The worst year.

Haven't been around in a while because I have been dealing with a serious family illness. Again.
What with my fathers death in January, my step dad's heart attack in April and the ongoing deterioration of my maternal grandmothers (who raised me from age 7) health since July, this has probably been the most stressful year of my life. Thank goodness for a supportive husband, a beautiful son, good friends and of course beads. They have all helped keep me sane over the last few months.
Here's a photo of one of my favourite recent pieces, a spiral rope made with size 8's, freshwater pearls and tiger eye accents.

Must Buy....

Purple clothes, I'll show you why soon!

Silver Mist

I am currently obsessed with tubular netting. Here is my latest fo, Silver mist, the centrepiece is made with freshwater peacock pearls.

It's a fun technique.

Tonight I Will Mainly....

Wind 950 yards of Malabrigo laceweight into a ball for Juno Regina Knitalong with the manic purl podcast. Well actually half wind, I've got no chance of finishing it. Why do manufacturers do this to us, it's downright cruel. I just want to cast on!

Flaming Florida Fawkes.

I actually manged to get a photo of my 1st entry to the Summer of Socks Yay!

Pattern: Fawkes by MonkeyToes

Yarn: J Knits Florida

Time - if only I had any.

I would:

Blog every day, with pictures even.
Knit the Hanami Stole.
Actually decide on which colours of Socks that Rock to buy, there are so many I can never make the decision.
Commit to a large freeform beading project.
Exercise every day, Tae Bo(sp), & weights


What would you do if you had more time?

Fawkes are finished!

Yay! I finished my flaming florida fawkes socks tonight. Light no good for pics though. Will try tomorrow. It's about time they was proof of an fo around here.

Double yay! I've got the day off tomorrow, I am hoping to get at least one piece of jewellery made.

A distraction from crafting

I've been hearing about the Twilight series of books by Stefanie Meyer for a while, but have been resisting as I prefer to make stuff than read stuff in my so called spare time. This weekend however the local bookshop had a 3 for 2 offer so I decided to go for it. Needless to say there has been absolutely no beading or knitting in this house. The 1st book in particular was really engrossing, I love finding a new book that intrigues and excites. So much on TV these day seems to be recycled ideas, it was fun to find something new. Maybe I should try & make room for more reading instead of making.

I year smoke free for me!

Yay, shame hubby can't say the same. He smoked 2 cigarettes on Friday. I am so upset with him.

I must have been nuts

To think I could knit 20 pairs of socks in a year. Not with all that's going on. I'm scrapping that idea , sans the guilt complex, and will instead attempt to document my progress towards Summer Of Socks 2008.

My first completed pair of socks for SOS 2008 were my 1st ever pair of toe-ups, anklets in Regia that ended up looking like they were knit for Hobbit feet. Comfy though. I am 3/4 way through a lovely pair of Fawkes socks (designed by the late Gigi Silva, wonderful pattern) using J Knits sock yarn in Florida, it's bright yellow and orange and knits like butter, I love it!

This weekend my Gran had a heart attack, she's recovering , but to deal with the stress I cast on & ripped out 4 different patterns. I finally settled on Primevera socks In Regia Silk, lovely bright stripes in blue, purple pink, orange & yellow. It's a super simple pattern & knitting up a treat, think I'll give them to nana when she gets out of hospital.

We interrupt this blog fade

To say Hi. Blog fade after 10 posts must be a record. Family issues and a bad back have been responsible. Hopefully things'll perk up around here soon.

Monday Update

Good Grief, that week went by superfast! In my defense for not blogging, I did have a big seminar for work last week to prepare for and a wedding this weekend.

So on to update time, jewellery wise I have made good progress. The collar base has been unpicked because I misread instructions, I think I will start the bracelet first! I have made some necklaces this week, more info tomorrow with pics. Knitting wise startitis continues. Started & ripped out the Azure sock pattern now knitting Salto socks from Knitty. I think the 20 pairs in 12 months was a bit too ambitious!

Monday Update

I have decided to start the week off with an update of what I've completed (or not) & what I have in progress, it will help me keep track of whether or not I'm achieving anything.

Beading - I made a really quick & cute necklace with a peyote & brick stitch leaf pendant & a plated neckwire. No pics yet, will post in the week. I have also started a larger project which is an embellished peyote collar with flowers & fringe etc. The design is by Lynn Davy (Nemeton) & is called the rose garden from Bead magazine issue 8. I am using a mix of lilac/purple beads and I am happy with the work so far. I hope to get pics soon for that too.

Knitting - Ah yes knitting , apart from buying yarn I haven't really done much except rip out a perfectly pretty half knitted dublin bay sock in a snit fit last week and cast on for a pair of jaywalkers, better get a move on.

Ahem....

So I might not be able to go to Wonderwool but I can still shop online. Hellooo, Loopy Ewe. I ordered some Lime n Violet, Chameleon Colourworks, Shubui Knits, Fleece Artist, Jay Knits & Hand Maiden. Woohoo, can't wait for it to get here!

Don't Forget - Pay it Forward

I've loved the whole concept of Pay it Forward ever since I first saw it appearing in blogland, & now I can join in. I have signed up to Freebirds PIF and here is mine. The 1st 3 people to comment to this post and pledge to Pay it Forward to 3 readers on their own blogs will receive a handmade gift from me within 365 days of signing up. It might be beaded, it might be knitted or it might be something completely different, who knows?As my blog is very new and as far as I know I have only had one visitor, I will periodically copy this post until I have reached my goal of three sign ups.

Waaah!

Can't go to Wonderwool after all. NOT HAPPY!

Only 5 days to go!

to Wonderwool Wales!

I can't wait. I am trying to decide what I want to buy. My budget had severely decreased as I went shopping for an outfit to wear to a wedding yesterday. I can almost hear my bank manager weeping! In order to make the most of my money I thought I should make a list of patterns I want to make and just buy what I need for those. Bit depressing though since the Natural Dye Studio, Posh Yarns and Fybrespates will all be there with yummy sock yarns!

Here Goes Bold means I need to buy at ww)
Corazon Mitts (Knitty) - Yarn in stash , red & cream rowan pure wool
Foliage Hat - Malabrigo Worsted, First4 Yarns will have some
Hedera - Natural Dye Studio Merino Tencel, Orange or Yellow

Gotta go bath the squidlet now, will edit and add more later.

Socks Mad

3 years ago I had a serious bout of beaders block, I didn't bead for about 6 months and started to knit instead. Thankfully I got back to beading but still kept knitting on the back burner. Last November I decided to have a go at knitting socks, BAD IDEA! I am now just as obsessed with sock-knitting as I am beading which makes it difficult to balance the 2 time-wise. So far I have knitted 2 pairs of Monkey socks, 1 pair of simple rib socks, 1 pair of Hedera (for my Aunt), 1 pair of Primavera socks and I currently have a pair of Embossed Leaves and RPM's on the needles. So when I have finished the 2 pairs on the needles I will have knitted 7 pairs of socks. I would really like to make 20 pairs by November, that's 6 months to go, so I'll need to double my sock output to reach that goal. Yikes, that's quite a challenge, oh well nothing ventured nothing gained, I see quite a few pairs of child's socks in my future!

Pay It Forward

I've loved the whole concept of Pay it Forward ever since I first saw it appearing in blogland, & now I can join in. I have signed up to Freebirds PIF and here is mine. The 1st 3 people to comment to this post and pledge to Pay it Forward to 3 readers on their own blogs will receive a handmade gift from me within 365 days of signing up. It might be beaded, it might be knitted or it might be something completely different, who knows?

As my blog is very new and as far as I know I have only had one visitor, I will periodically copy this post until I have reached my goal of three sign ups.

Back to Basics - Black & White & Red All Over

This week I decided to go back to basics with my beadwork . When I first started beading, peyote was the bane of my existence & I absolutely dreaded learning tubular peyote, but it turned out not to be too scary after all! I haven't used the stitch for a while so I decided to make some beaded beads using black 11's & red & white size 8 Toho's, I made 5 and then threaded them onto some knotted suedette cord. So simple but pretty effective!

My next back to basic tubular peyote is using silver lined crystal 11's & blue delica's, the size difference is not so obvious and therefore the tube doesn't have the nice sculptural quality of this piece, might just have to be a test piece destined for the scrap box!

My Reason for Being (well blogging at least)

Since September 2007, it seems that my life has been out of control. Some serious family illness and the death of my father have obviously had a huge impact on me. I have been seriously stressed out and struggling with my creativity.

I have recently returned to my meditation practice as a way of seeking calm and clarity and learning to live in the moment. Even when I am crafting, I often focus on negative issues in my mind instead of simply focusing on what I am creating.

I am hoping to blog about the progress I make in developing my creativity and I will also discuss my meditation practice or lack there of.

Wish me luck!