In the works

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So I have a few things in the works at this moment. I have two swap packages that are waiting to go out, and I will show the goodies contained within once the parcels have arrived at their respective recipients. I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise.

Right now on the needles however, I have a shawl. The pattern is called Sargasso and this is a picture of it from the pattern page.

It’s absolutely beautiful and I can’t wait to have it finished. As it turns out, it is knitted LONG ways. So each row is 308 stitches long. These rows take a LONG time. However, the pattern is relatively easy. Last night however, disaster struck. I dropped a section of the shawl off my needles and in trying to fix that, I made a huge mess. I contacted the local yarn store via Ravelry and while they kindly got back to me quickly, the news was not good. They told me that lace was extremely difficult to repair once it has been dropped, and the only lady who could probably help would likely charge me for her help. Well.. I am actually already overdrawn on my spending money this month, so that was a no go.

I took a very deep breath, closed myself in a room with no distractions, and began to frog (that is unravel for you non knitter) the shawl. I took it back five rows and ever so carefully began to put the stitches back on the needles. Can you believe I actually got all 308 stitches back onto the needles? It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I did learn while fixing the shawl that the pattern reverses at one point (row 11 actually) and I missed that the first time through. As fate would happen, the row I put back onto the needles (completely by accident) was row 10. So, three hours later, the shawl is all fixed, the pattern is correct and I have inserted a lifeline. I have admittedly, put it aside for the evening. I need a break until tomorrow.

Oh, I’m making it in this lovely squishy beautiful yarn.

You can be jealous. It’s ok. Winking smile

Now. The other thing in the works is not on my needles. It is in fact on my spindle. I’m working on spinning some lovely grey roving into some lovely grey yarn. Why grey? I have no idea. It was the roving that spoke to me so I grabbed it and started spinning it. I’m getting faster with my spinning, but I’m still having trouble with consistency. But that takes practice and I haven’t exactly done A LOT of spinning or anything. I think part of the consistency issue was I was trying to make a slightly thicker yarn, but I keep defaulting to a thinner yarn. I plan to ply the yarn with itself though so hopefully it will all even out to a relatively consistent thickness.

I am wondering though, if I add Easter egg dyes to an already grey yarn of the colors will come as deep jewel tones. I might just leave it grey though. It is a lovely color. It may end up in my etsy shop, or it may end up as a finished item in my etsy shop. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

An update full of pictures!!!

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Crochet and Sparkles

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Here are two pieces I have completed recently. I am noticing my love of beads is re-emerging. It never went away, but my muse had gone in a different direction. I think it's swinging back towards beads, but not away from yarn and thread at all. So I expect to two to intermingle a bit. I am also trying to get my hands on several beading books that my heart has been set on forever. THIS one in particular, follow by this one and this one. However, on the beading, and fiber crochet front, I also have my eyes on this one. Man, I love books. Anyway.. Peeeeectures for you.



The beaded dragonfly is not part of the necklace. But I am considering putting it on a pin so it can be worn with the necklace. I haven't decided yet.

LOVE-ly Stitch Markers

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This is a set of stitch markers I have made to be awarded as a prize in the Love Yourself First event in RCT.

Crochet Markers

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So one step at a time as far as tackling the small mound of things I need to post to this blog. Right now though, I am sick and not up to tackling everything all at once. There are too many forks in my fire right now.

But I did complete a small project today. My yarn and knitting needles from Knit Picks arrived today. I also got these little markers that you can put on your knitting when you are done for the day to remind you what size needled you were using. I thought that was brilliant so I devised a way to do the same thing for my crochet.

These are great little charms that have the letter of the size crochet hook on them. So far these are the only hooks I own that I use regularly. As I increase my collection, and the supplies to make these LOL, I will make more markers.

Opinions??

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I am about to start a new project. I have some beautiful acrylic cameos that I want to use with a necklace. So yesterday I bought the size 8's I need to go with it. Now I need to pick the size 11's to compliment it. I picked out a silver lined orange... but in case that doesn't go well I also picked out some gold colored seeds. I plan to use a gold tinted drop to embellish the cameo when it's finished. I'm just not sure on the orange. I have another orange seed, but it's pretty blingy.. almost neon and shiny. I thought it was too much. Thoughts? Does the orange I picked compliment the cameo and the 8's?

Prom Time

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My niece is going to Prom on Saturday. When her older sister went to prom, I made her a necklace and bracelet to match her gown. I really wanted to continue this tradition with my younger niece. I had very limited time to make this piece as I only found out what color she was wearing YESTERDAY!!!!

However, I happen to think it came out beautifully. My niece is lovely and quite spunky and a little funky. She reminds me of me. :) So I wanted to make her something that was pretty, but a little bit funky and that she would be able to wear to more than just Prom. So I think this will go beautifully with her dress (crossing fingers as I haven't seen the dress) and I also think it's suitable for dressing up some jeans. What do you think?


The necklace and bracelet were made with teeny tiny bugles in a silvery white color. I think the finish might be called Ceylon? I am not sure though. They are really lovely in person though. The seed beads are size 11 silver lined. I simply adore this color. I might have to find my way back to the shop to get more. :)

A perfect day includes shopping for beads...

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So life here in our little house bounces along as always. Yesterday was a most awesome and wonderful day. Roger had a doctors appointment in the morning. She told him she is very impressed with him and he is doing very well. So that was wonderful happy news.

From there we stopped at the publix and bought a large bowl of fruit for breakfast. It was so fresh they weren't even on the shelf yet. We went to the fruit lady and got the first bowl she made. It was absolutely delicious! Fruit for Breakfast is AWESOME.

Then we drove out to Gainesville. My wonderful hubby took me to two bead stores while we were out there. We spent a bit more then we intended but had so much fun! I picked up beads for several projects that I want to be working on. They were mostly size 8 seed beads with a couple of cabs I couldn't resist. I also bought a beautiful... BEAUTIFUL Czech glass button which will become the focal point of a new necklace. I also bought beads to match these gorgeous acrylic cameos that I have. I am very excited.

After the bead shopping we stopped at TCBY for a treat. I had forgotten just how wonderful they are. I also discovered yesterday that they make the best waffle cones I have ever tasted. Oh my goodness! I was so tempted to walk back up to the counter and ask them how much they wanted for just another cone. :grins:


After that we headed home. It was a wonderful fun day out but it was INCREDIBLY hot and we were happy to be home. We hopped on the computer together for about an hour and played some WoW until about 5:30. Then we headed over to Mom and Dads for dinner. Mom just got a new stove and she made the most delicious roast chicken. It was so tender and the meat just fell off the bone. It was quite a triumph.


After dinner we headed home and played a but more WoW. Then we headed off the the living room where Roger was finally able to get our surround sound working. We have all the right pieces now thankfully. :) And I started beading while we watched a film. For our first movie with the surround sound we chose Independence Day. I really like that movie. It was very fun with the new sound system and we're excited to try Jurassic Park next.

Well thats pretty much it. That was yesterday. Today I am hard at work trying to finish that beading project I started yesterday. It is for my nieces prom which is TOMORROW... UGH! But I asked them ages ago to let me know what color she was wearing for the prom and when it was. The info was finally givem to me YESTERDAY... Good grief! Well here I go back to work. :)

Oh, edited to add pictures of the beady goodness peppered throughout the post.

Spirals and Flowers

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I am a day late in posting these pictures. This piece was finished yesterday in time for my once a week project, but with the holiday I didn't have time to post pictures. My mommy does take precedence. I finished my very first Russian Spiral. I think it came out wonderfully! I have not recieved my book yet, but I found these directions on line from a PDF of a Bead and Button project. It has made me so excited to recieve my book that I am having a hard time not standing down by the mailbox waiting.


But on to the project. It is a lovely russian spiral using size 6 blue transparent seeds and size 11 seeds in a opalescent dusky purple grey color. They are very hard to describe and I got them in a bead swap at one time so I have no idea what they are called or where they came from. The size 6 beads are from 7 echoes. I also bezelled my very first SQUARE cab. This was much trickier than a round or oval cab. However, I am very glad I tackled the rivoli first. I used the exact same technique to bead around this square. I am not sure what this square is. At first I thought it was a stone, but after working with it, I think it might be painted porcelain. Whatever it is, it is BEAUTIFUL. It reminds me strongly of looking down into the water and seeing the sand and rocks strewn about the sandy floor in patterns only nature can do. The square is bezzeled in the same two seeds. I added a picot decorate element using the hard to describe purplish grey seeds and then added a row of drop beads. They are mostly clear excelt the hole is lined in the same blue as the size 6 seeds. I think it looks adorable. I finished it all off with a magnetic clasp.




Also, I promised pictures of my gift to my mother when she had opened it. So here that is also. And naturally, one cannot use a bookmark if one has nothing to read. We also bought her a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone. Oh! And two baloons as well! Who doesn't love a balloon!

Rivoli Success!!!

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So after several attempts and lots of advice, I finally managed to trap a rivoli inside a peyote bezel. I am SO SO SO thrilled that I kept on trying. I know you can't REALLY tell from the pictures but it just looks beautiful. The sparkle is amazing and by using the seed beads, I got to use the most beautiful silver lined blue to go with the rivoli. I am thoroughly hooked now though. I absolutely need to get more of these. :grins: I am probably going to lightly embelish this one and then put it on a silver chain. I can't wait to take this down to my Cousins craft store and see what she things. I'm very thrilled!


Artbeads.com

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I recently found Artbeads.com and I love this website. They have such a lovely mix of beads, findings and components. So I mentioned last week (or the week before?) that hubby insisted I restock my stash with an order from them. I also promised I would post pictures. So here they are!This is he whole kit and kaboodle.



This is a package of bronzite nuggets. Hubby loved them when we say them in a store so I'm going to figure out something to make for him.




This is a close up of two of the four craved bone beads I got. I LOVE the Celtic designs on them. I think one of them might get put unto a cuff.



Here are the other two.




And here is a close up of the GORGEOUS cabs I bought! I can't wait to play with them. They are just so lovely. I think a collar or choker is definitely in the works here. Oooh, maybe a pin! Maybe a cuff!? I just love them.


On a random note. I wish there was an option to put the pictures next to each other.

Rivoli version 1

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So I was in need of a quick project this week because I left it rather late. I decided to bead the Rivoli I got while on my bead adventure with hubby the other day. Boy did I chose the wrong thing to do for a quick project. I am sure these work up fast when you have the knack down. I do not have the knack down yet. Apparently, these work much much easier if you are using delicas. I do not have any, so I am using 11 and 15 seed beads. Well, it didn't come out very good. But I DID do a project so I will post it here. Another issue came about with photographing it though, it is SO SPARKLY the camera couldn't focus on it properly. So it's a horrible picture but it proves I did something! :) So I will be taking this apart and trying it again with the tips I received from the wonderful folks at All About Beads http://forums.delphiforums.com/beads2/start.





The second photo is a gift my hubby surprised me with last night. He brought me home the most adorable pincushion! Do you get it? For being brave and having been stuck so many times with needles he brought me an adorable pin cushion. He found it all alone and abandoned in a desk drawer and thought I would love it. I DO LOVE IT! And now it has a home on my beady/art desk.

Goodies!

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This first photo is of my work space. This is where I create! I just thought you might want to see.



So I had to go and get blood drawn today. This is the second attempt after the first place butchered me. Needless to say I was incredibly nervous about going. I am happy to report that it went smoothly with no problems. But as a reward for being so brave, my wonderful sweet awesome adorable love him with my whole heart hubby... took me to the bead store!... AND THEN... to hobby lobby. :)
These are not fantastic photos because I just took a quick shot of the goods for you to take a peek at. This is a photo of some GORGEOUS silver lined light blue seeds, two tubes of silver lined cobalt, and one you cannot see the color of at all. It is a tube of blue lined beads and they look JUST like the colors in peacock feathers! The cobalt seed beads are particularly exciting for me because I will be able to finish a project I have had on hold for a long time now. OH! Also in the picture is a crystal AB rivoli! I believe it's a 16mm. I am going to try beading one for the first time!
This is a close up shot of some simply stunning stone beads. They are greens and aquas. I loved them the moment hubby found them. Yup that's right. Hubby looks for beautiful things for me! Also in this show are several pieces of felt. I have a few embroidery projects in my brain and I am going to try felt as the background.


This shot shows it all! PLUS the pack of three new beading mats I got! Woot! I am a super happy very thankful girl! And of course all of the pictures are clickable for larger images.

Woven Leaves

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This week I revisited a pattern I had tried a few years ago. A friend I met on the BeadArt forum on Dlephi gifted me with a pattern by Dragon (Thank you again Judi wherever you may be! ). Dragon designs bead patterns. This one was for a woven leaf necklace. I made the necklace in blue and white. I wish I had a picture of it. I'll look later. But I wanted a relatively quick and easy project this week. So I fished the pattern out of my book and reworked the number of beads used in it to suit a pair of earrings. I had SUCH a good time making the earrings, that I made three pair. I think they came out absolutely wonderful! Two of them are hard to discern between. One set of crystal looking ones uses a crystal ab bead as the main color with a crystal silver lined as the accent. The other uses a clear crystal bead as the main color and a crystal silver lined at the accent color. The third set however uses a very deep purple, almost a wine color as the main and a silver lined green as the accent. It was hard to photograph the purple, as it usually is with purple. The beads themselves have this silvery finish to them which makes it hard to really discern the color in the first place. But I am really happy with how they came out. As always pictures are clickable for much larger pictures. :)

I edited this entry to chang the title as I just now realized I wrote flowers instead of leaves.

Marakech Bag in Deep Cranberry

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I recently just finished a crochet bag. I learned how to bead crochet, and how to do this bag from Lydia at http://www.7echoes.com/. If you've ever been interested in learning how to do this amazing 'stitch' I suggest you go give her site a look. It's amazing! Plus, I made a ton of errors on this bag and it still looks amazing. I decided I wanted to get through it once and enjoy the finished bag. The next time around I will work on getting all of my ducks in a row and my beads in the exact right spot.

Now, you probably know that I am a gamer from the previous dice bag post. Well I play in several games at once. Each of my characters has their own set of dice I associate with their personality. So to do they each have their own dice bag. So this beautiful bag now carries an eclectic assortment of colorful die to suit the character. Rather than crochet a chain to string the bag on, I used come buttery yellow ribbon. A colorful glass bead acts as the closure and two more of these beads are tied to the end of the ribbon to act as a weight when it is being worn. Overall I really like the way it came out. :)

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