Category Archives: What’s going on?

Proof of Knitting….

Not quite proof of life but it’ll do. ;)

52/365--Back to Basics

With winter coming I had to get on the move with some new handknit accessories. You need something around your neck in these cold Northeast winters but I got tired of arranging and rearranging scarves. Cowl time! I just wanted something simple to start with, something I could use up some leftover KP yarns. I got 4 wildly different colors of Palette together and just ran them one behind the other.

I hit a roadblock with the way the top droops and I’m going to fix that before I show a FO picture.

I’ve also been putting some inches on the sleeves of Eileen, after pinning together the body to get a better sense of how I’m going to work the sleeves. Thanx to a very kind and smart knitter I learned the sleeves would have turned out WAY too big so I ripped and restarted. They’re almost to the arm caps as I type this.

55/365--Eileen WIP

I’ve also got a scarf and hat set going for Littlest Beanlet. They’re being done in undyed wool, so I’m going to dye them all at once when they’re done. I’ll see what color is her favorite this month. ;)

TTFN!

Addiction–Not Pretty, but perhaps Useful

That was the theme for a recent photo from my 365 challenge. I’m referring to a washcloth pattern that I found, when looking for something small and portable to work on while running errands that required long waits or travel.

Washcloth in progress

I had about 8 or 9 balls of dishcloth cotton. I was supposed to make some new potholders but got sidetracked by a stuffed animal pattern, only to abandon that(for the time being), to wind up working on the washcloths. The pattern is easily remembered and that only fueled my crochet addiction.

I’ve got some Sugar n’ Cream ‘Denim’ yarn which is a bit thinner than the regular style. I’m going to make towels with those instead of cloths. Can always use more kitchen towels, right? ;)

I’m making minimal progress with Eileen. I’ve long since finished a front but I had to rip the second front when I realized I’d done too many waist decreases. Oopsie. I should be picking that up again in the next few days. It’s just the portable, mindless, addicting washcloths came into my life and totally took over.

On another note, I might wind up dropping the second towel to get back into wearables for the Beanlets. It’s getting cooler and that means hat and scarf time. Littlest is begging for gloves instead of mittens. I really am not a fan of knitting all those fingers. I convinced her to stick with mittens by telling her that your hand stays warmer if all your fingers are together; like in a mitten. She went for it, so I’m off the hook for now. ;)

I’ve got some undyed Merit brand 100% wool I picked up a the Save-a-Thon a while ago, I was making a shawl from it but it’s just too thick and not very shawl-like. It’ll make a decent hat for her and that’s what it’ll become. I just need to find a suitable pattern.

That’s what’s been going on with the yarn-craft.. If you’re looking for photos, check here!

Updates

My mind’s still a bit frazzled from the mini-earthquake/Hurricane Irene occurrences of the last week so I’m just going to do an update post, hold the humor.

Sewing:

Instead of making another sleep mask I decided to try my luck at making a camera strap cover.

Camera strap cover!

Nice and simple. In hindsight I probably should have padded it and spent the time to press the seams open so you don’t get that divot along the seamlines. All in all, it was a quick sew and I’m looking forward to making more strap covers with padding.

Knitting:

I’m almost done with one of the fronts for Eileen, but I got sidetracked by some bus knitting. I’d made a few trips around town last week and needed something portable to work on. I still haven’t memorized the chart for Eileen so I took some sock yarn and cast on. In just a few days I’ve already passed the heel on the one I started. I’ll probably go back to Eileen before I cast on the mate.

Cooking:

First Carrot Cake

I made carrot cake! Yay! Well, maybe. It was fun to make and the cream cheese icing was easy and delicious but the cake itself, well. It was OK, but not as moist as I’d have liked. I might have over-baked it because with a cup of oil and 4! eggs, it shouldn’t have been so dry. Oh well. The Beanlets like it so that’s all that matters, right? ;)

There was also a first attempt at making my own corn tortilla chips:

Homemade Tortilla chips and Salsa

Those didn’t go over well at all. I don’t know where I went wrong, so I just gave up and bought a bag from the store. The salsa, though? Awesome! It was originally supposed to be tomato sauce and I jumbled up the processing steps and it came out too chunky to be ‘sauce’. I am now planning to try and make this mistake again on purpose to get more salsa. It’s a hit!

Here’s what I remember doing:
I blanched 6lbs of plum and regular tomatoes to get the skins off
Chopped and boiled them down for about 20 minutes, then added a large white onion and large green pepper, both chopped up into about 3/4inch pieces.

Boiled that down about 10 min more to soften the pepper and onion, and added about a teaspoon of seasoning salt.

Then, in batches I pureed the mixture to what was a salsa-y texture. I stopped at that texture because the mixture was hot and somehow spilling out of the food processor. That’s when I just said “F it!” and jarred it all up and did the heat seal thing.

I SHOULD have pureed the tomatoes alone to get the sauce texture I was aiming for. I actually followed a recipe for that which is probably why I got it right the first time. Oh well, learn something every day!

Photography:

I’m currently working on putting my current photography themed posts and any future posts onto a separate blog. Stay tuned for the launch! :)

TTFN

FOs and WIPs!

Lots going on the past week or so at Chez BeanKnit. There’s been a flurry of finished projects and well as completed sections of WIPs. And of course more canning. ;)

Applesauce!

I would have loved to make some fruit jellies but I can’t seem to get my hands on any pectin(the stuff that causes jelly and jam to thicken) without ordering online. Budget-conscious and all that. So, the next best thing? Applesauce. I hit up the farmer’s market the other day and picked up 6lbs of Empire and Red Delicious apples. Prepped, cooked down and ready to process:

It was just a matter of time...

Just two jars for now. Maybe next month I’ll try some different apples and get enough for several pints or a few quart jars. This stuff goes fast with the Beanlets around. The fridge pickles I mentioned in the last post were yummy, so I know the stored jars have the real goodies in them. Sigh. Patience is a virtue? Are you sure?

Anyway on to the knitting.

Socks galore!
Plain toe up socks
Almost Java Socks Hat Heel sock number 1

Top to bottom: Plain toe-up socks in a wool yarn gifted to me, 2×1 ribbed “Almost Java” socks in Misty Mountain Farms Prime Alpaca, and one of the Hat Heel socks I started eons ago, and have just recently found while trying to locate a missing ball of sock yarn. Turns out, the sock WAS the yarn. I about tore up the house looking for what I thought would be an unused ball of Lorna’s Lace Shepherd Sock, and found some missing needles in the process. ;)

I should point out that I put off finishing the Hat Heels because there seemed to be some issues/errors with the construction of the heel. As it turns out, this has to be the BEST-fitting sock I’ve ever knit. And of course, since I was so disgusted with the pattern I deleted any and all info about the project and don’t know what size needle I used. I’m gonna bank on it having been a US1.

Then, there’s Eileen!

Eileen back

The back is done! I’m about halfway done with a front section. So far, so good. I’m wondering now if it’ll be a little big on me. I wouldn’t mind so much, since I like to wear t-shirts all year long and this would allow me to be comfortable when indoors without freezing while I’m outside. I do think my next sweater will be a pullover of some sort.

So that’s pretty much what’s been going on here with the crafts. I have been wanting to sew more lately so perhaps that’s in store for me this weekend..

TTFN!

Canned!

I promise I have not accumulated yet another hobby. Canning isn’t so much a hobby as it is a life skill. I’ve wanted to can for quite some time and after falling headlong into farmers’ markets(now that could become a hobby!), and seeing such great deals on fresh produce, I decided it was time to try my hand at it.

What started out as this(sans peppers, they are for something else):

Almost ready...

Is now this:

Tomato-Basil Sauce

And this:

Pickles!

Let’s talk about what I’ve learned, shall we?

I’ve learned that only certain produce can be canned in a waterbath, and since I’m a chicken I won’t be getting a pressure canner for a while, so that means I’m limited to things like tomatoes, pickles, and certain fruits. But that didn’t stop me from jumping in ‘half-hog’.

The tomato sauce is orange because I didn’t remove the skins before pureeing them. Oops. I actually had read about blanching them and placing them in ice water to get the skins to just slide right off but I wound up following a different recipe which called for straining after pureeing. Which of course didn’t work, so there are bits of skin in there. No biggie. I was also advised to just keep letting it boil down for it to turn red, but then I probably would have been left with a spoonful, since I only started with 9 tomatoes which resulted in just the two jars. I’m not sure when I’ll get around to tasting it, but based on the overall consistency I might be better off calling it a soup rather than a sauce. Oh well, live and learn.

Now on to the pickles. Who doesn’t love pickles!? Well, other than Mr. BeanKnit.. ;) But I adore them. Once I got into trolling browsing the various local farmers’ markets, I realized what great deals there are to be had and decided I could save money by canning my own pickles. For a little less than the price of a commercially made jar(at least where I live), I could get 4 times as much! So I picked up 6 lbs of kirby cucumbers and got started. It was much simpler than the tomato soup/sauce and I even had a few extra spears to make refrigerator pickles. I knew I should have gotten that 5th jar! ;) I have to wait a few weeks for the flavors to really kick in, and that’s going to be the hardest part, perhaps.

I also learned there is some truth to the old adage, “A watched pot never boils.”. This is especially true when prepping a 21-qt canning pot. Between traveling to the markets and the canning process itself, I was able to get in some knitting. I put some serious rows on the toe-up socks I’ve been working on, but I’m almost done, so look for an FO shot in the next post, as well as a finished Eileen back.

TTFN!

Random Goings-On

There’s been bunch of activity here in the Bean household concerning crafts and food. Well, there’s always food but recently I made a conscious decision to get more vegetables into my diet, come hell or high water. I finally hit up the Greenmarket at Union Square yesterday and I had a ball! There were many vendors selling all manner of edible goodness, some pricy(like heirloom tomatoes at $4.75/lb), and some just right(various squash at $1.00/lb). It was dizzying to say the least, but I can’t wait to go back! ;)

Farmer's Market Goodies

Clockwise: Yellow Summer Squash, Zucchini, Sweet Basil and Yellow Onions.

These ingredients made up part of the Easy Cheesy Zucchini Bake I made for dinner tonight.

Easy Cheesy Zucchini Bake
I’d left out the other cheeses called for in this recipe because I forget to purchase them. Next time, they will be added. It’s really yummy, though the Beanlets weren’t too thrilled. Too bad, they’re not the ones cooking. ;) There’s still one yellow and one green squash left. Not sure what to do with them. Refrigerator pickles may be in order.

As for yarn craft, the Eileen sweater got picked back up again during a fun evening of chatting with some knit buddies on G+. I forced myself to get over my fear of knitting the shoulders(I’ve had this fear since I first started knitting sweaters in pieces), and just did it. I’m not actually at the shoulder decreases yet, but I’m no longer scared of them.. There was a brief moment of “Noooooo” when I couldn’t figure out what was happening last, even though the chart is marked. I solved that and it was party time!

Eileen progress

Now, I’m looking forward to starting the next sweater.

There’s been some other crafty FO’s too, but that’s the next post.

TTFN!

Tour de Flop

Yeah, I said it. Flop. I didn’t come close to doing the spinning I thought I would do for the TdF. I can’t even use the heat as an excuse because I could have just put the wheel in my cool room and kept on going. What happened was, I just got sidetracked by the sock knitting.

TdF Gestures awaiting bath

This is the only completed skein of handspun I can show from my TdF efforts. And, it’s not truly complete because I haven’t set the twist. Lay-Z.

The sock knitting, though, isn’t without its efforts. I’ve been knitting socks on the Magic Loop since I started knitting back in 2004. It had been a while, actually before I’d even knit anything on DPNs because I didn’t like the fiddly-ness of getting the needles set up. (I’ve long since gotten over than and can use DPNs now, with no problem.) Most of my socks were knit on the loop.

A few times, though, I’ve knit both socks of the pair on the loop and every time, I’ve had to stop knitting on one of the socks in order to complete the heel. When doing the short rows, or turning a heel flap, you’re leaving live stitches on both needles, which means the tips are not free to work on the other sock until you’ve finished working the rows/turns. So, for that portion of the project I have to slow down to one at a time. Bummer. Overall, though, I think it’s still faster than knitting the socks start to finish one by one, and it helps to combat the one-sock-syndrome I’ve dealt with in the past.

It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon here in the pressure-cooker that the US has been this past week, so I’ve been reluctant to work on any sewing. There’s NO way I can get the tables and machines in the cool room so that’s out. Hopefully in the next week or so it’ll cool down to near normal again..

Well, my Roasted Herb Chicken and Potatoes is smelling good, so I’m off to check on it and get back to the socks.

TTFN!

Visit From a Little Friend (A Special Post)

Back in June, an internet friend of several years had her kids make Flat Stanley dolls and sent one of them up here to visit with the BeanKnit family. (All pictures click through to enlarge.)

Flat, waiting for BBQ

This is Flat. She got to go almost everywhere we went while she stayed with us. This photo is from a friend’s son’s baptism. She was just relaxing in the backyard waiting for lunch. ;)

But first, the ceremony. I briefly contemplated making a paper dress for her to wear but I really don’t do well with stuff like that so I left it alone. Some of the other kids there weren’t all fancy, so she didn’t feel left out at all.

Flat, ready to pray
We also took Flat to Coney Island Beach to enjoy some sun and sand. Here she is sharing lunch with Biggest Beanlet.

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Day 9--Someone you love

We had so much fun at the Beach we went back again! Littlest and Boy Beanlets were going around helping other kids bury themselves in the sand. Looks like Flat wanted in the fun too!

One day when the Beanlets were in school, Mr. BeanKnit and I went out to IHOP for a breakfast date and Flat got to come along.

IMG_5777

Hey! That’s my coffee!

IMG_5778

Actually it was rather warm that morning so I asked the waitress for a glass of ice and made it iced coffee. I told Flat she could sip the ‘corner’ left in the cup. Hee.

There were lots of other places Flat got to go but unfortunately I didn’t get to take any other photos. I will be sending her owner a special map, detailing all the places Flat got to visit while she was here! Hopefully her mom will snap a photo, and with her permission, I’ll post it in a future blog post.

A big Thank You to the Montgomery family for sharing Flat with us. I almost didn’t want to send her back. Hmm. Maybe I should have the Beanlets make one and send it your way!

Next up, Back to Knitting, a little spinning craziness, and more!

TTFN!

30-day Photography Challenge–First Day: Self-portrait

Yes, the blog is sort of turning into a photo blog. Trust me, I’m still knitting. See?

Day 1-- Self-portrait

Still working on the Multnomah Shawl I started I-don’t-remember-how-long ago. I figure it’ll be done by Thanksgiving 2012 at this rate. :)

Now, back to the challenge. I’ve taken on a 30-day Photography Challenge based on this page I found through Pinterest.

I’ve been sputtering along trying to understand and learn photography and so far it’s been fun. But something was missing. I don’t have the time-freedom to take classes and all my photography-loving friends are on a different schedule than I am so it’s very hard to hang out with them when they’re in the mood for photowalks. So I’ve been winging it on my own, Bean-style. (Every craft I do now was learned by books or photos/video online. I’m a visual learner, more than anything else.)

Enter the photo challenges. Back when I first got my dSLR I made up my own version of a “Project 365″ which didn’t last a month. Oops. Maybe I needed a daily topic/theme to get me on track and keep me there. So here we are.