design elements and gauge information, you simply input your measurements and written instructions are generated. A lot of reviews mention the fact that it doesn'...