BeanMama Knits

... and still knitting. I'm rushing to finish a pair of lace gloves knit in cotton thread for the Soprano who sings with me in A Christmas Carol. I thought I'd have time to knit during rehearsal -- sort of forgetting that I'm on stage most of the time, and we only rehearse for about 9 days. Oops! I'm doing okay, though - I think. I've got the first glove knit up to the pinky. So I need to do the other 3 fingers and the thumb. The 2nd glove is knit 1/2 way up the thumb gusset. I think I'll make it by our first audience preview. *gulp* Sadly, it means I had to put aside the red pullover I was knitting for myself (Elizabeth I from Alice Starmore's "Tudor Roses" book,) which I was starting to become obsessed with. So, it looks like I won't be wearing that on Christmas Eve, as I was hoping. Maybe... but I don't see how. That's okay. It will get finish, I have confidence. I think. That is, if I don't get distracted by more socks. So, the...

I've finally knit up the Summer of Love Lace socks from Blue Moon Fiber Arts "Rockin' Sock Club". I seem to have a compulsion to knit them IN ORDER. The patterns, anyway - using the yarn in order doesn't seem to bother me. I still have my skein of Walkin' on the Wild Tide that I've not found the perfect pattern for yet. I got the October shipment - a gorgeous black and red yarn from the new Raven series. The pattern is amazingly well-written and is by our own beloved Yarn Harlot. Both pattern and yarn are called "Lenore" and the pattern is gothic and beautiful. I could hardly wait to knit it! It was truly the inspiration for me to just go ahead and knit up the second Solstice Slip sock. Almost as soon as I finished those I grabbed my yarn for the Summer of Love socks and cast on. I didn't use the Sock Club yarn. I confess to trading it on Ravelry -- I just could not make myself like the colorway. (I did keep my keychain of "emergency ya...

Tuscany Yarn, in my town, finally opened its doors one last time for two days of shopping mayhem. The owner passed away from breast cancer in the Spring, I believe. Since then, her husband closed the shop and it has just sat there. I drove by it on my way to my husband's work and would gaze in at all the yarn and wonder what he was going to do with it all. He did a really wonderful thing. He opened the doors for two days - advertised only in our tiny, free local newspaper with a lovely ad that showed a picture of his wife and family. He said he wanted to give back to the community with the sale. So, instead of collecting money for himself, we shoppers wrote our checks directly to one of 3 charities. I went on Saturday morning and there was a small, not overwhelming, line in front of the shop. It got crowded quickly, though! Several friends showed up and I couldn't even chat with them much because of the small space and all the yarn-seekers. I bought a gorgeous tote bag with lov...

I've been exploring new Knitting podcasts and discarding others. Shall we chat Podcasts? If you have suggestions on casts I may have overlooked -- please comment & let me know! These are listed in the order in which I started listening to them. Cast-On: Always and forever my hands-down favorite. KnitCast: I'm still subbed. Why not? But she never makes episodes anymore. :( Sticks & String: The accent was charming, but frankly? I got bored with it. When I found I was letting the episodes pile up and always choosing to listen to something else, I unsubscribed. Lime & Violet: Okay, this one may get me in some trouble. I listened to L&V for quite a long time and just recently unsubscribed. I enjoy them and their banter. I don't mind the wandering off-topic or the off-color humor. Even the dog farts don't offend me. But they crossed the line for me when they started ripping apart an ex-boyfriend of Lime's. When they started making jokes about the size...

I've been working on these for what seems like forever. I wasn't very happy with the pattern stitch or the way the color worked out with them. My mistake, really -- I did the first sock working from both ends of the skein because I wanted to minimize pooling. It was a huge pain largely because of the way the yarn twists while I knit. I hated it! My daughter got very sick while I worked on sock #1 and so it was a consolation to knit on it, but it wasn't a consolation to knit on something I wasn't loving. But I finished the sock finally. And decided to go ahead and start on sock #2. I just couldn't bear to rip it out and the socks were comfortable enough. And I still do love the "Lucy" colorway. Anyway, blah blah blah -- I finished the 2nd. They don't match. I even accidentally did the tubular bind off preparation rows differently and so the cuffs don't look the same. And I don't care. They're done. And I am moving on to new patterns and new ...

DH was supposed to be making a Butterfly costume for my daughter this year, so I was resting easy thinking I was off the hook for Hallowe'en! Woo hoo! But things kept getting put off. Which worried me. 2 days before Hallowe'en, I brought home a pair of white wings I'd found at the thrift store for $2 -- thinking DH could use them to build the costume instead of starting from scratch with the straight wires he bought. Just to save time, since it was getting so close. But he rejected this idea, (with no little scorn,) and DD saw the wings and declared them fairy wings and started wearing them. 1 day before Hallowe'en, DH started work on the costume and it became clear after hours of his labor that it wasn't going to work out the way he had intended. The wire turned the fabric into a tangled mess and trying to repair it became hopeless. Luckily, we still had the fairy wings and DD was content to be a fairy. But she wanted to be Tinkerbell . What to do?? Last month, sh...

R.I.P. Yorick... So, I found this kicky pattern for a felted crochet skull (a free pattern from Lion brand yarns,) and made it for Mike to take to our friends' Hallowe'en party last week. He wore his Renaissance Faire costume and went as "Hamlet" holding the felted skull. It was a big hit. Well, as Mike was getting ready to go to the Hallowe'en party for his work o n Wednesday morning, we went to find poor Yorick and he was nowhere to be found. We searched high and low. Finally, we asked Rosaline and she confessed to disliking him. She told us that she threw him over the back fence and onto the sidewalk yesterday. I don't know for sure that she really did it, but it wouldn't surprise me. I turned the house upside down after Mike left hoping to drive it over to him before his party if we could find it. No such luck. Alas, poor Yorick -- I hope those that passed on the street and adopted you give you a good home. Stats: Pattern: free Lion Brand Yarns pat...