handmade by stefanie

This is my last WIP Wednesday for 2013, can you believe it? I sure can't! I'll still be blogging next week even though I'll be visiting family for the holiday, but my posts from now through the end of the year will be focusing on projects I've finished recently (and not-so-recently) which I am finally at liberty to share. Don't forget to follow my blog to keep up! I am thrilled to report that the yarn I ordered to finish the Marin shawl arrived on Monday afternoon: Oh, look at that - the yarn for my next  shawl arrived too! I'm planning to make the Velocity Shawl from Interweave Crochet with those lovely skeins of Seraphim yarn from Bijou Basin Ranch which I purchased during their December sale (free shipping + everything's on sale!). I have no idea how to do Tunisian crochet, but I guess I'll be learning in the new year because I've become obsessed with the pattern and won't rest until I've made one! At any rate, I promptly finish...

Last week, I wrote about one of my favorite online yarn stores , which is in the process of closing. Consequently there are some very lovely yarns that are on sale right now . My stash is rather enhanced at the moment with some pretties from Skein, Sincere Sheep and Abstract Fiber (to name a few)....then again, sock yarn doesn't count as stash, am I right?! I've always liked to take photos of random things I see when I'm out and about, which admittedly doesn't happen as much as it used to now that I work from home. But I do have a small collection of photos I've taken, both on instagram and from the days before instagram (if you can imagine that), which consists of interesting graffiti, a misplaced shoe, funny signs, squirrels eating pizza...that sort of thing.  At any rate, over the last few days I saw a couple of things that caught my eye: first, a really big art piece wheatpasted to a dumpster by the California blue line station; second, a bizarre a...

Happy FO Friday! Today I have a project to share from each of my fiber-related hobbies: knitting, crocheting, and spinning! I bound off for this Mesh Top on January 5, but it's taken some time to weave in all the ends, block properly, and take some decent photos, hence the delay in sharing it on this blog. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out - honestly, I just assumed it would be a huge disaster - laceweight yarn and I aren't on very friendly terms. I'm surprised that it didn't take longer to knit, and I think it'll be nice to wear this spring. I used a pattern from Patternfish (the Filtes Shetland 1354 Open Dolman by Michelle Porter) and only used one and half skeins of Bijou Basin Ranch Shangri-La , which is a luxurious 50-50 blend of yak and silk. I have enough left over to make something fun, too (just as soon as I'm ready to get back on the laceweight bandwagon). Last week, I crocheted these birds for our kickstarter rewards for the two peo...

Just one more week til I can reveal the details of my secret knitting (and crochet) projects! Luckily, I have plenty of other goodies to share between now and then. For example, my first shipment of the Fresh Stitches Just Add Stuffing Kit Club arrived last Thursday - it's a cute little crab! I also ordered some yarn from Doodlebug for the express purpose of crocheting even more amigurumi projects. I did a test knit for Kelbourne Woolens earlier this year and fell in love with Organik , which is a luscious blend of organic merino, alpaca and silk. Needless to say, it's a really beautiful yarn! Aaaaand if you still need some gifties for your fibery friends (or perhaps yourself!), Craftsy has some cool new stuff on sale ! Today is the last day to place your order for guaranteed delivery by Christmas, incidentally. You're welcome.

I'll share my completed project for the Fresh Stitches Archer Mystery CAL next week (I'm still assembling it!), and of course, I don't have any FO's that I am at liberty to share today. Hence, I decree today to be Fiber Friday! My order from the Craftsy Holiday Sale arrived last weekend: Skacel Hikoo SimpliWorsted , Cascade Covington and Universal Yarns' Limerick....all things I don't need (or have specific projects in mind for their use, for that matter), but they're certainly good for keeping the stash healthy. The price was certainly right - and, if you missed out on the sale, I notice that a lot of these yarns are still available to purchase via the links above. C'mon, you know you want to join me down the slippery slope! The Craftsy photos are nicer than mine! While I'm shamelessly enabling, Craftsy has some great deals on knitting books such as Rebecca Danger's  Knit a Monster Nursery ! Too bad I already got my copy, but at le...

Since I don't have any FO's that I am at liberty to share with the world at large, today's post is at the mercy of the United States Postal Service. In Chicago, that is an especially frightening thought; even before USPS began slashing budgets and cutting jobs, mail delivery in Chicago has been nothing short of terrible . In years past, there have been stories of postal carriers hiding undelivered mail in their houses or storage units , burning mail , and who knows what else , just to avoid delivering it! Long story short, mail delivery in Chicago is hands-down the worst in the nation . I could regale you with far too many nightmarish stories myself, though I have also had a few positive experiences in my 7 years as a Chicago resident...perhaps to make up for some really ridiculous BS at the hands of Chicago's USPS! My current issue with them is not the speed at which my mail is (or is not) delivered - though that has been a problem at one time or another - but the ho...

I don't need  more sock yarn...yet these two lovely skeins found their way into my house recently: Green Mountain Spinnery Sock Art Forest (70% fine wool. 30% Tencel) in an undyed natural grey color. The photo doesn't do it justice! I'll be using it for the Jelly Beans Socks , which is a KAL happening right now in their Ravelry group . Then I succumbed to yet another Craftsy Deal (perhaps I should ban that site from my browser?), this time for this autumnal skein of Wisdom Yarns Poems Sock in Pumpkin Patch....and promptly cast on for the  Lateral Socks from Cookie A's new collection (the beginnings of which you saw in yesterday's WIP Wednesday post !). I'll try to resist purchasing any more yarn til September...but I make no promises! ETA: If you're wondering how (or if) it's possible to enable oneself into a yarn purchase, I assure you it is. I spend all day looking at yarn and patterns, talking about them for clients, telling other  people...

I know I've posted several times about Craftsy Deals , but here are my latest acquisitions: 1 skein Manos Clasica in Olivewood - natural blues, browns, yellows and grays 2 skeins Manos Clasica in Lily Pad - soft reds, calming creams and earthy greens I couldn't resist the offer for Fair Trade yarn + free shipping. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I have never knit with Manos' yarns (and only recently acquired at skein of Maxima while in Columbus earlier this year). None of my LYSes carry Manos, so that has always been roadblock #1. I suppose roadblock #2 is that they don't have a sock yarn, which I view as the gateway drug to a yarn line. However, in the course of my work, I have learned so much about the Manos Co-Ops, yarns and colorways, it's about time I gave them a try! As Craftsy noted in the product description : Manos del Uruguay helps empower women in Uruguay's countryside by generating income for themselves and their families. T...

Bijou Basin ranch Order! I'm not sure when the Fourth of July became synonymous with buying a lot of STUFF, but apparently that is a thing now. All last week, I got tons of e-mails for July 4th sales.  Most were deleted, but I couldn't pass up my client's flash sale, which was on the actual holiday only.  I ordered these two skeins of Bijou Bliss  to make Ysolda's Hendreary Hat - I would have been crazy to pass up 25% off my entire order! Plus, 10% of all online sales from the beginning of last month til the end of the summer will be donated towards High Park Fire relief efforts .  I'm a sucker for a good sale, and the photos and reports from all of the wild fires burning in Colorado right now are just so awful, I'm glad there is a little something I can do to help.  Bonus: they included a QR Club pin with my order! I also fell victim to (yet another) irresistible Craftsy deal - this one was for a Westminster Fabrics reusable bag, made from recycled wa...

Getting caught up on everything I missed while at TNNA! I'm back from Columbus with many souvenirs (among them, the summer cold that's been going around) & stories.  It was quite the whirlwind and I'm glad to be home; in the last week and half, I logged about 1700 miles on the road, so I'm more than a little excited to stay close to home for the rest of the summer. This time around, we had a booth for Yarndealer.com and The Wool Wide Web .  We were in the same corner as Deep South Fibers , directly across from Ysolda Teague 's booth - she built a yarn shop from the ground up!  I didn't have as much time to prowl the show floor as I did last year, but I think I was able to hit most of the highlights.  Besides that, I got to attend Marly Bird 's Designer Dinner (more on that later), the Vogue Knitting party, and the Craftsy party, so I really can't complain.  The downside to all of this was that I ran myself ragged and am now nursing a nasty co...

Robin-sized bite Now that I actually give myself the weekends off, I manage to pack a ton into those two days - so if you're hungry, you better go make a sandwich before reading any further.  This will take a while. Witness this weekend:  Friday night Tyler and I went to see our friend's band ( Soft Speaker ) play at Subterranean. Getting home from this show was much less traumatic than last week's Red Line/Blue Line debaucle, being that venue is much easier for us to get to, and they played first, so after sticking around to see what White Hills was about (answer: borrrrring), we headed home and were back on the couch by midnight. Bird's eye view (one half of show floor) Saturday was a big day.  It started off innocently enough - I made pancakes and Tyler and I shared a french press of coffee (for those of you who know me, I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but it was delicious!).  Robin decided to help himself to a pancake - or rather, he tried, but I...

Perhaps it's a bit self-congratulatory, but I feel as though I've done a bang-up job of shopping from my stash in the past year.  My once-overflowing bins of sock and worsted-weight yarn are trim and slim...which means it's ok to go on a small yarn-buying binge this month, right? Justification #1:  Much of this yarn was really on sale, and I bought it with a specific holiday-gift-knitting agenda in mind. Justification #2:  In the case of the Malabrigo Finito, it's only available for a limited time, so I have to get mine while the getting is good. Justification #3:  I wanted to.  Let's not sugar-coat it!   The downside of my job (if you can call it that) is that I frequently enable myself into yarn purchases.  Besides that, I have the yarn-world equivalent of insider trading:  I'm more or less one of the first people to find out that something is available or going on sale.  Which is why I was able to snag these two skeins of Fin...

Alcaucil Sock: Tough to Photograph! Since successfully destashing a good 75% (possibly more!) of my Malabrigo collection for Stockpile in October, it seems as thought just as much has found its way back into my life.  Not that I'm complaining....there are far worse problems than having luscious skeins show up on your doorstep! I was randomly selected to win this skein of sock in one of my favorite colors, #805 Alcaucil - apparently, I properly tagged and classified all of my Stockpile projects.  At last, my anal-retentiveness and ability to follow directions have been rewarded! I've got big plans for this yarn - I think it wants to be the model for the Heliotrope Stockings when I re-release this pattern in January...which reminds me:  if you want to knit this pattern in the next couple of months, I recommend you purchase it from The Sanguine Gryphon this week.  They are in the process of winding down operations, and  come Dec. 24th (or thereabouts), thi...

Sock Yarn: Hazel Knits & The Wool Dispensary Yesterday was my birthday, and thus far I've received many awesome gifts from my thoughtful friends and family.  The biggest gift I've gotten, unfortunately, is also the most unpleasant:  a monster cold....much like I had for last year's birthday.  The difference?  Last year on November 16, I was not only sick, but at the Vet's office learning how to give our newly-diagnosed cat his subcutaneous fluids.  So really, this is an improvement, and I am merely experiencing the Traditional Birthday Cold. My parents came to visit this past weekend, which kicked off all of the birthday celebrating.  We had many meals out at some of my favorite places (Revolution, Hot Doug's, M Burger, The Handlebar to name a few), did a little shopping, and spent Saturday afternoon at the Irish Cultural Center (which is very close to where I live - I had no idea!) for their Irish Books, Arts & Music Festival.  Perhaps i...