BeanMama Knits

TKGA Show and Mystery Stole 4 I spent a day at the TKGA show in Portland and had a great time. I was feeling a bit under the weather, but I stocked up on caffeinated beverages and made the journey anyway. I was determined to find some laceweight for the Mystery Stole 4-along that I wanted to join. And I had this idea that I wanted to use Red Fish Dyeworks 20/2 Silk . I'm not quite sure how I got that idea in my head, but it was so firmly in there that the first booth I visited was Red Fish Dyeworks and I snapped up 3 skeins of the silk for my Mystery Stole 4. I bought some orange beads to go with it (very cheap - 99 cents per bag, I believe, and I got 2 bags,) but I didn't end up liking the look of the beads with the yarn and used the brown beads I bought at the neighborhood bead store last month. I have been diligently working on the stole every night trying to catch up. I am now 2/3 of the way through Clue 2 and Clue 3 comes out on Friday. Unfortunately... I am discovering

There's been a tiny bit of knitting going on around here. It's been pretty crazy with the unpacking and nesting and getting the little one going in her new cooperative school... but I have managed to knit a wee bit here and there. I started these on a whim for my best friend who claimed she liked pink but couldn't wear it. I figure you can wear anything you bloomin' well want to on your tootsies, so I grabbed this pinkness from my stash and started a pair of Jaywalkers for her. I think the past few weeks have been stressful... because although I knit the first sock quickly and efficiently, the second one suffered. I forgot to slip the side stitches on the foot and had to rip back to the beginning of the gusset to fix it. Then I realized I only decreased the sole to 38 instead of 36 stitches and was faced with ripping it back again. Which I finally didn't do -- I decided it didn't make a huge difference in terms of fit and that I was ready to move on to other thi

Well, we did it. Our family has moved to Oregon. We are loving it here, so far. Folk are super friendly and I am seeing greenery that makes me blossom. But this is a knitting blog. So... I kept my knitting simple and have been knitting nothing but socks for a month or so now. I knit a couple of rows on the aran shawl I'm working on, but not too many. I just couldn't get involved, if you know what I mean. Required thought and so I stopped. I finished the 2nd pair of socks for my dear friend who helped me move. I only have one sock in the picture 'cause I forgot to take a picture of both of them together before I mailed them off to her. So, one sock is all you get to see. Maybe the next time I see her I can get her to put them on for me and I'll try to get a decent shot of them. But then again, maybe not. Stats: Pattern: Rockin' Strat Men's Socks Needles: Size 1, 2 circs Yarn: Schachenmayr nomotta Regia Bamboo Color Modifications: Not sure. I copped the stitc

I realized that I never posted about my finished Orange Shaker! I was waiting 'cause I wanted to sew the ribbon into the button bands. And then, I just started wearing it... and wearing it... and wearing it... and I finally realized that I was happy with the sweater the way it was and that I wasn't choosing to put the ribbon in because I no longer wanted to. I loved the idea of the blue ribbon - I think it would look great - but it would make the sweater less wearable for me. And I am really enjoying wearing this cardigan. I wear it a LOT. This is, without question, the most wearable sweater I've made for myself (which is not saying too much - after all, I've only made 2 other long sleeve sweater-like items for myself.) So... it's finished! Specs Pattern : "Shaker" by Kim Hargreaves, from Rowan magazine issue #25 Yarn : Schachenmayr nomotta Catania - orange Needles : size 2.5 Knit Picks Harmony. Size 1 for the garter edging & bands. Modification

Great contest from Knit Witch! FABULOUS prizes, and check out her gorgeous knitting bowls while you're visiting. Finished Object: Mockery Socks for my friend A. Complaining that the Inside Out socks in a heart stoppingly beautiful Socks that Rock colourway " Lemongrass " were "too pretty to shove in tennis shoes", A. requested some plain and simple pairs that she wouldn't worry about damaging. Loathe to knit plain stockinette socks (because it's boring,) I grabbed some yarn that would hide stitch patterns well and proceeded to knit something simple but with enough to keep my interest going. Mockery socks were great! I really liked them, in fact, and I'm interested to try twisting the yarnovers in a couple of other lace patterns to see if they'll do something similar. I'm going to have to make another pair for myself soon. It's really hard to see the pattern in this photo -- but that was the point, if you know what I mean. Stats : Patter

Fascinating bind-off -- particularly for toe-up socks, so I'm told. I can't wait to try it! Had to share - have stuff to post, but no time. Moving day is less than a month away!

BEFORE and AFTER I finished this shawl in April. Since then it's just been wadded up carelessly in my knitting basket waiting to be dyed and blocked. And because I didn't think it was terribly pretty, I wasn't in a hurry. But I was blinded -- BLINDED -- by the color I wasn't in love with. When I started the shawl, I wanted a simple lace project and I wanted to use yarn in my stash. I had 3 skeins of Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in Iris Heather sitting around and it was dreamily soft and I thought the subtle color would do, and I cast on. I quickly became aware that I was not loving the color. But I kept going because I figured I could always dye it and because I really wanted to use up the yarn (I still have 1 skein left.) When it was finished, I wove in the ends and shoved it in said basket. But last week I bought two pretty purple tops and was suddenly motivated to use the purple dye I had bought for the purpose of dying this shawl and DO it so that I might wear the shawl

I confess, I am not a good finisher. Well, that's vague. Let's say... I get impatient with finishing as I get near the end and often am not as slow and careful as I could be. I am trying very hard to take it slow with Shaker 'cause I am really hoping for a wearable sweater. So far, she is fitting better than I expected. The shoulders fit exactly right. The sleeve length is perfect. I sewed in the sleeves (which was nerve-wracking,) tonight, sewed in all the ends I could that were near seams, and have steamed the length of the body before I prepare to seam up the sides and down the sleeves. I have, however, pinned the pigeonfeathers out of it, so it's try-on-able. My only concern is that the underarm will hit me too low -- which I thought I did the calculations to avoid, but if it was a problem with the way the original pattern fits my unique measurements then I will not blame myself. I do think that I didn't stretch the button band enough before I sewed it on, and i

Just a quick update: Shaker is ALMOST done. The sleeve caps are re-knit (turns out I only had to eliminate 2 rows, which I did. But I could have fudged it. Grf. Oh well, I can always claim to be a perfectionist. I'm not one, but I can claim to be one now!) and the shoulder seams are sewn (which I ended up doing twice because I didn't like the way it came out the first time. I'd never done back-stitch on knitting before.) (Are my excessively long parentheticals bugging you yet?) I knit the button band about 4 times. I kept ripping it out. Turns out the first way I did it was the most pleasing and so I did it that way again. (rolleyes). Now the left button band is knit and mattress-stitched on and the 2nd button band with the buttonholes is about 2/3 of the way finished now. Then it's do the neck band and sew the sleeves in and sew on the buttons. I'm planning to wear it when I go to Portland 6/19. I think I will make it! I even am going to make it with the original

I am still plugging away on my Shaker from Rowan 25. I've knit the back and one sleeve complete. The other sleeve is knit up to the beginning of the armhole shaping. The left front is knit up to the neckline shaping and the right front is almost to that point as well. Then, I need to figure out how to re-do the shoulder shaping or the armscythe is going to be too big and I will not like the cardigan. I think the width is actually okay, as I don't want it to have to stretch at all to fit me. I am going to have to master the math. I can do this. I can. I think. Eep. Meanwhile, I also have a few other wips to talk about. Shawl with Melon Pattern from Victorian Lace Today : This is finished. I have a few ends to weave in yet, but otherwise it is waiting to be dyed. I have knit 3 swatches and I ordered "purple" and "burgundy" jacquard dyes from KnitPicks. I got a large pot from the thrift store that I can use for dying and now I just need to dye my test swatch

First, the good!! Recognize that amazing gal in the middle? We went to the Maker Faire on Saturday. We went last year and LOVED it and we had always planned to attend this year as well. Come to find out that the Yarn Harlot was appearing there in the morning! It seems to have been a last-minute addition because the Harlot did not mention that she was attending in her blog until a few scant days before the event. And traffic getting into the event was AWFUL. Since she spoke at 11AM and the event opened at 10AM, her talk was pretty poorly attended, IMO, for a Harlot Event. We planned to get there in plenty of time and I ended up missing 1/2 of her talk. But what I heard was great!! She came back to the craft area to knit with people and talk, so I got her to sign my book. And I got to ask her a question that resulted in her giving a detailed explanation of how she knits, which was fascinating. Someone got behind her with a camera, so I'll be checking YouTube for that footage. The

First of all... here she is!! I'm so very proud of her. My first Alice Starmore . My first adult size sweater, really. (I did make Klaralund and I guess that counts, but it had no shaping and was on size 8 needles. This has lots of shaping and was on size 3 needles.) It took me almost (but NOT quite,) a year. Mostly because I kept putting her aside. I had gauge issues: I got stitch gauge perfectly but my row gauge was way too big. So I subtracted as many rows as I could in the body and hoped for the best. Turns out, it was okay! It fits me really well and I love it! I've even worn it once already! Introducing... Elizabeth I Pattern: Elizabeth I from the book Tudor Roses by Alice Starmore Yarn: 100% merino, recycled from a Banana Republic ribbed pullover. I have enough left to make a matching cap and some gloves. Needles: size 3 Modifications: I just left out some rows in the lower body to make up for my row gauge being off. Once I was at the point where Elizabeth need

I have been sick. Bleah. And so I have been going nutzo on Ravelry -- I entered all my back issues of Knitter's , Interweave Knits , and Vogue Knitting into Ravelry. Then I went through each issue page-by-page and entered everything I thought I wanted to knit from them into my Ravelry queue. Several patterns weren't entered yet so I had to enter them. And then I ended up "adopting" several older Vogue magazines that had no editors. And then I started catching up a bit on some of my neglected volunteer editing... It was fun! I now have 200 books/magazines in my Ravelry Library and 199 queued patterns! Hm... better go find one more thing to queue, eh? Don't worry, Elizabeth I, I've not forgotten you! Actually, right now she's draped over a chair - waiting only to have her side/underarm seams sewn. Which I can't do right now because... well... I'm sick... and... the nose is... you know... running... and seaming requires bending over... and...

I brought, as my travel knitting, to Alaska the October installment of the 2007 Rockin' Sock Club: Lenore in the Raven colorway by Stephanie Pearl McPhee (aka the Yarn Harlot.) I cast on for sock #1 at the airport waiting to head out and cast on for sock #2 at the airport waiting to come home. I kitchenered the 2nd toe while at the zoo the next morning. They are wonderfully cozy!! The first photo shows the detail of the pattern better, but the darker photo shows the yarn color the best. I wanted to see how quickly I could knit a pair of socks -- I'm nervous about sample knitting for Cookie. But I did these in 4 days, so I should be okay. I won't be able to dedicate that kind of concentrated time, but I will have about 3 weeks to do them so it should even out. I hate being a slow knitter sometimes. Speaking of slow knitting.... How fareth thee, Elizabeth I? Here she is as of this morning. Dry and ready to have her pins yanked out. It would be LOVELY to be able to wear her

Ah, what to write about Stitches West? I got there around 10:30-ish? Maybe 11:00. It wasn't raining yet, though it started soon after I got into the building and poured for the rest of the day and long into the evening. I got good, easy parking in the parking lot across from the Convention Center. Which was good. I had forgotten my umbrella (or so I thought -- I found out after I returned home that it had rolled under the driver's seat. Grf,) which turned out to be a little wet for me later in the day. I had a few folk who were going to call me to hook up in the Market, but only one of ended up doing so. Which was fine, I know how crazy the Market can be and how plans change and what-not. Alice, who was a friend of mine from my old Genetech days, called about an hour after I arrived and we hooked up. By then, I had done almost all of my pocketbook's damage. You see, I fell deeply in love with a shawl from La Lana Wools of Taos. So new it's not even on their website ye

Elizabeth I and me. I am still stuck -- unwilling to pick up another project, even a small one, for fear that Elizabeth I will become a UFO. But not terribly motivated, it's been hard to pick up the needles and work on her. But, I have been picking it up and am now 2 rows away from being finished with Chart C. (I have to do Chart C 4 times, I believe?) It will go faster from this point as I've begun the armhole shaping -- it's a raglan style so there will be fewer and fewer stitches per row as I go along. I am working on the final piece - the front - the back piece is done and the sleeves are each done up to the raglan shaping. It should be be quick to finish those off. Then I need to sew the pieces together and do the neckline. It's really not that far from completion... it's just hard because my motivation is in the toilet, so to speak. But I WILL NOT let her become an UFO. Even if I end up finishing her, and shoving her in the back of the closet forever. *** In

I've not posted because there hasn't been terribly much knitting going on for me. I am struggling along with my Elizabeth I -- I've finished the back half and it is turning out, as I feared, too long. I seem to be in a state of fierce denial. I do NOT want to frog it because I don't know how I'd fix it really. I geuss I'd have to rip it all the way out and change the placement of all the waist shaping and begin the center panel sooner and re-calculate all the raglan shaping. Not sure I am interested in doing all of that, frankly. I'm going to finish the back half (really, I' just need to do the left shoulder part which will take me 10 minutes if I sit down and do it,) and then pin it out on my body and see what it's actually going to do. I'll let you know if it's hopeless. I'll throw a whinge party. Had to share a photo of my favorite Christmas gift this year -- given by my clever SiL who managed to find the perfect ornament gift for ever