handmade by stefanie

Red overdyes - before Red overdyes - after I was thrilled to actually have a Sunday off this week - and I don't know if it was the holiday, or just the fact that it was finally not raining outside, but I really had a jones to dye something . I've been wanting to play around with crock pot dyeing, but because I'm paranoid about having dye fumes in our house, had to wait til the weather permitted.  Most of Sunday afternoon was spent on the back porch, tending to my yarns, knitting, and drinking beer - sounds like a perfect day to me!  I used some Jacquard dyes I'd picked up at Blick, a LOT of vinegar, and just a tiny bit of dish soap to make sure the dye got worked through all the skeins.  The yarn in question is stuff from my stash that just isn't my style (read: pink!).  I started out with a couple things I wanted to overdye red - I remember hearing somewhere that a dyer on etsy would overdye skeins of yarn with red if they didn't sell as-is - and then the...

lately, i just can't seem to find the time to knit, much less finish anything.  i have an ever-growing pile of things that are done, except for the ends that need to be woven in.  between all of the trips to the vet in the last week or two, coupled with getting a nasty virus that knocked me out for nearly a week, my productive knitting time has been seriously reduced.  and then there's all the time i spend on the internet - for example, i've used the first hour and half i've been awake this morning to list some more buttons in my etsy shop , do some facebooking, and now i'm here writing this blog entry.  luckily, things are calming down.  we're getting robin's symptoms under control and starting to get his new routine down to a finer science.  robin is quite happily sitting in my lap right now and purring like crazy.  i'm looking forward to sitting around the house and knitting for the rest of the morning, and hopefully all day tomorrow and thursday....

the squirrel on wheels turned out even better than i was hoping for!  not only is he a zippy little critter himself, but a pretty fast knit as well - the whole things was finished in three days.  yarn:  [MC] 1 skein knit picks city tweed heavy worsted in tahitian pearl [CC] small amount of lorna's laces shepherd worsted in 24ns navy my other big news is that last week i finally finished my peak's island hood - it took me almost two months to knit!  a lot of that time was spent ignoring the project entirely, and it probably still wouldn't be done if i hadn't had help with the miles and miles of moss stitch.  though i love the pattern and colors i chose to make it in, i think i ultimately wasn't excited about it because the yarn felt scratchy and a little gross, and i just couldn't imagine wrapping it around my head.  in the back of my mind, i suspected that this yarn would never have the softness and drape of the yarn actually called for in the pat...

an on-going task on my to-do list has been to update all of my existing patterns available for purchase - making them look snazzier, more streamlined and easier to follow.  this may include updating photos, adding fancy-pants charts in addition to written instructions, or just making the layout a little nicer. here's what i've updated so far: 1.  peppermint lattice socks ($6 USD) - these were originally designed for a Canadian breast cancer fund-raising charity site that has since gone the way of the buffalo, and the rights reverted back to me.  i have updated this pattern for clarity and added better photos.  this pattern is a fun way to destash those single skeins of sock yarn you may have lying about!   2. honeycomb fingerless gloves ($6 USD) - i love these fingerless gloves because they are such a fast knit, and i'm a sucker for cables.  i've added a chart in addition to the written instructions, something i've always wanted to do, but only n...