handmade by stefanie

I finally have an FO to share this week - these simple striped mittens using both skeins of yarn from my first shipment of Mountain Meadow Wool's Legacy Yarn Club : I used a free pattern from Kelbourne Woolens, the Lychee Mittens , and two skeins of  Mountain Meadow Wool Tweed Worsted (you can read more about the yarn here ). This was also the perfect opportunity to use my new mitten blockers! I really enjoyed working with this yarn - it just felt good in my hands. If I had to elaborate more, the best I can do is describe it as crisp, the perfect blend of softness while still feeling substantial and durable. Though it's it's a 3-ply, it wasn't the slightest bit splitty as I knit. Hooray for finished mittens! The resulting mittens feel so warm and cozy; I could totally see myself making a sweater out of it down the road (you know, when I finish the two sweaters currently on my needles and work through the various sweater quantities of yarn still lurkin...

Of the two mitten projects I've finished most recently, I've already lost mates for both somehow. I know, I know - it's quite the talent. The first pair of mittens were knit back in October for the Great Northern KAL - click here for a refresher if you missed this one .  The second pair I finished earlier this month and didn't get a chance to share a proper photograph here on the blog... in fact, they didn't even get blocked before I started using them and promptly lost one of the pair. All I have to prove that the knitting is done is this photo from Instagram : If those mittens look a little strange, it's because I used this pattern to keep the index finger free from the rest of the fingers, switching to Silverspun yarn for the tips of the thumbs and index fingers. The idea was that I could wear them when playing Pokemon Go in colder temperatures, an idea that wold have been AMAZING if I hadn't already lost its mate! So, now I hav...

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 ...

My pals Leah and Teresa are working on a book of designs inspired by Twin Peaks, and as a Kickstarter backer, I have been getting early access to each pattern as they are finished. The latest is the Laura + Maddy Mittens , for which they hosted a KAL on Ravelry recently. I knit my mittens with a limited edition yarn from Bijou Basin Ranch called Big Bijou Bliss (aka BBB), which is aworsted weight version of their sport weight yarn, Bijou Bliss. Both are a blend of yak and cormo wool, and I chose a skein of BBB in a hand-dyed colorway from their Indie Dyer series - since snagging this skein at the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival, I believe it has sold out, but there are plenty more options here on their website if you are interested. I made the smallest size option to fit my weirdly tiny hands (they are seriously small for a person of my stature...I exaggerate noe), and also shortened up the cuffs since I am not a fan of extremely long mittens (there are helpful in...

I feel like there's hardly been any progress since last week's WIP Wednesday post, but sometimes that's just the nature of crafting, isn't it? I actually had  made some progress on my 30 Day Sweater - on Friday night I took off for the sleeves and got a few inches of the body knit on Saturday before I decided I needed to rip back and add a few more raglan increases. As you can see, I've caught up to where I'd been pre-frog (and maybe even gotten a little further!), though I feel like I've made very little progress on this project. My only other WIP this week is the slow-but-steady Robots vs. Downtown mittens: Hey, look! That's most of a robot! I must be the world's slowest mitten knitter, because it's taken me three weeks to get to this point. I really need to pick up the pace, because I have a lot of KALs and design work which will need to get done in the weeks to come...and I hate to leave these mittens languishing in hibernation! ...

Now that my holiday gift knitting is complete, I've started a few projects for myself. The first is something that has been in my queue for a while now: Robots vs. Downtown. I'm using a skein each of ShiBui Sock in Peacock and Wasabi - one of my favorite color combinations! I'd like to knit myself more colorwork mittens as a general rule (especially since I already have some really excellent books), and I had already picked out some yarn from my stash to make these mittens. I purchased the pattern back in November when it was on sale as part of the Indie Designer Gift-Along . Though I didn't end up participating, I really liked the concept and hope they do the event again this year so I can actually take part this time! My other WIP is a sweater I started over the weekend using Canopy Fingering from the Fibre Company. I'm using the 30-Day Sweater framework to design it as I go; I'm not sure if it will actually be done in 30 days, but I am looking f...

Last weekend, I put the finishing touches on my Thrummed Mittens , then gave them a nice blocking in Wrapture  (I could still smell the lingering jasmine during this photo shoot)! As luck would have it, my husband got a very fancy digital camera as an early birthday present from his parents, and he took some really great photos of my finished mittens...a process I apparently didn't enjoy. Consequently, he's now going to be doing a LOT more photos for my patterns and blog posts! I mean, it's night and day, the difference between these photos and the photos I've been using from our much-older digital camera (or my cell phone...or instagram...). You can get all the details on the yarn and fiber used in this project on my Ravelry project page . I used to pattern and video instructions from Marly Bird's excellent Craftsy class, Mittens and Gloves Galore ( click here for a full review and a special discounted link for my blog readers)! I am so excited to bu...

Amazingly enough, I did finish my Breezy Bolero by the end of the weekend; it is currently blocking and awaiting buttons! Consequently,  I only have two projects on the needles at the moment, plus I'm in between crochet projects. The first WIP is a pair of socks that I haven't blogged about in a while, as they went on the backburner for a bit. They are my own design (which will be out at some point this summer - as soon as I can manage things) and I'm knitting them with some beautiful hand-dyed sock yarn from Fleece Artist . My second WIP is a pair of thrummed mittens from Marly Bird's Craftsy Class , which I blogged about earlier this week. It's probably a weird time of year to start knitting what's sure to be the warmest pair of mittens I'll ever own, but that's just how things go sometimes. Thrummed mittens have been on my mental to-knit list for a few months, and I really could have used some super-warm mittens these past few months. Alas, now...

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....

Happy FO Friday! I finished my finito mittens for Malabrigo March and have been wearing them all week! They are so soft and warm, and it was surprisingly easy to convert the Waiting for Spring fingerless mitt pattern to mittens (and I still only used one skein of Finito !). I also made some yoga socks over the weekend - these have been in my queue for quite some time, and I can't believe I waited so long to make them. The pattern is from one of my favorite books,  Knitted Socks East and West  by the late Judy Sumner. I used the  Obi  pattern with just a few minor modifications to whip these up! They were a great way to destash some mystery yarn, too; I'm 98% certain this was a skein of alpaca yarn from Blue Sky, but of course the label is long gone. I split the skein by weight and used the whole thing up, save a few yards. I'm excited to test them out; it's been way too long since I've dusted off the yoga mat, in part because our living room is a bit drafty in...

Two of my three proposed Malabrigo March projects are in progress! I started the Finito mitts over the weekend; since I couldn't work on my Rocky Coast til the extra skein of yarn arrived, I spent most of my knitting time on this project. Since I was hoping to convert the Waiting for Spring pattern to mittens, I split the skein by weight and was happy to discover that I would have enough yarn to do so! The first mitten is complete save the thumb, and mitten #2 is proceeding quite nicely as well.  I also started Maple the Moose over the weekend; I am nearly done with the second main body piece! I love crocheting with singly-ply yarns such as Malabrigo's Merino Worsted , and this particular colorway - Cognac - is working up beautifully. On a different note, I've come across some really great photos this week via various internet wormholes that it would be criminal not  to share here. You can see even more unbearably cute animal photos on my Awesome Animals Pintere...

Click here for 50% off your class registration! This review is long overdue; I was originally hoping to post it last December, but holiday gift knitting and crocheting took over all of my brain power, and it became my white whale on my blogging to-do list. Honestly, I have to thank my husband for finally getting me back in the class review swing of things - if he hadn't needed a new pair of gloves because his  current gloves  (knit in 2008, mind you) kept springing holes, I might still be procrastinating. I've taken several Craftsy classes in the last year, but I still watched the introduction, even though I feel well-versed in all of the bells and whistles the  Craftsy platform provides. It's always nice to get to know the instructor (although in this case, I've had the pleasure of getting to know Marly at trade shows and other knitting events), plus she outlines what the class will cover and shows each of the projects that will be made along the ...

Here's one more project that I've finished recently but not shared on my blog: the Svalbard Mittens by Kate Gagnon Osborn, which use two skeins of Tundra . They are so soft and warm! I finished them right before Christmas and have been wearing them a bunch on this trip. We'll be heading back to Chicago tomorrow, this blog should be back to its regularly scheduled programming later this week. Wishing all of my readers a happy, healthy and crafty 2013!

I'm nearly done with my holiday gift knitting....but just as soon as I get closer to my goal, I decide to add a few more project to my list! What is wrong with me?!? Since I can't really show you those projects, this will be a really  short update today (for more WIPs, stop by the Tami's Amis blog ). After completing my two   biggest holiday WIPs last week, I decided to dedicate some time to work on my neglected  Svalbard Mittens . As you can see, they are coming along slowly but surely! I've made a few mistakes on the cables, but they look like an intentional design feature  since I'm knitting them two-at-a-time and the mistakes are at least mirrored in both mittens. Plus, if someone is close enough to my hands to notice, I can slap them in the face. That's my plan, anyhow. On a more serious note, I'd like to direct you to this post on the Fresh Stitches Blog . If you are stunned and saddened by what happened last week in Newtown, CT, here is a chance...

I  know it's not knitting-related, but I'd like to update everyone on my band's Kickstarter project which is coming down to the wire - as I write this, we have 51 hours to reach our funding goal (we're just $243 away). You can get the details on my initial blog post or even on our Kickstarter project page , but the long and short of it is that we wanted to do a series of 7" vinyl singles with really cool hand-drawn art. Each single will feature cover art by a different artist (my husband Tyler, a few of our friends, and me) and, let's face it, vinyl is just awesome. We'll also be offering MP3 versions of the songs for our fans that don't own record players (or just want to listen to them on their iPod). The songs are already recorded, mixed and mastered - we just need to raise the funds to press them to vinyl and release them!  Click here to make your pledge if you need some new music to knit to, especially if you need to find that transcendent...

My Narwhal Mittens have been done for several weeks - they turned out so well! I used Lhasa Wilderness from Bijou Basin Ranch - I love the way the hand-dyed goldenrod looks agains the natural brown color. They are sooooo incredibly soft, too - the yak/bamboo blend is nothing short of heavenly. These will be my extra-warm mittens of choice this winter - yak fiber is very warm and insulating, plus the colorwork provides a thicker fabric, all the better to keep my hands toasty in the sub-zero winter months. Pattern: Narwhal Mittens by Ysolda Teague Yarn: Lhasa Wilderness in Goldenrod and Natural Brown Needles: Knitter's Pride US #3 Dreamz DPNs Modifications: No inner lining....I like to live dangerously.

Lately, socks seem to languish on the needles.  I'm not sure why - I love knitting them!  And yet, the colorwork socks I started last month have been cryogenically frozen since before TNNA...n o real reason, but I just can't seem to progress past the heel turn: I'm having similar issues of inertia with my toe-up socks . While I love the yarn and the pattern, second sock syndrome - something I've never had to deal with in my seven or so years of sock knitting - has set in. Getting the toe started on sock #2 is my main stumbling block; I'm either too tired or stressed or pressed for time to sit down and work through the cast-on and first few rounds of toe shaping.  Here's #1 - it looks great, right?  If only it had a friend! Meanwhile, my Narwhal Mittens are also progressing at a glacier-like pace. I started them at the beginning of June ( before the colorwork socks but after the toe-up socks, for those of you keeping track) and have yet to proceed to mi...