handmade by stefanie

Stitches booty! The fall yarn & fiber festival season kicked off (for me, anyway) at Stitches Midwest in Schaumburg this past weekend! I only attended the marketplace on Friday this time around; usually I go out for one or both weekend days, but to be honest, one day was totally enough since I wasn't signed up for any classes or events. I know I complain about this every year, but the drive to Schaumburg from the city is NOT fun, and since I don't have a car, I have to rely on the kindness of my knitting friends to get me out there since I'm not keen to repeat last year's Metra/shuttle experience . The marketplace seemed smaller this year, but a good mix overall (if you can excuse the three aloe/lotion vendors which were all in the same row, which seemed like an major oversight for whomever planned the vendor layout - maybe I'm the only person who notices or cares about such things?!) Anyway, there were a lot of the vendors I expected to see, and severa...

It's true, I live in something of a fiber arts bubble: my world is 24/7 yarn and fiber. So when someone tells me they aren't familiar with the work of Hunter Hammersen, I am a bit shocked - especially now, with the huge success of her new book, Curls . Since its release near the end of last year, Curls has entered its third printing, and it hit the number-one spot on Amazon in the knitting books category. It's been mentioned on tons of blogs and podcasts, and we all pretty much agree: Curls is awesome and we want to knit every single one. The concept is both simple and amazing: easy-to-wear wraps which can be knit at any gauge. Whether you prefer a sock weight shawl or want to whip up a quick bulky wrap, all you have to do is grab your needles, pick a pattern, and cast on (I'm especially looking forward to putting some of my skeins of handspun yarn to good use). As Hunter explains in the introduction, she came across an interesting shape while swatching and quickly...

I finished a baby sweater last month, but I didn't want to blog about it til I gave it to the parents-to-be! This is one of my favorite patterns from 60 Quick Baby Knits, the Seed Stitch Yoke Cardigan . I used some superwash yarn I'd hand-dyed myself back when I still worked at Lorna's Laces. The pooling turned out to be pretty interesting and almost looks like I planned it that way (though I assure you I did not!): Front Detail  Back Detail However, I think the crowning glory of this sweater is the adorable robot buttons: I recently discovered a new site called Indie Untangled , which is a way to discover awesome new folks in the fiber arts industry. You can sign up for their newsletter to be notified of shop updates, which is especially helpful for smaller businesses whose etsy shops aren't always consistently-stocked. Anyway, through Indie Untangled , I found a really awesome button-maker called Fastenation Studio , which is where I purchased t...

By popular request, I'd like to share a few more photos from last Tuesday's meeting - as you can see, there was quite a big turnout! We had a great time trying out various Knitter's Pride needles and new yarns from Berroco , Mrs. Crosby (a new hand-dyed yarn making its TNNA debut next month) and Classic Elite . I heard a lot of great feedback about the needles, especially the newest lines: Karbonz, Nova Cubics and Bamboo. As I mentioned in my presentation, Knitter's Pride is one of the many awesome companies I work with in my job with Stitchcraft Marketing , and I was really excited to share my favorite needles with everyone. When I talked about Pinterest, I mentioned that one of my favorite personal uses was to collect crafting tutorials for reference later: Another popular use for Pinterest in our industry is to create "mood boards" to guide designers' submissions for magazines, books and pattern collections:  I also talked a...

I'm visiting family in KC this week, so today's post will be a little different than the usual "anything goes" blogs I typically share with you - below is just a short list of fun fibery things that have been rocking my post-TNNA world!  1. Yarnover Truck - How much do I wish we had a yarn truck here in Chicago?! These clever folks just won the 2013 Business Innovation Award at TNNA , and rightfully so! They even have exclusive colorways and patterns from folks like Anzula and FickleKnitter . I never thought I'd say it (what with the lack of sweater weather and all), but knitters in Southern California sure are lucky! Image courtesy of FickleKnitter 2. KnitCrate subscription service: I met these folks at TNNA and they are super-awesome. Ever since then, I have been wanting to sign up for their sock yarn subscription , even though I am usually not into spending my hard-earned money on yarn I can't pick out myself. However, after getting to kn...

Today's post will be a quick one - I just wanted to spread the news about my friend's Kickstarter project to launch a US/Canada tour of her soon-to-be world-famous Tractorloom. Yep, it's a tractor...it's a loom....it's a Tractorloom! Click  here  to view the details -you can weave and plow a field at the same time! It's super cool and even won "best of show" at the Naples Grape Festival. She's taken it to nearby farmers' markets, fiber festivals, etc. and it has gotten people really excited about weaving. She wants to visit schools and other public places to educate people not only about weaving, but a host of other topics as well - the nature of farming, where our food comes from, etc. She has a really big goal to meet in order to launch this tour; one of the major expenses will be purchasing a truck that can haul the tractorloom from spot to spot, and she's hoping to find a truck that runs on veggie oil to reduce her carbon footpr...

My knitting guru's birthday was last Friday, and I wanted to think of something fun yet useful that I could make her. After combing Ravelry and my bookshelves for ideas, I finally decided that the Turtle Lunch Tote from Amigurumi on the Go would make an excellent project bag! It was actually kind of hard to give this one away, I may have to make one for myself someday soon. You can purchase this awesome book via Craftsy Deals by clicking my affiliate link! I got a few goodies in the mail this week - first, I placed an order with HaldeCraft because I wanted to try the lavender hand lotion before it was discontinued...naturally, some lip balm  (which is also being discontinued) found its way into my shopping cart, and Lorena very kindly included a bar of Lavender soap that smells absolutely heavenly. I don't usually order lavender anything  online without already being familiar with the product line and how it smells, because there is good lavender and very, very b...

Last week I received the final clue for the Fresh Stitches Mystery CAL , but it wasn't until this week that I had enough time to sit down and assemble my mystery stuffie. Now I have this super-adorable puppy to keep me company! I also received an early Christmas present from my fiber friend Leanne - a Schacht Ladybug Wheel ! Holy moly, I sure didn't see that coming, so you can imagine the look on my face when the UPS guy showed up on my doorstep with a ginormous box from The Woolery (one of our clients!). Woo hoo! Don't get me wrong, I've loved my Heavely Handspinning wheel - it's served me well these past three years. However, I've been wanting to upgrade for a while now, and even though I've only just set up my new wheel and tinkered a bit, I am already in love with my Ladybug. It's so smooth (and quiet!), not to mention adorable...I can't wait to spin my first project on it! I have a big ol' container of fiber that is ready to be...

Today's FO Friday will be a little different, since I technically don't have any FO's to show off! I do, however, have a newly-restored Featherweight Cardigan . I knit this sweater all the way back in 2009 (it doesn't seem like it was that long ago!) and in the last year or so, noticed a few small holes in the sweater sleeves. I set it aside for repairs, and, well.... you know what happened ! Meanwhile, I plan on avoiding the insanity of Black Friday like the plague today. I'm sure I'm not the only on who rather be knitting! I'm more of a Cyber Monday person myself, as I prefer to do nearly all of my shopping (no matter what day it is) from the comfort of my own home while wearing pajamas. Fellow pajama shoppers, you are in luck! From 11/23-11/26, Craftsy is running its Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sale and all classes are being offered at $19.99 or less! I have to say, I'm a serial class-taker at Craftsy . Just this year alone, I have expanded my...

I should probably start by saying that I have a design coming out in the upcoming Fresh Designs: Toys book, and I'm a huge fan of Cooperative Press and Shannon Okey. Through the Cooperative Press , Shannon has managed to publish some of the most interesting titles in the yarn industry. California Revival Knits , Extreme Double-Knitting , and now the Fresh Designs series readily spring to mind as shining examples! I volunteered myself to review the books that recently came out because I'm really excited about this series (currently out are Scarves , Shawls , Sweaters and Men ) and jumped at the opportunity to help promote my fellow Fresh Designs designers. All of the books in this series share a clean, modern graphic aesthetic. Patterns are clearly-written and laid out in a way that's easy to follow. The images of the patterns are directly followed by the pattern, which is something I appreciate (I hate having to search through a PDF document when all the photos ar...

Warning: there is a WestKnits Mystery KAL spoiler photo in this post!!  Startitis has hit me hard this summer. I know a lot of people quit knitting once the thermometer starts to rise, but I'm just the opposite: I grab a beer and some yarn so I can hide in the air conditioning til cooler temperatures prevail. My line of work is perennially enabling my yarn-buying, pattern-queueing, casting-on habit, and right now it seems to keep getting worse as the summer progresses...not that I'm complaining.  Far from it! Last month, I indulged in some retail therapy by purchasing enough Canopy Fingering to make a Color Affection shawl. I've been making regular (yet slow) progress, but am nearly done with the short row section: The short rows are getting longer! I'm using   Manatee ,   Conifer   and   Sarsparilla ...my three favorite colors! I can't wait for this shawl to be done - I'm already envisioning myself wrapping up in it all winter long. My WestKn...