handmade by stefanie

Our Kickstarter project 's funding deadline was 11 AM this past Friday; I'm pleased to report that we reached our goal! It was a bit of a nail-biter, but it all ended well. I cannot tell you what a huge relief it is to have that phase of the project complete. It was hard work, but will definitely be worth it - we've already started phase II, wherein we begin pressing the first single! Since Tyler made the video and set up the project, I was in charge of the promotion. I'm certainly glad that I had the help of our friends and family, who shared our updates and project page to help get the word out. It's nice to know we have so much support! I have to admit, I was a little disappointed that only one of our four former strings players took the time to share the project with their friends and family. Even though they are no longer in the band and we don't see them socially, it would have been nice if everyone could have pitched in and at least posted the link ...

Feeling German in Lincoln Square As luck would have it, all of my favorite things for fall converged upon this past weekend: Renegade Craft Fair, the German-American Festival in Lincoln Square, and the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival (this was my first time attending, but anything yarn-related falls under the rubric of 'favorite things for fall'). I'm not one for large crowds of people and, as a general rule, I don't leave the house very much on a day-to-day basis now that I work from home. However, these three events (plus my local farmer's market) were enough to tempt me away from the homestead and go out amongst my fellow humans. I'm so glad I did! On Friday night, Tyler and I hit the German-American Festival and had a few litres of beer. Yes, more than one...probably not the best plan ever, but it sure was fun! Plus, we arrived just as the festival opened, and there was nary a line for tickets, food or beer. That's the way to fly! You'll n...

Yes, the panic is beginning to set in....no matter how early you begin your holiday crafting (and I usually start mine in the summertime!), it simply can't be avoided.  It's crunch time, and besides having a ton of gift knitting to finish, one more pattern to put out (ha, ha!), holiday shopping to do, and of course, the work that pays the bills, I find myself coming up short in the "time" department.  Plus, there's just so many fun things to do this time of year - the Christkindlmarket , about 3,000 craft shows, and holiday parties!  I'm only going to one holiday party this year (when you telecommute, there's not such thing as a holiday staff party - unless it's via Skype!), but we are playing two shows that will be vaguely holiday-ish, in that we'll play a few of our Christmas Songs....though they don't really sound Christmassy.  But never mind that...at any rate, so I'm filing them under "holiday party."  Chicago peeps, hope t...

I've been remiss in posting about Renegade Craft Fair last weekend.  All of the car nonsense kind of distracted me last week - but it's time to return to my regularly scheduled blogging. I'm sure it's no surprise to learn that I had a modest budget for Renegade this year, but I think I made my dollars count.  As always, there were lots of cool things I'd like to have purchased - lovely-smelling soaps, nifty ceramics, and some really cool terrariums (there were two vendors of terrariums this year - and very few items with birds on them, now that I think of it.  Way to go, Portlandia !).  Everything I purchased fit perfectly in this wee canvas tote bag, which I bought from Alysson at The Sweatshop of Love .  Her mom hand-stamps them, and it's absolutely perfect for taking a sock project on-the-go....which brings us to item #2:  my annual Rhino Fluff purchase! Last year, you may recall the amazing blue skein of silky sock yarn I purchased from Rhino...

 yesterday i woke up to a magical snow-filled wonderland!  the first 'real' snow (ie, the kind that sticks around) of the season began friday night, as we were coming home from a show (in what was, hands down, the sketchiest cab ride ever, in fact - but that's really not relevant here!)  unfortunately, i couldn't frolic and enjoy it - of course, i had to go to work.  i did manage to take a few shots on my way there, however.  it was still snowing when i was walking to work, though the river hasn't even begun to freeze over yet.  this is thee one good thing about being awake before most of the city on a saturday morning - a quiet walk in the pretty snow.  i was lucky get out of work earlier than usual, and immediately high-tailed it over to the renegade holiday craft fair .  well, that's not entirely true - since i was in the neighborhood, i ducked in to nina to say hi - which turned out to be a good move, since they'd just been given a whole m...

even though i work weekends forevermore (hooray for the service industry), i was able to drop by the renegade craft fair on my way home last night.  i allowed myself to spend any tips i made the day of however i wanted to, and was fortunate to have a very busy and profitable day.  what better way to pay it forward than to support other independent artists and crafters? left: deep sea sock!  right: barn owl BFL as always, there was almost too much to take in - a lot of great inspiration - and even some yarn!  i ended up buying some ridiculously squishy merino/silk sock yarn AND some handpainted BFL roving from rhinofluff , a vendor from austin, tx.  (as though my startitis weren't bad enough!)  i was immediately drawn to the beautiful turquoisey blue of the sock yarn - the subtle variegation of 'deep sea' will make some beautiful socks - or perhaps a triangle scarf! - for me.  and the roving is right up my alley, what with the neutral colors and B...