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...