handmade by stefanie

Most of my knitting time & energy over the past week has been focused on finishing up the Wonder Woman Wrap. All of the ends are woven in, so it just needs a good blocking and I can call it done! In the mean time, I am still working on the Inauguration Consolation shawl - I guess it wasn't a photo finish after all! A recent cleanout of my yarn stash revealed that I had a unused Mother Bear Project kit hiding in my craft room. Who knows how long I have been depriving a child of a cute knitted bear? I started knitting the kit last weekend, hoping that would make me feel a little less guilty....but it's not working because now I have a new thing to feel guilty about: for instance, I dislike working with the yarn from the kit. I'm pretty sure it's Red Heart, and it hurts my hands and just feels yucky to me. But after reading the enclosed brochure that talked about how much the kids love their bears and consider them a prized treasure, I've resolved to get ove...

Adventures in Mochimochi Land After working with Anna Hrachovec and the organizers of YarnCon on the Project Gnome Diplomacy project earlier this year, my enthusiasm for knitting tiny toys came out of hibernation. So I couldn't say no when Anna offered to have a few copies of her newest book, Adventures in Mochimochi Land , sent my way for a review and giveaway.  It was a pretty exciting day when the package arrived, and that night, I sat down at my kitchen table to page through the book while I waited for dinner to cook. The book contains 3 short stories set in Mochimochi Land, "a magical place where everything, from the trees to the microwaves, is alive and squishy," as the book's introduction notes. These colorful, whimsical knitted creations have a propensity to get into silly predicaments, and each of the three tales are an entertaining read which you can enjoy in under a half an hour - unless, of course, you can spare a little extra time to pore over al...

I realized I never shared my finished handspun pookies on my blog - oops! This pattern is so fun and quick to knit - and it's perfect for handspun yarn! I plan on making more of these cute little guys throughout the summer. My other FO is kind of a big one: my first-ever Knitscene article! I've been keeping this under my hat for quite some time and am SO excited that I can finally let the cat out of the bag (pun intended - sorry!). Look for my designer profile of Mari Chiba Luke in the 10th anniversary issue of Knitscene , along with some really awesome patterns that are a must-knit for fall...I'm having a hard time deciding which one should jump to the top of my queue first, though I think the Pennant Cardi might be THE ONE. If you aren't already a subscriber, you can look for it at your LYS or purchase a copy of the magazine in the Interweave store . Bonus: this weekend, they're having a Fourth of July tent sale and you can save and additional  10%...

Now that I have a long-term project off the needles, I'm excited to work on some smaller projects which are a little more instant-gratification! This week, I'm working on a trio of Tiny Hedgehogs from the kit I bought at Windy Knitty a while back (you can also buy one here on the Mochimochiland website ). I also am working on some crocheted baby converse booties for the next wave of kiddos who will be arriving later this year. I'm not sure I'm totally sold on this particular pattern (it's available for free on Ravelry, and you KNOW how I feel about free patterns!), but I'll see it through to the end. Who knows, maybe it'll all come together and look awesome! And then, late Monday night, after a very eventful evening of monsoon-like rain, flooding, tornado sirens, and a Blackhawks Stanley Cup win, I decided to start some Pookies with little bits of leftover handspun yarn....as one does! Those are all of my WIPs for now - don't forget to check ...

Those of you who know me well are quite used to the fact that I rarely take requests. More specifically, I don't knit for hire in the sense that I will make you a sweater or (insert any handmade item here) for any sum of money. As most of you can probably commiserate, this policy is in place simply because I don't have enough hours in the day - I barely get enough time to make/design all of the things I want as it is! However, when your young nephew mentions (well in advance of his birthday, might I add) that he'd really love a hand-knit Pikachu , exceptions must be made! I used a free pattern  which I designed several years ago when his older brother requested the same - back then, I didn't know how to crochet, and those were the only patterns I'd come across on Ravelry, so I decided to come up with my own knit version. It's knit with Shine Worsted from KnitPicks, which is an incredibly soft blend of pima cotton and modal. I loved the yarn, but it p...

Well, some of you might have already caught this post which accidentally went live LAST weekend. Oops! Thanks, Blogger publisher, for not accepting the publish date I entered the first time...ok, fine, that might  have been operator error on my part! At any rate, I apoligize if this gives you deja vu, and for those of you who are just now seeing this post for the first time: just pretend you didn't read this first paragraph! Ahem. I've been making some random toys lately and haven't gotten around to sharing them on the blog, so today's post is a hodgepodge of some toys that you might have already seen if you follow me on Instagram. After making my contributions to the #ProjectGnomeDiplomacy, I decided to keep with the tiny theme and made a wee little sheep with a tiny alpaca for a buddy: Keeping in the theme, I also crocheted this tiny snowman , which was a past FreshStitches kit club shipment that has been sitting in my WIP basket for several months. ...

I'm coming down the home stretch for handmade gifts, but my dedication to the cause means there really isn't much I can share here on my blog these days. Luckily, I finished a fun project which I can't wait til Friday to share: a Tiny Elf !  I whipped this little guy up really quickly in Spud & Chloe Sweater yarn - the pattern is available for free here on Ravelry . There is also a fun photo contest happening here on Ravelry where you can share photos of your Tiny Elf making mischief for a chance to win a grand prize! So far, my Tiny Elf has.... ...ridden an elephant.... ...attempted to nab my morning tea... ...and then he tagged along to knit night and nabbed a tater tot as a snack!

After a chilly week here in Chicago, today's FO project seems more than appropriate: a polar bear! I was hoping to be able to photograph him in some actual snow, but it seems like other parts of the country are getting ALL OF THE SNOW while Chicago is merely being teased with flurries. Therefore, I took matters into my own hands and used some natural-colored spinning fiber (Louet's Jacob sliver, to be exact) to manufacture a wintry scene of my own! I used the Hot Chocolate Run Polar Bear pattern from WEBS; all proceeds from the sale of this pattern benefit Safe Passage , and last month they hosted a KAL  which shares some handy tips for knitting and assembling your bear. The pattern calls for bulky weight yarn, but I opted to make a smaller version with Valley Yarns Stockbridge yarn as the MC and some leftover stash yarn for the contrasting colors. Isn't he adorable? In other news: it's last call for 25% off   my eligible patterns  for  this ...

It's that time of year when I can't share all of my WIPs publicly - thank goodness I have two KALs I'm participating in to keep things interesting! Over the weekend, I finished the knitting portion for my Polar Hat, which is part of the Bulky Knit Hats KAL : As you can see, I have no cut out many pieces of fringe (over 100!) which are to be affixed to the brim of the hat, and I've also made a ginormous pom pom which will grace the top of said hat! This might be a project I save for this coming weekend; I kind of like to do tasks such as this all in one sitting, which I know isn't possible during the work week. My other project is for the WEBS' Snow Family KAL, which I am not doing a great job of keeping up with, truth be told! You can click here to read about Week 3 on the WEBS blog ; so far, all I have finished is one small tree and the body of a Snow Person (with half of a hat in progress): Also, the window for snagging patterns for 25% off clo...

I went a little crazy over the last week and have been indulging my startitis. It didn't seem like I was starting that many projects at the time....until I began to list them out! Over the weekend, I started a worsted-weight version of the Hot Chocolate Run Polar Bear , which is turning out to be quite plump (I may have gotten a little overzealous with the stuffing): I also started a tree for the Snow Family & Evergreens KAL which is happening right now on the WEBS blog : It would seem as though not much progress has occurred with my fingering-weight baby sweater, but that's only because I ended up frogging all of my work so that I could restart, making a smaller size so that I didn't have to worry about ending out of yarn. Oh, and then I promptly ignored this project in favor of starting new ones - as one does. Case in point: just this morning I cast on for a mini sweater for the Pins and Needles Challenge using some destash yarn ( click here for more detail...

At last, I have some FO's I can share with the world! First, I knit a modified version of the  Monster Tissue Cozy  from Rebecca Danger's  Knit a Monster Nursery for Father's Day: I love how he turned out! I used Cascade 220 for the main color and some leftover oddballs for the ears, legs and features. I also decided to crochet my eyes instead of knitting an eye patch and using safety eyes. Next, I finished my  FreshStitches kit club  project, Sprocket the Robot! Mine turned out a bit sillier than the pattern photo, due mostly in part to my inability to count and follow the directions properly. I also decided to switch the head with the body in favor of having a smaller head: I like this squishy version, however, and I have lots of beads left over if I decide to make him a friend (but, you know, actually pay attention and follow the pattern this time). Have a crafty weekend!

Lately, I seem to be easily distracted, or perhaps I'm suffering from Second Everything Syndrome? Either way, I have managed to avoid casting on for Chevron Yak Sock #2 since finishing the first one last week. Not only that, over the weekend I finished the first Faux Fair Isle Mitt (minus the thumb), but I still haven't started mitt #2. I know...I'm the worst! So what have I been doing instead? Well, I started crocheting this robot from the FreshStitches kit club : I had to rip out my work on this robot head a few times since I apparently couldn't count the correct number of stitches, so it's been kind of slow going. But I am super excited to have a cute robot sometime soon! I also realized I needed to cast on for a Father's day gift, since that's just around the corner. I'm pretty sure that my dad doesn't read my blog, so I can tell you what this amorphous blog of knitting actually is: It's a modified version of Rebecca Danger's...