handmade by stefanie

The chevron socks of DOOM are finally getting closer to being done, thanks to an 18-hour roadtrip earlier this month. Basically, I forced myself to work on this project as much as I could while en route to Kansas City, where we visited family and celebrated our 9-year (!) wedding anniversary. We ended up bringing home some beertastic souvenirs, of course! Over the weekend, I finally grafted the second sock together and began the arduous task of knitting the cuffs and toes. I apologize for the all caps, but.....I AM NOW TWO TOES AWAY FROM HAVING THIS PROJECT OFF THE NEEDLES!  Needless to say, I am really looking forward to this project being done. I know I will love the socks once they're done - the yarn is incredible and they will be super-duper warm, too. However, knitting socks sideways is definitely not for me. I can't stress this enough. I have been working on them since the beginning of May, so it will be a huge relief to go into August with a clean slate.  ...

I finished a baby sweater last month, but I didn't want to blog about it til I gave it to the parents-to-be! This is one of my favorite patterns from 60 Quick Baby Knits, the Seed Stitch Yoke Cardigan . I used some superwash yarn I'd hand-dyed myself back when I still worked at Lorna's Laces. The pooling turned out to be pretty interesting and almost looks like I planned it that way (though I assure you I did not!): Front Detail  Back Detail However, I think the crowning glory of this sweater is the adorable robot buttons: I recently discovered a new site called Indie Untangled , which is a way to discover awesome new folks in the fiber arts industry. You can sign up for their newsletter to be notified of shop updates, which is especially helpful for smaller businesses whose etsy shops aren't always consistently-stocked. Anyway, through Indie Untangled , I found a really awesome button-maker called Fastenation Studio , which is where I purchased t...

Over the holiday weekend, I finished my handspun kerchief-turned shawl ! I still have a few yards left over after binding off, as I wasn't up for playing yarn chicken. The end result is an extremely soft, squishy triangle scarf that will undoubtedly keep me warm all winter long. I used the recipe from Joelle Hoverson's Last-Minute Knitted Gifts , which is a great source of knitting inspiration, especially when it comes to finding the perfect pattern for handspun yarn. I absolutely love all of the colors and the texture: Garter is fast becoming one of my favorite stitches! This week, I also finished my Stegosaurus for the FreshStitches/Spud & Chloë CAL : I have enough yarn left over to make an inverse version of the dino, too, so that will be a fun project to revisit later this month! Incidentally, it's not too late to join in on this CAL - there are prizes you can win just for finishing before the end of the month! Also, on Wednesday night I fi...

I had a very productive holiday weekend! Not only did I start my crocheted Spikey the Stegosaurus for the Spud & Chloë/FreshStitches CAL .... ...I also made some progress on the chevron yak socks which have admittedly taken the backburner these last couple of weeks - I'm just about ready to start the first round of gusset shaping! I indulged a bit of startitis and started a Little Luchador from 50 Yards of Fun - it's a gift for Tyler's boss, who helped me secure a day off in secret for my birthday gift to Tyler (I bought him tickets to the Beer Camp tour that'll be visiting Chicago later this month!). Finally, I have been spinning up a storm for #TeamSasquatch for the Tour de Fleece! Days 1-3 were spent spinning two BFL singles: on the left is some green, gold and grey BFL from Yarnhollow and on the right is some green and brown BFL from Anzula. I'd been intending to ply them together from the start, but then I started to second-guess...

I should probably wish all of my Canadian readers a belated happy Canada day while I am also wishing my American readers a wonderful and safe Fourth of July holiday weekend!Yes, I know it's a few days early, but I won't be blogging as usual on Friday due to the holiday here in the states - instead, I'll be sharing a special Tour de Fleece kick-off edition of Spinning Saturday on July 5, so please come back to check it out! And now, onto the WIP...yes, you read that correctly: WIP, singular. I am still doing a lot of super-secret knitting at the moment and I have made very little progress on my neglected chevron socks, so a progress photo isn't even worth sharing. However, my handspun kerchief has grown considerably since last week - in fact, I think it's approaching "shawl" status! The plan is just to knit til I run out of yarn! Besides secret knitting, I spent some time this weekend making preparations for the Tour de Fleece. My friend Lauren brok...