handmade by stefanie

First off, congrats to Laura (aka skiddoo0 on Instagram), who is the winner of last week's Kraemer Yarns project kit giveaway. I'll contact you shortly to arrange the delivery of your prize. Many thanks to everyone who entered this giveaway! Frogging Failed FO's Most of us have a few projects that didn't turn out as planned. Some Finished Objects (FOs) fall out of the rotation in favor of newer, more exciting projects - if you knit or crochet for long enough, it's bound to happen. But there are always those finished projects that fall short of expectations: perhaps the gauge was a bit off, the colors didn't play together as well as you'd hoped, or the yarn subbed in proved to be a poor choice, even though you were certain it was a great choice at the time. Only recently have I been able to spot those dealbreakers which resulted in an unloved/unused FO before  I reach the binding off or finishing stage; earlier in my knitting and crocheting, I woul...

Last weekend, I discovered a pretty major mistake in my Dillinger Hat and put it in time out until I am ready to frog back and fix it. Can you spot where I went wrong? I don't always mind frogging, especially when I know it'll be worth it in the end (and it always is), but I'm having a hard time with this one because I was so excited to finish this hat over the weekend. I still managed to finish the baby sweater my sister requested, which meant that it was time to face my second sleeve syndrome head-on and pick the Rockling Cardigan back up. I'm not very far along, but that's only because Tilly keeps using it as a pillow every time I set it down for just a moment! I never have the heart to disturb her when she looks so blissful. So, I started a baby hat to match the afore-mentioned  sweater I just finished. It won't be long til I see my sister in Kansas City, and I would like to hand deliver them if I can! With TNNA just around the corne...

I've been trying to resist startitis, which is has become much harder since YarnCon this past weekend. For instance, I discovered I have enough Seda Sock to knit the Elfe sweater, but I am trying not to cast on til I finish the cropped cardi I just started. Unfortunately, progress hasn't been swift because I keep getting distracted by other things - this is as far as I've gotten since casting on last Thursday: Not a whole lot so see there! There is also the problem of some serious laddering near the cable panels, which I think is tied to how I'm increasing (I'm doing a m1 where you lift up the bar between the stitch you just worked and the stitch on the needle and knit through the back loop); this is also where there is a stitch marker AND a switch from knit to purl, so basically that is the trifecta of unappealing laddering, at least for me - I've always had this issue with my knit-to-purl transitions. The question is, should I frog and restart to try to...