handmade by stefanie

Today I'm back in Chicago after spending a long weekend with my husband and our families in Kansas City. We both needed a trip out of town that wasn't for business (or a family emergency). This mini-vacation was laid-back, filled with food, family, friends, knitting, and most importantly....BEER! Early on in the trip, I finished my Indigo Swan Cowl . It proved to be the perfect train knitting project - an easy-to-memorize pattern that I could absentmindedly knit no matter how tired I got. I used up pretty much all of the skein, too - after binding off, there were only a few yards left. the first day we were in town was my Dad's sixtieth birthday, so my mom and I treated him to lunch at Beer Kitchen. Our server brought him some drunken donuts for dessert and he was a pretty happy guy! We stayed with Tyler's parents downtown and took some time one morning to explore the historic graveyard that their balcony overlooks. I lived in Kansas City til I was 23 and neve...

Who? I think January will be a quiet month for me, blog-wise, because it's certainly a crazy month in terms of everything else!  We just got back from a short trip down to Kansas City to celebrate Fake Christmas with our families - we always take Amtrak down there and I used my 7 hours both ways effectively - I finished my last xmas gift (an owl), started and finished a scarf for Tyler's grandma, and re-started the Botanical Cowl , this time with much more success (bonus: I'm halfway done!).  My dad and mother-in-law both liked their monsters, and even though my grandmother's socks turned out larger than expected and proved difficult to photograph because of their so-dark-they-look-black green color, I think they worked out just fine.  The bath scrubbies were an unexpected hit, and the finger puppets turned out well, too!  Somehow, it all came together - but don't ask me how, because I really don't know. Monster the First (pattern by Rebecca Danger) B...

Room for a few more? Tomorrow morning, Tyler and I will be driving back to our hometown of Kansas City for my cousin's wedding - and since it's the closest thing we'll be getting to a vacation for at least another year, we decided to turn it into a leisurely little road trip!  While I'm looking forward to many things about this trip, of course one of the major ones is getting tons and tons of knitting time.  I have way too many things on the needles right now - and if I want to start mustache-making , I've gotta finish some stuff first! Packed in my knitting bag will be:  1.  Tyler's sweater - I'm about ready to take off for the sleeves.  I wound off another hank of yarn for the trip!  My next FO....I hope! 2.  The languishing Cookie A Stalagmite socks - I'm getting close the the heel turn on sock #2....this one has been on the needles for so long, it's embarassing.  I'll probably be focusing much of my efforts on this!  3....