handmade by stefanie

Confession: I've never knit with a brushed mohair yarn. I'm not sure how this has never happened in the 15ish years I've been knitting, but it's true. Sure, I've used yarns with mohair blended in, but I've never used this type of yarn in a knitting project. So, I absolutely couldn't say no when I was offered a skein of Cabrito yarn from Manos del Uruguay, and my choice of a "companion yarn" if I so chose. Why two different types of yarn? Cabrito is a lace weight, fluffy yarn that plays well with others. When held with a different yarn base, Cabrito provides softness and a beautiful halo, while the companion yarn lends some strength and structure. The Fairmount Fibers design team has a lot of fabulous free patterns designed especially for Cabrito and other yarns from the line (if you're wondering, Fairmount Fibers is the North American distributor for Manos yarns), and I decided to knit the free Ambrose Hat Pattern , which calls for...

After spending most of last month working on a top secret test knitting project, it feels like forever since I've gotten to share a finished knit on here. I have an uncomfortable (for me) amount of WIPs currently on the needles at the moment, and my hope is to spend November fixing that problem so that I can start some new & exciting projects over the holiday break next month. Back in September, I was sent some yarn for review from the generous folks at Kraemer Yarns, who have provided yarn and fiber for several reviews over the past few years, such as July's needle felted ornament tutorial , the Knit for Baby sweater kit review from this past Spring, and a solar yarn dyeing tutorial from 2016 . Each time, I've been impressed with the products they send me, which are all beautifully made at their mill in Nazareth, Pennsylvania using domestically-sourced fibers. After working with the Mauch Roving for the needle felting tutorial (and also carding the leftover fiber ...

As a handspinner, I really love trying new-to-me breeds of sheep (not to mention other interesting or exotic fibers), but non-spinners don't have nearly the range of options available to them in ready-to-use yarn form. While this has improved over the years since I started knitting, yarns spun from breed-specific wools are still not the norm, especially at your LYS; they're more easily found at fiber festivals or through creative Googling. I was excited when I heard about Shepherd's Lamb, a family owned ranch in New Mexico. Over the years, they have grown their flock to 1000 ewes whose fleeces are used to make  beautiful wool blankets, pelts and knitworthy yarns (you can read more about their story here - it's worth checking out!). In particular, their Rambouillet yarn caught my attention. I've worked with this breed of wool before and have enjoyed it, but I don't think I've ever used a Rambouillet yarn or fiber that I knew exactly where it had been ...

Last month, I shared a new-to-me yarn which I'm using for an design appearing in an upcoming Holla Knits collection. Today, I want to share a not-so-new-to-me yarn which has long been on my list of favorites, Himalayan Trail . I first used this yarn in 2012, when I knit a scarf which I gave to a friend for Christmas that year. I immediately fell in love with the fluffy softness! At the time, this yarn was only available in two color options, Natural Brown and Natural Cream. Dun Bonnet, just one of 24 color options from the Outlandish collection. A little over a year ago, Bijou Basin Ranch introduced the Outlandish series of colorways which are inspired by the Outlander series. I admit, I haven't read the books, nor have I watched the TV show (which is just about to make its return to Starz) - but I am most definitely a sucker for beautiful semi-solid hand-dyed yarn! Last fall, I designed a hat and fingerless mitt pattern using  Himalayan Trail , and I am just finis...

I know this isn't the first time I've mentioned it, but it really seems like everyone I know is expecting a baby in the next 6 months. Seriously, I am starting to lose track - or rather, I would, if I didn't keep a running list in Trello . At any rate, when I was sent skein of Winter Silk yarn from Mountain Colors to try out (yes, it was free!) I thought this was the perfect opportunity to get started on my ever-growing queue of baby gifts. Mountain Colors Mountain Silk yarn in Harmony Cottonwood The colorway is the perfect kind of non-gender-specific colorway I love to use for baby knits; I figure, if they know whether or not they'll be having a boy or a girl ahead of time, they'll be drowning in blue or pink. As for the yarn itself, it's a 50/50 blend of wool and silk with a lovely hand; very soft with just enough drape. Though it isn't superwash (something I try to take into consideration when knitting for new parents), I still think it's a gre...

One of the yarns I discovered at TNNA earlier this month was American Lamb Bulky , a 100% merino yarn from Made in America  yarns. They were kind enough to let me take home a sample of yarn to review on my blog. I'm sure you won't be surprised to find out that this yarns is 100% grown and processed in the USA, a trend which continues on the American knitting scene. Quoting directly from their Ravelry page: Our sheep are raised out west of the Missouri river. Their sheared wool comes to South Carolina for carding and cleaning. The cleaned wool is sent to Rhode Island where it becomes our roving and singles. It then comes to our mill in Philadelphia where we twist and dye it. From here we distribute it to local yarn stores around the United States where you can purchase it. What's interesting about this yarn is its texture: it is described as a soft wrapped 22-micron merino wool, meaning that it consists of a fat, lofty ply of yarn wrapped with a thinner ply which is a...

Welcome to the first installment to what I hope is a regular feature here on this blog - See it Swatched . My goal is to try out new yarns (and sometimes revisit old favorites), sharing my thoughts and feedback as well as showing what each yarn looks knitted, crocheted, and woven; since I'm not a weaver, I'll be using my Schacht Zoom Loom for the woven swatch. I admit that I am not a very enthusiastic swatcher, so I thought that this would be a good way for me to make friends with the swatching process and maybe even learn a few things along the way. I'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions for this new feature so that I can refine the concept for future posts!  Anzula Cloud A few years ago, a friend gifted me a skein of Anzula Cloud . It was beautiful in the skein, but that was nothing compared to the experience of knitting with it, much less wearing the finished garment! I ended up using it for the second Stephen West Mystery KAL, Rockefeller . I pai...