handmade by stefanie

Brown Sheep is one of the first yarns I ever knit with, and they have always had a special place in my heart - so when they asked me to team up for a mystery knit-along, of course I said yes! Now, I know that not everyone likes a mystery knit-along (or MKAL for short). In fact, I swore them off after being "tricked" into doing intarsia one too many times by Stephen West (said with tongue firmly in cheek). Not all mysteries are a delight to solve, but I promise this one will be.  My goal was to create a fun-to-knit shawl with an interesting detail to finish things off. I don't want to give too many things away, but if you like slipped stitches, stripes, and bold mosaic motifs all wrapped up in a symmetrical triangular shawl, then I think you will be happy with the finished project.  Not only that, but the pattern is available for FREE if you sign up for the Brown Sheep newsletter using this link . And if you want to buy the yarn I used for the pattern, you can pick 1 skein...

At last, one of the "secret knitting" projects I've been working on recently can be shared with the rest of the world! I am super-excited to share my newest design: the Inverness Shrug . It's knit in one of my favorite yarn bases from Bijou Basin Ranch, Himalayan Trail (for more about why I love this yarn, click here !). I was asked to design this shrug to be part of their Outlander-inspired pattern collection , and when I think of time-traveling historical romances, apparently I think "textured cables" (confession time: I haven't read the books or watched the TV show...but I've read the cliff's notes). I just couldn't get them out of my mind as I knit swatch after swatch to find the perfect stitch pattern for this shrug. Though I have many designs in my back catalog , this is my first-ever garment. I was actually kind of nervous about it, even though a shrug is basically like dipping your toe in the garment pool, right?! Still, the ...

Though the Caesious KAL is over(ish), I'm still plugging away at mine since I pretty much only work on it outside of the house - it's great for riding the CTA and taking to knit night! There really isn't much of a difference since last week, so I thought I'd go with a more interesting photo this week just to spice things up. Over the weekend, I started the first sleeve on my Block Island Pullover - although I didn't make it far: Both of these are slow going, though, because I have to spend most of my crafting time working on two new top-secret designs! Well, I am allowed to share some sneak peeks here and there...for instance, this beautiful and colorful skein of yarn came into my life recently, and it is going to become something fun! Of course, I wouldn't be me if I didn't totally distract myself by starting an new project which will likely take years to complete. Seriously, what was I thinking when I decided to start a worsted weight mite...