handmade by stefanie

My nephew Ethan turned one earlier this week, so of course I couldn't resist crocheting a few things from my favorite new book ( Modern Baby Crochet ) to celebrate! I started with the big project, the Asymmetrical Basket-Weave blanket . I chose my favorite superwash yarn, Berroco Vintage , and whipped up this blanket in just 12 days! Here is a shot of it blocking in my yarn room: ...And a finished shot - I can't believe how well it turned out! This is the biggest crochet project I've ever attempted, and I have to say I was a little nervous about it. However, it turned out well and I know that it will be well-loved for years to come! I had purchased an extra skein of yarn when I placed my WEBS order; since I was subbing in a yarn, I didn't want to run out! I ended up not needing my 'safety' skein of yarn, so I used it to crochet a matching Owl Hat ! In other news: Save Up to 50% on All Craftsy Classes! This weekend only, check out the  Craftsy  E...

I made significant progress on my Rocky Coast Cardigan over the weekend - by Sunday night, I was nearly done with the sleeves (I decided to knit them two-at-a-time on magic loop). Alas, I decided that I needed a little more room for my arms in order to be happy with my cardi, so I ended up frogging an entire weekend's worth of work on Monday night. I'm happy to say that it will be worth the pain, since these sleeves fit me much better the second time around. Plus, I'm still optimistic that I can be finished by the end of next weekend! Since I can't start any of my Malabrigo March projects til Friday, I found myself without a portable project to stash in my messenger bag. As a solution, I decided to crochet a few Owl Hats in the interim with yarn from my stash. I'm using the same pattern as before with the same modifications as well; the yarns used are Malabrigo Worsted in Pigeon and Knit Picks Andean Silk (which is apparently discontinued) in Imperial (fore...

Happy WIP Wednesday! I've made more progress on my Destash Dolman - now I'm up to twelve and a half stripes! On Monday night, I finished the Panoramic Stole that I started on Christmas day, which meant I was free to start a new project (or two!). I've been wanting a new pair of legwarmers, so I went shopping from my stash and decided to find the perfect pattern for the skein of The Uncommon Thread's Heavenly Fingering in Zitouni that a friend gave me last summer. The yarn is aptly named - it is incredibly soft, silky, and (you guessed it) heavenly to work with. I decided to make the Spanish Moss Legwarmers from November Knits , which I got for Christmas. That got me thinking about all of the wonderful books I received as gifts last year, or acquired at TNNA, or have had on my shelf for years.....so I decided that I would see how many projects I could make from my extensive knitting & crochet library this year, just for fun. The other project I star...