handmade by stefanie

Here's one more project that I've finished recently but not shared on my blog: the Svalbard Mittens by Kate Gagnon Osborn, which use two skeins of Tundra . They are so soft and warm! I finished them right before Christmas and have been wearing them a bunch on this trip. We'll be heading back to Chicago tomorrow, this blog should be back to its regularly scheduled programming later this week. Wishing all of my readers a happy, healthy and crafty 2013!

While most of the socks I knit for gifts this year I could sneakily share on my blog by pretending they were for myself, there was one pair of socks that I didn't dare risk sharing: the ones for my mother. I know that she occasionally reads my blog, and this year she had made a special request for a pair of chocolate brown socks. It would have been a dead giveaway! Mom's socks were knit with Cascade Heritage using a pattern from Around the World in Knitted Socks  by Stephanie Van Der Linder,  It's Tea Time . The only modification I made was to make a slip-stitch heel flap rather than continuing the pattern on said flap; I've found that whenever I do that, the socks tend to spring a hole rather quickly, so I'd rather sacrifice a little style for a heel that is extra sturdy. The other pair of socks which haven't been shared on this blog were knit for my grandfather. He has really large feet and prefers basic stuff, so I freestyled a pattern that was in...

Here was my biggest gift knitting conundrum this year: I wanted to knit Tyler a new hat for work, but he gets too hot if I use wool yarn. Cotton and bamboo blends seem to work well, but I am never very happy with the results (even if he is and dutifully wears the finished hat non-stop). Furthermore, he pretty much only wears black and grey, so I'm very limited with my yarn and color choices. Luckily, I remembered my favorite pair of socks to wear back when I worked at the salon. They were knit out of Lorna's Laces Solemate yarn, which contains Outlast, a fiber technology that interacts with the body to moderate temperature. Problem solved! I bought a skein of Solemate in Patina (well, it was labeled as Grand Street Ink, but this skein is definitely not an inky purple-black, it is more of a dark tobacco brown, so I'm guessing it was mis-labeled...or perhaps I need to get my eyes checked!) and cast on for Arkanoid by Wooly Wormhead , which was a great pattern that was ...

In today's post, I'll be sharing the toys I made for holiday gifting this year, starting with the  Fraternal Twin Monkeys I made for our friends in Portland who were expecting twins next month. However, they got an early Christmas gift this year with the early arrival of said twins on Christmas Eve! The pattern is Rebecca Danger's Jerry the Musical Monkey , and I used some Cascade 220 that I got on closeout from Doodlebug Yarn earlier this year. It was so hard to send them away to their new home, but I know they will be well-loved. Early last week, I decided to crochet two patterns from the book I got for my birthday, Stacey Trock's Crocheted Softies ; one for my friend Ellen and one to add to Tyler's stocking. For Ellen, I thought that Milton the Slowpoke Snail would be really awesome with a Zombie BBQ shell (and I just happened to have a partial skein of Shepherd Worsted in my stash in that particular colorway!). Who doesn't need a Christmas snail ?...

My first holiday knitting FO to share while I'm on vacation is these these two Pokeball Hats  that I knit for my nephews in Portland, who are both Pokemon fans, needless to say. It's a free pattern I found on Ravelry and I was able to hone my duplicate-stitch skills in the process. I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out! They are knit with one of my favorite superwash yarns, Berrocco Vintage.

I can't believe that Christmas is tomorrow - it's amazing how much faster this month goes by when you're an adult (or pretending to be one). Tyler and I are staying in Chicago for the actual holiday, then heading down to see our families in Kansas City on the 27th. How will we be starting out 2013, you ask? Why, we'll be up bright and early to catch the Amtrak train back to Chicago! I can only imagine how that train ride will go, considering the train begins in LA and many of those passengers will have spent New Year's Eve on said train. Should be interesting.  At any rate, I'll be pre-scheduling blog posts to share all of my secret gift-knitting (and crocheting!) projects while I'm away on vacation. Whatever holiday you celebrate, I hope it's wonderful! Reinbeers! I saw several versions of this on Pinterest and couldn't resist making a six-pack for our upstairs neighbors! 

Ho, ho, ho! If you have a last-minute gifting emergency, Craftsy has come to your rescue with their Christmas Sale. All online classes are $9.99 - $24.99, an excellent deal. I'm a huge fan of Craftsy classes (and I'm also a blogger affiliate), having signed up 11 this year. I'm a  Craftsy believer! Build your skills or learn something new with these class options from Craftsy : Knitting Classes Crochet Classes Spinning Classes Weaving Classes Sewing Classes Jewelry-making Classes Food Craft Classes Home & Garden Classes Enjoy and have a happy holiday!