handmade by stefanie

I've been working on this project since the middle of November, and it feels good to finally have it off the needles: presenting my finished Purlbreak shawl! Obviously, I'm thrilled to have this off the needles. I knit this project with 3 skeins of yarn that I was sent for review: Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering , a blend of 90% superfine/superwash merino and 10% nylon which is milled in Italy and hand-dyed in Canada (I love knowing where my yarn comes from!). This is a super-squishy yarn that feels soft to the touch, but has enough twist to it that it's not splitty, and I doubt it will pill much with time. It withstood ripping back to fix mistakes and dropped stitches, as well as plenty of abuse from being stuffed in my bag for knitting at the tap room. Hello, lovelies! It was a total delight to work with, and choosing 3 coordinating colors was super-easy because of how they are grouped as part of the Magic Dye Pot Series: each group has a letter (A thro...

It was only a matter of time before Stephen West joined the roster of excellent talent on Craftsy , right? Last week, Stephen's new online class, Shawlscapes, launched. First, you will you get to hone your skills with the guidance of a shawl master as you knit the Boneyard Shawl . Then, you'll learn various methods of construction and patterns which you can use to either modify existing designs or create your own from scratch. Finally, Stephen will show you how to block your masterpiece - the class description claims: "Stephen literally turns blocking on its head, suggesting different methods that will surprise you." Now who doesn't want to see that?! What's more, a portion of all class sales through midnight tonight will be donated to a veterans' organization in honor of Memorial Day here in the US! Click here to sign up for Shawlscapes with Stephen West for 25% off!

Earlier in the week, I whipped up a Dustland Hat for my husband's secret santa at work - he drew the new guy who also happens to be his boss. Talk about pressure! Unfortunately, it turned out way too large the first time, so I ended up frogging it halfway to move up the decreases and make it a more normal-sized hat. In hindsight, I should have gauged first, as the first attempt was truly gargantuan - and I only knit the medium size! It's a great pattern though; all of the different stitch sections are easy to memorize and kept me interested so that the hat went fast (both times). I'm happy with the results and will probably make another one for myself at some point. Back in the queue it goes! Pattern: Dustland Hat by Stephen West Yarn: Cascade 220, 1 skein in Aporto Find more FO Friday inspiration over on the  Tami's Amis Blog !

I took five projects with me to Kansas City; four FO's returned with me, and I started the fifth project on the train back to Chicago! I was halfway to the heel on sock #2 for the Jelly Beans Sock KAL before leaving for KC; about halfway through the train ride down, I realized I'd left the instructions at home . Genius! Luckily, I had sock #1 to use at a reference. I'm not terribly experienced with short-row heels, but I have to pat myself on the back and say I did a pretty good job with reverse-engineering sock #2, which was completed sans instructions. I can't tell which one is the off-book sock, can you? One note about the yarn ( Spinnery Sock Art - Forest  in Natural Gray): it bloomed quite nicely once I blocked it with a little Eucalan .  I'll have to give some of their hand-dyed colorways a try next! I know I shared a photo of my finished Tarragon Swan Cowl  earlier this week, but I wanted to share a photo with an actual humanoid (even if it is just m...

As you might have guessed by a lack of a post on Friday, the final day of the WestKnits Mystery KAL , I didn't finish my shawl.  I'd like to say it wasn't for lack of trying, but my progress simply won't support that claim: As you can see, I'm not even halfway through the final clue! It's going to be smooth sailing from here - but on a really slow-moving ship (that seems to be the theme for most projects these days). Here's hoping this can be off the needles by the end of this month!

Warning: this post contains spoiler photos for the WestKnits Mystery KAL!  This weekend, I was amazed at how much progress I made on my all-but-forgotten toe-up socks in just a matter of days. Indeed, when you diligently knit on something, you can cover a lot of ground...it goes without saying that the inverse is true when you ignore a project, though I still always hope the knitting fairy will come along and knit a few rows when I'm not looking. Last Saturday night, I turned the heel, and now I'll just be blazing through the pattern repeats til it's time to bind off. My goal is to have this pair of socks completely off the needles by the end of this coming weekend - then perhaps I can get down to business with those lovely colorwork socks I started in June...or cast on for a quick-knitting pair of pom-pom peds to give my new pom-pom maker a test drive....or get down to business on my holiday sock knitting....well, you get the idea! I'm plugging away on the ...

Warning: there are WestKnits Mystery KAL spoiler photos in this post!!   Last Sunday, I was determined to finish the short-row section on my Color Affection . It took the better part of the afternoon, but I did it! I am now working through the final rows of the edging...and it's taking forever, not surprisingly. I am determined to get this off my needles before the month is out so I can spend August making a birthday present for my nephew and finishing both socks I have in progress (and maybe, just maybe, finish the designs I've been ignoring for several months, too). It's definitely at its least photogenic stage, and it appears as though I may have gotten carried away and did some additional increases. The only way to know for sure is to finish it! Color Affection: Getting close! Meanwhile, the WestKnits Mystery Shawl rolls on. I finished Clue #2 last night, just in time for Clue #3 to hit my inbox today. I have a hard time imagining where we'll go from here, ...

At last, FO photos of my Earth & Sky KAL project!  It didn't take too terribly long to weave in all the ends - I did most of them each time I finished a clue, as suggested in the pattern.  No matter the project (but especially where intarsia is concerned), weaving in the ends as you go is always a good time-saver.  I couldn't be more pleased with how my first-ever intarsia project turned out, and I really like the color placement.  I'm also happy to report that the silver-colored yarn that I mentioned was a little on the scratchy side has softened up considerably since blocking. As you can see, I love my new shawl!  Bonus points to Tyler for capturing The Happy Shawl Dance.  That's something the world really needed to see.  Now for the bad news:  while I successfully used up every scrap of navy blue sock yarn in my stash,  I barely made a dent in the other skeins!  I suppose there are worse things - I can probably have enough lef...

Early Monday morning, clue #4 arrived in my inbox, and of course I downloaded and printed it out as soon as I woke up!  I've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of this final clue so I could guesstimate whether or not I had enough yarn for a larger size. On the plus side, if I only have enough yarn to make the smallest size, I can get to working on Clue #4 right away and, barring some unforseen circumstance (as they would say on Seinfeld ), finish my project by the end of the month.  While I would really like to have a big 'ol scarfy-shawl to wrap up in this fall, I don't relish the fact that I would have to return to Clue #3 and do even MORE knitting before I can move on to the last clue.  It's a necessary evil, I suppose!  It would also increase the probability that I would not finish this project in time (i.e. by the end of August).  I can accept that - I have no illusions that I'd win a prize in the midst of this KAL, though I certainly wouldn't protest...

This mystery KAL has triggered a major case of startitis! I'm fighting the urge to start two more sock projects - I'd like to finish my Wool Dispensary sock design first (I just cast on for sock #2)....and besides that, it's really better if I limit myself to one sock project at a time. Daybreak: Not at its most photogenic stage I'm not sure if the following logic is actually logical , but instead of starting a monster or sock, I ended up starting a Daybreak Shawl .  I've been wanting to knit one for so long now, it just seemed like I should use the momentum of this KAL to check that off my knitting bucket list.  Does it help my case if I say I'm using sport-weight yarn?  No?  Well, I had to try. I cast on last Thursday - much like the addictive Pogona Shawl , it's flying off the needles! I really love the Knit Picks Simply Cotton yarn - it comes in a beautiful palette of colors and is easy to knit with - not something you can say of most cotton ...

What?  August is here already?  I feel a bit like Rip Van Winkle...minus the laziness and beard worthy of ZZ Top.  I have no idea where the summer went, but being a lover of all things woolen, I start preparing for fall right about now - which is what makes the first-ever Westknits KAL so perfectly timed!  If you're a little late to the party, here are the details: Stephen West, knitwear-designing powerhouse, has created another exciting shawl pattern and is releasing it in the form of weekly clues sent to everyone who has purchased the Ravelry download (it should also be noted that anyone who purchases the download during the month of August will get the pattern for $4, and once the KAL is over the pattern will be $6!).  Today the first clue was released and hundreds (thousands?) of Westknits fans are casting on. Me?  I'm not much of a joiner - I've done a few non-mystery KALs with mixed results in terms of my actual participation/finishing within t...

Things are happening faster than I can craft blog posts for them!  Since I'm going to TNNA this week (which I imagine will be a few blog posts unto themselves!), I will have to fill you in on the bullet points: 1.  Mustachio May:  I made a total of 5 nosewarmers from a single ball of Knit Picks Comfy Sport - and I still have yarn left over!  I'm guessing I'll be able to make two or three more.  I did create two new mustachio options, which I'll be including on a more official PDF version of the pattern, to be typed up whenever next I get a chance - hopefully sooner than later... 2.  Last week I finished a project that's been on the needles since JANUARY 15 (sorry for the all-caps, but that is just madness) - the languishing Stalagmite Socks (by Cookie A) are at last languishing no more.   It's a great pattern, and though the cable pattern is a little daunting when you look at it, it's not too difficult once you get into it.  However, it does h...