handmade by stefanie

I was hoping I'd finish the Chevron baby hat in time for this week's FO Friday, but it was not meant to be! However, I do still have a fun FO for this week - a tiny little hippo that I knit with the leftover yarn I used for one of last week's hat projects . The pattern is the Half-Sized Hippo from Rebecca Danger's 50 Yards of Fun knit with Preciosa from Knit Picks - a fun, quick knit! Thanks for stopping by, have a fun & crafty weekend!

Today I'm going to share my possibly-clever tip for bringing a stuffie back from the brink of a sad, one-eyed existence. Recently, one of my " couch monsters " (also known as  cat beds  in these parts) lost one of his safety eyes. It just popped out one day, quite randomly! Two-eyed couch monster: those were the days! I suppose it was bound to happen after years of having his face kneaded into the optimum sleeping conditions by certain feline companions. I couldn't locate the washer that was undoubtedly still located inside his body, and I wasn't about to perform some sort of crazy surgery to reinstall the safety eye. So, I dreamed up the perfect fix: Piratification (trademark pending). I crocheted him an eye patch! How had I not thought of that sooner?! It was super simple to do - here's what I did: Using a small amount of worsted-weight yarn and an E crochet hook (I am a crazy-loose crocheter; feel free to use whatever hook size works best for ...

At last, I have some FO's I can share with the world! First, I knit a modified version of the  Monster Tissue Cozy  from Rebecca Danger's  Knit a Monster Nursery for Father's Day: I love how he turned out! I used Cascade 220 for the main color and some leftover oddballs for the ears, legs and features. I also decided to crochet my eyes instead of knitting an eye patch and using safety eyes. Next, I finished my  FreshStitches kit club  project, Sprocket the Robot! Mine turned out a bit sillier than the pattern photo, due mostly in part to my inability to count and follow the directions properly. I also decided to switch the head with the body in favor of having a smaller head: I like this squishy version, however, and I have lots of beads left over if I decide to make him a friend (but, you know, actually pay attention and follow the pattern this time). Have a crafty weekend!

Lately, I seem to be easily distracted, or perhaps I'm suffering from Second Everything Syndrome? Either way, I have managed to avoid casting on for Chevron Yak Sock #2 since finishing the first one last week. Not only that, over the weekend I finished the first Faux Fair Isle Mitt (minus the thumb), but I still haven't started mitt #2. I know...I'm the worst! So what have I been doing instead? Well, I started crocheting this robot from the FreshStitches kit club : I had to rip out my work on this robot head a few times since I apparently couldn't count the correct number of stitches, so it's been kind of slow going. But I am super excited to have a cute robot sometime soon! I also realized I needed to cast on for a Father's day gift, since that's just around the corner. I'm pretty sure that my dad doesn't read my blog, so I can tell you what this amorphous blog of knitting actually is: It's a modified version of Rebecca Danger's...

With TNNA just around the corner, I've been working long hours and six-day weeks for the last week or so. By the time I'm ready to sign off for the day, my brain power is pretty much spent, so I've been really appreciating the simple knits this week. First, I found a nearly-finished Itty-Bitty Batty from 50 yards of Fun in my knitting basket! I gave him some ears and feet and now he's complete: I couldn't resist starting another project from the book, the Small-Peanuts Elephant . I used up every scrap of the grey and blue oddballs from my stash - in fact, I had to pinch-hit to get those legs finished. I was also gifted a skein of Spud & Chloe Outer , so I whipped up a Slope Hat by Susan B. Anderson in just one night of knitting! I accidentally ran it through the washing machine on the maximum-abuse setting - usually I choose the delicate cycle for my superwash yarns. It emerged relatively unscathed, especially considering the wild ride it went on...

Bonus: got to try out my new blocking wires! Happy Friday! I am relieved to be back at home base this week. Taking three separate trips in the span of a month is just too much for me, and I'm looking forward to staying put for a while. Besides being stressful, it's hard to keep up with chores, much less start a bigger fibery project. For instance, I haven't had time to spin in the last few weeks because I couldn't block out enough time to process a large amount of fiber in one sitting. You can bet I'll be dusting off the Ladybug this weekend, though! Small projects have been the name of the game, consequently. My primary project for the last trip to KC I took ended up being the Serpentinite Scarf by Carol Feller knit with a skein of Fiesta Yarns' La Luz . Since I was substituting in a yarn that had less yardage than what was specified, I knew I'd have to do some modifications going in. What ended up happening is that I only knit one half of the scarf...

As I mentioned before, it's going to be difficult to post about each and every holiday gift I knitted or crocheted this year, but here are a few of the highlights which I haven't blogged about yet...can you guess this year's unintentional theme? Dinosaurs for my nephew Ethan (patterns by Rebecca Danger): Monster Tissue Cozies (patterns by Rebecca Danger): Narwhal for my knitterly friend Lauren, which I apparently forgot to photograph as an FO before gifting (pattern by - you guessed it! - Rebecca Danger): I also crocheted several cotton washcloths and a few more handspun baskets to incorporate into our gift-giving this year: On my last post of 2013 this Wednesday, I'll share a few of the fiber-related gifts I received PLUS my booty from a trip to The Studio while I was in Kansas City last week!

My Wednesday posts are going to be kind of boring between now and Christmas, though I will try to spice them up any way I can. I suppose it's exciting to see how much progress I've made on my Marin Shawl in the last week - I'm officially past the halfway point, hooray! I had to take Robin to the vet on Monday and needed a simple knitting project to stash in my purse, so I ended up starting a Monster Tissue Cozy by Rebecca Danger using some hand-dyed yarn in my stash from The Wool Dispensary . I think it's going to be quite cute! Here's one more fun piece of newsiness: I wrote a guest post on the Crochet Queen blog this week -  click here to check it out ! It's more or less a social media primer for crafty folk, so hopefully you will find a few nuggets of wisdom there. Thanks for joining me this week! For more WIP Wednesday inspiration, visit the  Tami's Amis Blog !

I finished the little robot I started a few weeks ago right before I left town for TNNA last Friday. When I discovered that I'd missed my bus (long story) and would have to take the overnight bus to Columbus instead, I decided to spend the afternoon knitting and snuggling the cats. I brewed a nice pot of tea, watched a little Netflix streaming, and enjoyed being in our cozy house while it stormed that afternoon. I wound up leaving town later that night with one less WIP in progress, which means that I can start something new, right? Pattern : Rebecca Danger's Louie the Lovebot Yarn : Cascade 220 (grey) and some leftover KnitPicks yarn (purple) I think I've also neglected to mention another FO I'm proud of: my article about Apps in the recent issue of Yarn Market News ! Researching this article, I came across a lot of cool-sounding apps that I will be reviewing in the future (you can check out all of my past product and app reviews here ). Of course, I a...

ETA: Since Google Reader has gone the way of the dinosaur, I'd like to invite you to follow my blog with Bloglovin  so you don't miss out on my latest posts! I've made a lot of progress since I last blogged about my Fieldwork Cardigan : both of the back pieces are complete, and now I am working on the front left side. It's definitely at that tough-to-photograph stage, so this is probably the last time I'll be posting photos til it's complete! I find I am zipping through this pattern now that I'm so familiar with the stitch pattern, and it's possible that I can have it finished in a few more weeks, even with the TNNA Trade show this weekend. Since I finished a few projects over the weekend that I'll be posting about on Friday, I started a Louie the Lovebot (though I'm not sure if I'll be adding on the heart - if I do, it will be after the fact using duplicate stitch rather than intarsia). Also,  I needed to have an "easy" ...

I've got two FO's to share this week! The first is my finished monkey for my newest nephew, Ethan: The yarn is Green Mountain Spinnery's  Wonderfully Woolly  (now discontinued) in Turquoise and a little bit of  Malabrigo Worsted  in Pigeon. Once again, I used Rebecca Danger's excellent  Jerry the Musical Monkey  pattern. I also bound off for my scrap yarn scarf last weekend and have been wearing it ever since! It's nice and soft and a good length; I used the Snippet Scarf pattern (available for free on Ravelry) as a guide, though I used smaller needles and cast on more stitches. Some of the yarns used are:  Malabrigo Finito, Dream in Color Smooshy,The Uncommon Thread Heavenly Fingering, Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, and The Fibre Company Canopy Fingering. Celebrate FO Friday by checking out more posts over on the  Tami's Amis blog ! Have a crafty weekend!

I think I'm about halfway through the fingering weight scrap yarn scarf ! I try to work through a few rows each night at the very least, so there's a good chance this will be done by the end of this month if I can just keep my momentum going. Of course, it's a little tough to photograph, but I think you get the idea! My top-down Arroyo Cropped Cardigan is coming along well - I am just about ready to take off for the sleeves. The rest should be downhill from there, as they say. I've made a few minor changes to the pattern as written, mostly because I'm not joining in the round for a pullover. Last night I took off for the sleeves and tried it on - success! It fit! And it's even looking more sweater-like! After taking off the sleeves, I split the remaining skein in half by weight, figuring I could knit the body til I ran out of yarn, and then I would be able to use the other skein I wound off to finish the sleeves and collar. Mr. Monke y is nearing compl...

I finished two long-term projects this week - all the better to make way for my Malabrigo March projects! My crocheted Calm Cowl seemed as thought it would never end, and that's partially because I didn't want it to! It was the perfect type of project to take on the CTA, so I ended up making it considerably larger than the pattern specifies. The yarn was perfect for this project, a nice subtle gradation of emerald green and occasional turquoise hues. You may recall that I ordered this last fall from Craftsy's Thanksgiving sale - I'm not sure if I mentioned it at the time, but they accidentally sent me an extra ball of yarn, something that ended up coming in handy after all! The other project I finished this week is my Sock Monkey Monkey! I had been wanting to try the hand-dyed yarns from Haldecraft and fell in love with the Sock Monkey Colorway. When my SIL bought a skein of worsted-weight yarn in my color of choice, I knew I had to make myself a stuffed monk...

After making the decision to put my Destash Dolman to sleep for a bit, I comforted myself by casting on for two new knitting projects. The first is a pair of gloves for Tyler, whose current gloves keep springing holes (they were, after all, knit in 2008 ). The new gloves will look an awful lot like the old ones, being that they're his favorite color (or not-color, if you prefer), black. I am, however, using a different yarn entirely - this time, a 100% BFL worsted-weight yarn that I purchased at the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival last fall. It's a huge skein, so gloves are just the beginning! As you can see, I've accomplished a lot in just a few days' time - I'm already on the second glove! I'm using Marly Bird's 5 in 1 Adventure pattern, which is a part of her excellent Mittens and Glove Galore class on Craftsy , in which I am enrolled, so be looking for my full review here on this blog soon. In the mean time, if you can't wait to hear my t...

Whatever happened to the Darn-A-Thon ? I found myself wondering this over the weekend - the holidays really put this project on the back burner, but yesterday I decided to resurrect it by repairing the first pair of socks I ever knit for myself. These socks were knit just before the dawn of Ravelry (if any of us can remember that time!), so they aren't even entered in my notebook, but the yarn is from Knit Picks . In my early knitting days, I didn't know there was a whole world of yarn outside of a Michael's store - I had only recently discovered Knit Picks! I hadn't even encountered this thing called 'luxury yarn', and I had just moved to Chicago after spending three years in Portland, OR. Even though I grew up in the midwest, I knew my first winter back would be tough (boy was it ever!) and I would need some wool socks to get me through. Of course, I had no idea how to make socks, as I was still pretty new to the whole knitting scene. My very first order...

I've got another round of secret knitting to share with you this week! I have several baby-related FO's that haven't been blogged on the offchance that my SIL would come across the photos - a slim chance, but not one that I'd was willing to risk! I put together a Box O' Baby for my brother- and sister-in-law, who are expecting next month. We're really excited to have a nephew here in town! The spoiling has already begun.... Monster Booties   I knit these in Michigan colors (my brother-in-law is a fan) using two colors of Berroco Ultra Alpaca using the pattern from Rebecca Danger's Knit a Monster Nursery book. Too cute! Earflap Hat One thing I know for sure: babies need hats! I had leftover yarn from the booties, so I whipped up a hat to match. I used the Pointy Monster Hat pattern from the same book, though I omitted the moster face. I thought that might be overkill! Kimono Cardi   I love making baby sweaters - they're so fast! -...