handmade by stefanie

It's been a while since I posted a WIP Wednesday - but don't worry, the disappearance of this weekly feature was only temporary! At the moment, I have just two projects on the needles, and best of all...they are both for ME! The first is something I started in December, about 5 seconds after finishing my last holiday gift project: The pattern is the Lace Leaf Edge shawl by Jen Lucas which appeared in the Knit Accessories 2014 issue of Love of Knitting; I'm using the yarn called for in the pattern ( Lhasa Wilderness from Bijou Basin Ranch) in the Sassenach colorway. It's at the extremely hard-to-photograph stage since I've finished knitting the body of the shawl, and am now working across allllll of those stitches to create the lace border. I have a ways to go, but the chart is starting to go faster for me! My next WIP was started during my trip to Kansas City last week - my first sweater of 2015! I'm really hoping that this year will truly be the Year of...

Now that my holiday gift knitting is complete, I've started a few projects for myself. The first is something that has been in my queue for a while now: Robots vs. Downtown. I'm using a skein each of ShiBui Sock in Peacock and Wasabi - one of my favorite color combinations! I'd like to knit myself more colorwork mittens as a general rule (especially since I already have some really excellent books), and I had already picked out some yarn from my stash to make these mittens. I purchased the pattern back in November when it was on sale as part of the Indie Designer Gift-Along . Though I didn't end up participating, I really liked the concept and hope they do the event again this year so I can actually take part this time! My other WIP is a sweater I started over the weekend using Canopy Fingering from the Fibre Company. I'm using the 30-Day Sweater framework to design it as I go; I'm not sure if it will actually be done in 30 days, but I am looking f...

After the last several months of knitting primarily for others, I am very happy to indulge in a little selfish knitting for the start of this year. I haven't made too many resolutions for 2013 thus far, but I do know this: I need to knit myself more sweaters this year. It just needs to happen. I also would like to fold this in with another ongoing goal I challenge myself with each year: destashing! I have many sweater's-worth quantities of yarn in my stash, and it's criminal that they haven't become beautiful wardrobe staples by now. I finished the lacy top I was knitting with Bijou Basin Ranch's yak/silk laceweight yarn, Shangri-La (thought I still need to photograph it and share it with the world at large), so I decided to cast on for another dolman-style top using some sock yarn for my stash and  breaking my cardigans-only rule for sweater-making yet again. Go figure! While I'd love to make the Roxborough Dolman with the yarn specified, Canopy Finger...