handmade by stefanie

File under: better late than never?! Over the weekend, I finally picked up this project and set to finishing it...of course, the official Snow Family KAL has long since finished. Once I decided what I was going to use to weight down the snowmen, the rest came easily! The pattern calls for balloons filled with beans or plastic pellets, but I ended up some empty round containers that used to contain some sort of lotion or potion; I filled them with beans and then some yarn scraps to prevent excess rattling once inside the snowman. They did the trick and my little guys stand upright with no problems! I also decided to knit two sizes of the trees which I stacked to make one big one; my fake snow is once again provided by some lovely Louet spinning fiber !

I finished my snowman crochet-along project for the FreshStitches choose your own adventure CAL - isn't he adorable? I plan on making at least one more this holiday season once I finish my more pressing gift projects! The yarn I used is Drops NEPAL , which is a nice-quality, affordable worsted weight that comes in a wide range of colors (I ordered mine from the NordicMart ). It's really easy to crochet with, and I've been liking it for amigurumi projects especially. In other news, I snapped up a FreshStitches project bag just before the holiday when they were on sale for only $6! Isn't the fabric adorable? I know that I have quite the collection of project bags, but it was time to retire a few from the rotation. While I was justifying things to myself, I remembered I had a paypal balance, and before I knew it I'd bought myself this cute new bag.  Speaking of things I don't actually need...my SweetGeorgia sock yarn arrived earlier this week! I ha...

It's that time of year when I can't share many of my actual WIPs for fear of the recipient taking note and spoiling the surprise. Luckily, I can't seem to resist starting projects for myself, so hopefully that will keep things marginally interesting between now and Christmas. First, I've made some noticeable progress on my Marin Shawl : I'm also participating in the FreshStitches Snowman CAL that started last week. I've already finished five pieces: the head and body, carrot nose, scarf and and hat! I am using various colors of Drops Nepal, which I ordered from the Nordic Mart . It's become my favorite amigurumi yarn because the colors are lovely, it's easy to work with, and the price is nice, too! Their shipping is also super-fast; I ordered the yarn last Wednesday and had it in my hot little hands a mere two days later. Now that, I really  like! Finally, happy Thanksgiving to those of you who will be celebrating tomorrow! I plan to cook a lo...