Just a headsup about the destination for the new ‘BeanKnits and Spins’ blog… Adrift in Crafts. Pretty soon there will be new goodies to share there.

Again, thank you for being a part of BeanKnits and Spins.

Episode 20– Neverending WIPs, (and a special FO)

Edit: Episode 20 is here!

RosiG’(SoapyKnitter) is destashing some sweet yarns!! Don’t miss out! (Ravelry link)

Verena Knitting Magazine –Beautiful, stylish knits!! Plus Sizes! Cables!

SPECIAL NOTE:

With this episode, I think it is time to say goodbye. I didn’t want to mention that Episode 20 would be my last, because I didn’t want to bring the tone down during recording. Lately I’ve just not been feeling the podcasting, and while I’ve had some great times, I think it’s best not to continue. I started my craft documentation with blogging and since I prefer the written word(and photos!) over the podcasting, that is what I will return to. I will be leaving this blog up in case iTunes decides to delete my feed link, and an all-new crafting blog will be up in the coming weeks. I will also from time to time continue to contribute at the House of Wool Repute.
I want to thank ALL my listeners, commenters and HoWR cohorts for encouraging me when the going got tough.

Shannon, of SSK podcast, thank you for giving me the kick in the a$$ that I needed to finally get my voice out there.
Thank you HoWRs and honorary HoWRs for listening to me whine about it all and giggling at my crazy comments.
Thank you Necia for suggesting I branch out and talk about all my different crafts.
Thank you CiCiCarry for keeping me on my toes and checking me out on the blogs, in Flickr AND in Ravelry.
Thank you Susandolph for encouraging me to keep on even when I had my doubts, and congratulations on getting on the mic as well.
Thank you Yarngeekier for listening to me talk about an upcoming episode, only for it to be totally different, and not saying, “Uh, what happened to…?”
Thank you Turtlegirl for YAYing when an episode went up!
Thank you to everyone who’s ever sent me an email, a Ravelry comment or left a comment on this blog or at HoWR to let me know you’re out there. You all have seen me through this and I hope you’ll continue to check out BeanKnits and Spins, etc. wherever it may turn up.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!!!

Episode 19 is here.

Poinsettia neckwarmer by Anne Hanson from the Winter 2008 Knitty

Knit in Misty Mountain Farm Alpaca held double with Classic Elite Alpaca Sox

The bass-ackwards ‘long draw’ spinning video is here.

Episode 18-Back again!

Episode 18 is ready to go!

Kwik-Sew Plus size Pajama pants pattern, and some sale fabric I bought at City Quilter

Summer of crafting– new machine, skirt craze just before vacation,
finishing second quilt EVER!

PJ pants fiasco!

Techniques I’ve learned over the years: (links don’t necessarily represent an ‘ownership/invention of a technique, they are merely tutorial.)

Emily Ocker’s Circular cast on
magic cast on/figure 8 cast on
sewn bind off/Russian bind off
cabling without a needle
backward knitting and purling
navajo/chained plying

What’s on the needles/presserfoot:

Mystery Stole 4 and Abrazo

Episode 15— 2008– NO FEAR, Books! and my ‘design’

Episode 15 is ready for your enjoyment!

All subsequent regular blog posts are now at the New Blog!! The House of Wool Repute!!

Creating Original Hand-Knitted Lace, by Margaret Stove

Knitting Lace Triangles, by Evelyn A. Clark

My Sources of Inspiration:
Evelyn A. Clark

Miriam L. Felton

Megalogarnie

SpinnDiva

Something’s a-comin

Don’t you worry, the next episode of BeanKnits and Spins Podcast is gonna be a doozy!

oh, and Happy New Year, and all that stuff

WIPs and random thoughts

I promised a picture of the Lombard Street socks in progress so here it is:

Let me tell you that while it’s a pretty pattern, I don’t think I’ll knit it again. Granted the decreases and increase are inherent in lace knitting BUT, the juxtaposition of such in this particular pattern had me jacking up the stitch count something awful. There was much tinking and cussin with this sock. I give kudos to the heel flap though. Or at least it might be due to the yarn I’m using. There’s a little bit of a design there because of the slip stitching on the flap. Nice.

Then there’s the newest addition to the WIPs list *blushing*:

A lace scarf from Victorian Lace Today. Strangely I don’t think this pattern HAS a title other than, ” Scarf with the open and solid diamond lace edging from Weldon’s, 1904″. So, that’s what it is. I’ll refer to it here on out as, “VLT scarf #1″.

If there are two things that this project makes me realize, it’s that 1) Dangly stitchmarkers ARE a pain in the ass, and 2) I really need a set of Options needles. I could use Crystal Palace circs to get a pointy tip but it’s a bamboo needle and I’d prefer a metal needle so the stitches will slide along easier. This is being done on a 4.0mm Addi turbo. I know Addi makes lace needles but at $15 a pop, no thanx. As for the markers, I say that because when I work the wrong side of the scarf I have to keep flipping the marker around to get it out of the way once I’ve knit it. If that makes any sense. Granted, when I made them, I probably used too many beads on it and the wire is not a soft enough gauge for a dangly. I’ll have to work on that; I DO like them but this is clearly too long and stiff not flexible enough.

As for previously mentioned WIPs, Stripedy is going to be worked on more once it cools off some. The Badia top is going to be ripped. I just don’t have it in me right now to make a lot of changes to something. What started out with accidentally knitting more length than the pattern called for at a certain point, I was trying to turn into extra length to account for the hikeage that normally occurs in the front of some of my tops. My measurements per the pattern were way off but I was going to work around that and use it to my ‘advantage’. Then I got distracted with other stuff and found myself preferring to knit the new things. I think the yarn is also the problem. I just can’t seem to find anything to do with that SWTC Bamboo. If it were variegated I’d do another Clapotis but it’s plain and I know that’ll bore me to tears. *sigh*…

I have an announcement. I have in my posession, 24 silk hankies, sent to me by Cordelia. Thank you Muggy! Now the thing is, how to DYE them for spinning.

I’m thinking of dividing them up into 4 sets and doing 4 colors each. My hope is to spin the colors in one order, and then go back the other way. Of course I’d have to do this twice so that there’s enough for two of whatever I make. Could be socks, could be MITTENS! I could spin up some black merino and ply it with that to get a stained glass-type effect. But, what colors?

Decisions, decisions.

Til next time!

To My Littlest Beanlet

(This is not a craft related post, so if that bugs you.. skip this.)

For the third time since I married your father, I pee’d on the stick. It was positive. I pee’d on another one. That one was positive too. I shook. I cried. I sulked, bargained, and finally sighed and gave in. You were on your way. I toyed with the idea of not having you. Eventually I abandoned those thoughts and accepted my fate.

I was so ready. So ready to potty-train your brother and send his happy butt to school. Your big sister was already in school. Mommy could once again know silence during daylight hours for longer than a ‘naptime’. I was so ready to delve into real full-time work, or perhaps go back to school. But alas, that was not to be.

I wasn’t enthused. I dealt, and just accepted, but NO ONE was going to force me to be happy.
“…but you’ve got two already, what’s one more!?”, they said.

Fast-forward 9 months. At 11:04am you came into the world. Hollering. Louder than both your siblings. I knew you were special then.

But you were special in so many ways. You’re the only one that looks like me. After all that hard work of pregnancy I could at LEAST have a child that looked like me. All my cousins, and your Uncle said, “That’s you all over again!”. “She look(sic) just LIKE you!”. “Yep, there goes little(me)!”.

I began to ease into newborn-mode again. It’s not like I could sleep all night before. You moved around in my belly more than your brother and sister. I could set my clock by you. Up in the morning, nap in the afternoon, wake up after dinner, up allllllllllll night. Nap for a minute at dawn. Wash Rinse Repeat.

Then I came home with you, after a long, tiring stay at the hospital where you were born. You slept a lot at first, the jaundice making you sleepy. But then you snapped out of it and I was in for it! You kept me on my toes for sure.

Time moved on. You sat up, rolled over, and crawled in your own way. One day(When Uncle came by and you met him for the first time), you just got up and walked. Of course, when you saw that I was looking you sat down again. That’s ok. I think I have that on tape. (Or was that your brother? My brain is mush).

Fast-forward to last Tuesday. You turned 4. Four!. It seemed like just the other day you were wrapped up in a summer blanket, cuddled in Daddy’s arms as we brought you home, him beaming, and me limping( damned C-sections!). And now you’re ready for school.

Soooo many times you’d break something, get into something, make a mess after I’d just cleaned. Sooo many times you didn’t want to go to sleep, you didn’t want to take a nap, you didn’t want to eat, you didn’t want to walk while traveling. And all I could think was, ‘I can’t wait until you go to SCHOOL!’.

Well today, that dream has come true. And I’m not so sure about it. I mean, Yes, eventually silence will reign supreme once again(except for those DANG Parakeets!), but I can’t shake how little you is getting on that big ole’ bus and going so far away. Ok, it’s not REALLY far but big brother and big sister are just going down the road. Why’d you have to be so special that your zoned school can’t handle you? LOL

My hopes and dreams are in you. And they’re about to be carted off to a place where you can share your hopes and dreams with others. At the same time I sigh with relief that the last child is on her way into the big-kid world, my heart breaks that I couldn’t be with you on your journey.

You’re growing up, SugarBoogers. Just don’t forget how much I love you.

Letting go is.. easy as a sock! :)

I’ve tried everything I could. It just won’t work. It’s time to face facts.

I didn’t know what I was doing when I bought that Shetland fleece and wound up with something I can’t use. I have handcards(though I’m told they’re not fine enough), and I recently acquired combs. Neither method is working. I took some fresh fleece from the unwashed portion and washed it, thinking maybe I’d messed up the fiber in the cleaning process. Well, it looks as matted pre-wash as the batch I first started with. Out it goes. What a waste. Thankfully, it wasn’t expensive.

I learned that the fleeces shorn from sheep that are covered are better(which is why they cost more?). This bargain, clearly wasn’t. I know, I know; hand processing takes time and you are rushing. No. If I’m doing it by hand I sure as hell can’t be in a hurry, can I? I’ve simply been mismatched fiber-to-tools.

Lethal, aren’t they?

The combs will come in handy. I can always just use the one as hackle. But, if I had just gotten a hackle and decided to comb… I’ve learned also that combing really does take a bunch out of your fiber. It makes me wonder if I’m even doing it right. But since I mainly hope to make my own color blend from commercially prepped fibers, I’m not too worried about technique.

I’ve since finished the first sock and am almost half finished with the mate. That was me trying on the sock to get an idea of how much more knitting to do before grafting the toe. With the second sock, I can just hold it up against the first. Easy-peasy!

Have you seen these?:

These just came in yesterday and OOOWEEE… Teach Yourself Visually…Knitting Design
seemed like a good book to help me create my own patterns for things I like to knit. It has simple instructions that can be expanded on to come up with your own designs. There’s sections on embellishment, working with color, and other useful tips and techniques to spice up your knits. I have to read it more thoroughly, but I think this book will be one that’ll get a LOT of use in the future.

Then there’s One Skein Wonders. At first, when I’d heard about this book, I confused it with One Skein, another book with a similar name. So I didn’t pay it much attention. Then I saw the cover and realized it was a totally different book!

This book really DOES give you patterns and ideas that just take one skein of yarn, be it something you have laying around in your stash or that one ball of yarn you can’t afford ten of. I’ve had a chance to look through the book and I already see some goodies I can’t wait to make!

I keep promising stuff and then forgetting. As soon as I remember the weather’s messed up or helpers are not available.. I’ll get it together!

Happy Spinning/Knitting!!!

…

Need I say more?

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!