handmade by stefanie

Head's up - this week only, I have a killer deal on luxury sock yarn mini skein grab bags in my Etsy shop : over 100g of fingering weight yarn for only $15! If you live in the US, that includes postage, and it's not much more to ship to Canada. Many of the yarns and colors are unique, hard-to-find, one-of-a-kind, exclusive, discontinued....you get the idea! Also, if you have a reasonable request (i.e. colors you love, colors you hate, no variegated colors, etc.), I am totally happy to honor that as I pack up your skeins. Oh, and I have a habit of including fun freebies with each order! Convinced? Click here to snag yours , there are only a limited quantity up for grabs! When they're gone, they'd gone!

28 Zoom Loom Squares! Now I just have to find a project for them... With February coming to a close tomorrow, I wanted to spend today taking stock on this month's goals: Weave one Zoom Loom square each day this month to build up a nice stash for making some projects from Margaret Stump's Pin Loom Weaving book. Completed! I took the liberty of weaving my final two squares ahead of time so that I have all 28 to photograph & share today.  Complete the  Foliage Cowl  for the  Holla Knits KAL  which starts today. Completed! This project was knit in under a week, and I blogged about it here . Complete my Curls KAL project ( currently in progress ). Not even close!  Finish 2 baby sweaters this month (one which is  already in progress  and one which is needle adjacent). Halfway There: the sweater-in-progress from the beginning of the month is complete , but I haven't even started the needle adjacent sweater due to some design deadlines wh...

For those of you who hexipuff, Zoom Loom, or are otherwise addicted to Sock Yarn Mini Skeins: I'm having a Black Friday early bird sale in my Etsy shop! Click here to snag your grab bags - limited quantity are available! Don't forget to enter the coupon code below when you check out for a 15% discount. Here are just a few awesome patterns which are great for sock yarn miniskeins: Mini Madness Crochet Ripple Cowl by Dana Freed Leftie by Martina Behm Pompom Chevron by Mariana Martins (Free!) The Beekeeper's Quilt by Tiny Owl Knits Gradient Mitts by Krista McCurdy (Free!) Temescal by Arlette Mini Skein Striped Socks by Xenia Baxter (Free!) Mini Skein Cowl by Joy McMillan Mini Mania Scarf by Sarah Core (Free!) Mosaic Happy Fingerless Gloves  by Taiga Hilliard Designs All orders ship FREE to US addresses (no coupon code needed) and include fun extras, too! If you have any special requests with regards to colors in your grab bag, just be sure to ente...

I'm so excited to share my newest pattern with you today, which also happens to be my first-ever crochet pattern! Ever since I got into crocheting amigurumi, I've been wanting to create a sister version of my knitted Button Bunnies pattern. After months (and maybe even years) of having this in my design queue, the Crochet Button Bunny is born! I used Maxima and Clasica yarns from Manos Del Uruguay , both of which are single-ply worsted weight yarns, which are ideal for crocheting - no splitting plies as you work. They're dyed in an array of beautiful colors at co-ops in Uruguay, and all Manos yarns are certified Fair Trade , which is pretty cool! Click here to get the FREE pattern on the Knitter's Pride blog!   My other FO this week is another Zoom Loom Turtle , which I made with destash yarn using the instructions from the DJE Handwovens Turtle Critter Kit . These fun kits were designed especially for use with Zoom Loom swatches, and there are several diff...

My Etsy shop is officially reopened for 2014, and you'll not only find some of my best-selling knitting patterns , but I have also listed new mini-skein grab bags ! Check out this amazing list of luxury yarn possibilities: Anzula Dreamy & Squishy Baah La Jolla Sock Bijou Basin Ranch Lhasa Wilderness Black Toad MCN (Chicago Indie Dyer) Dream in Color Smooshy Green Mountain Spinnery Sock Art - Forest Grinning Gargoyle Seda Sock Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock MadelineTosh Merino Light Malabrigo Sock & Finito Neighborhood Fiber Co. Watershed Sock ShiBui Knits Sock Sincere Sheep Tenacious Sock Yarn Spud and Chloe Sock Sunday Knits Eden 3-ply Sweet Georgia Tough Love Sock The Wool Dispensary Deadly Stimulant (BFL Sock) Three Irish Girls Adorn Sock Trekking Bamboo XXL & Trekking XXL Valley Yarns Charlemont Kettle Dyed Wollglöckchen Handgefärbte Sockenwolle Each mini-skein is at least ten yards, but most have more yardage than that! It's...

I spent the weekend adding LOTS of great stuff to my newly-reopened Etsy shop : Mini skeins for hexipuff and zoom loom enthusiasts, hand-knit and -crocheted accessories and toys, and supplies for makers. Here are just a few  of the items that are currently for sale: Click here to check out the Handmade by Stefanie Etsy Shop (be sure to add me to your favorites, too)! I'll be adding new items weekly; the best way to stay updated is to follow me on twitter or pinterest . I'll also be posting photos and links on the HBS Facebook fan page !

This is the time of year when I  kick my holiday gift-making into high gear, which always poses an interesting problem where blogging is concerned. There are some gifts I can share because I'm pretty sure the person doesn't read my blog - and if they do, it's not readily apparent that said project is for them. Of course, there are still plenty of projects that I don't dare share til after the fact for fear of letting the proverbial cat out of the bag. Luckily, I can say with a degree of certainty that my grandmother does not read my blog! I dreamed up a weaving project using my Zoom Loom ; it's only a modest start, but I plan on making 18 squares total to stitch together into a  pillow . I am using commercially spun yarn for the warp and my own handspun for the weft; depending on the number of color combinations I end up with, I will try to do some sort of patchwork pattern when it comes time to sew everything together. On the bright side, I can continue mak...

As it turns out, my only FO for this week isn't ready to be revealed just yet! Instead, I'll be sharing a few highlights from my trip to Kansas City. Meet you back here tomorrow for another Tour de Fleece installment of Spinning Saturday!  We stayed with Tyler's parents, who had a fantastic view of the downtown Kansas City Skyline.  As luck would have it, my dad snagged a bottle of the hard-to-find Boulevard Coffee Ale for us to try! Speaking of dear old Dad, I let him try out my Zoom Loom! Here he is with his first woven square! No trip to KC would be complete without at least a few visits to Tyler's fave, Winstead's. ....or lots more tasty local beer! Though there isn't much photographic evidence, I managed to squeeze in plenty of knitting time. I also managed to spin every day that we were in KC, sometimes in the most unexpected places! For instance, here I am spinning on the lawn of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of art. ...

I've been getting back into toy-making, and this week I have a cute little Squirrel on Wheels using some leftover Berrocco Ultra Alpaca : I have also become obsessed with the Zoom Loom I brought back from TNNA. On Sunday night, I made my first square using some leftover Fleece Artist sock yarn - now I have lots of squares completed! I have absolutely no idea what I'll be doing with them, but for now, it's just fun to make them and I am enjoying using up the leftover bits of sock yarn that have been haunting my stash. Though it would be cool to make a spectacular throw, a few patchwork pillows might be more my speed. I'll be collecting my favorite pin loom weaving project inspiration here on Pinterest if you're interested! Thanks for stopping by this week - for more FO Friday inspiration, visit the  Tami's Amis blog !  Have a crafty weekend!

I don't have much progress to report on my WIPs this week for two reasons: 1. I have been away at the TNNA trade show and just arrived home yesterday afternoon! 2. Of the two projects I worked on the most while I was in Columbus, I can only posts WIP photos of one! Therefore, today's post will be short and sweet. I'll be sharing more about my TNNA trip later this week as I get caught up with work stuffs and whatnot; I saw some really cool stuff that I am excited to spread the word about! As always, a nice assortment of goodies found their way home with me (my luggage was pretty much at capacity!): I'll be posting reviews, projects, etc. about all of my fun new fiber toys in the weeks to come!  Meanwhile, I finally finished the first Scalloped Rib Sock on the Megabus back home to Chicago - and I promptly started sock #2! I'm pretty excited to have made so much progress on these socks - that means I am getting even closer to re-releasing this pattern...