Wednesday WIP

Oklahoma went straight from Winter to Summer with temperatures soaring to the high 90's every day. Lovely for enjoying our swimming pool...which we have been. But doesn't help the want to hold yarn.

Nevertheless, I have been crocheting.
Working on 2 Pokemon plushies for daughter's birthday (thanks to Wolfdreamer!). I need to get these finished by Sunday.

But most of my spare time has been spent playing with beads.

I have a chart underway for a beadweaving design that has been vegetating in my head for over 2 years. It seems like time for it to evolve beyond an idea, eh?
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Flower beds are starting to look like.....well, FLOWER beds. ha! Gladiolas have started to bloom despite the heat.


And another calla lily has bloomed.
Maybe I can do this gardening thing after all?

Let me count the ways...

...that I fail to socialize online.

First there is Twitter. I signed up a few months ago and have tweeted (I think that's the phrase) exactly 24 times. Not a good tweeter am I?

Next there is Facebook. Signed up to visit with cousins. Found some loom knit friends and high school pals. So I do post there a couple of times a week. But mainly I play games - very relaxing and no brain required.

I guess I'm an old fashion email type of gal. Wanna visit? Email me. :)
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While there has been some knitting...


...I think I need to bring out the beads. My subconscious has been prodding me in that direction with some dreams of beading (at least it's not nightmares). So I'm planning a couple of beading projects.

There has been some creativity in the form of house projects. Last month it was closets.

This one....

is now a coat closet....


And this one....



is now a video/CD closet.

I can unpack these boxes now.

With the spring-like weather we're having, I am now planning on spending time working on the flower beds. Details and pictures later.

Which stitch are you?

Beading that is. :D



You are: Peyote Stitch

You come across as put-together and easygoing, but the truth is you’re fairly lazy, often tread on thin ice, and like to play the horses. You don’t like to be confined to one way of doing things and would rather experiment, sometimes at the cost of showing off your inner workings.

Making stitch markers

What a great idea! I never thought of using lever back earring wires...



...to make beaded stitch markers that can do the job of these...




Find the instructions here.

More on beading

Bead Therapy Bangle is now available for download here. I haven't edited the website to include it yet but will as soon as I find the html software (it's always something).

And speaking of beading, I just received an email that this book will be available in May -



I love weaving with beads and this one is 3D loom weaving. Very exciting as I love creating 3D beadwork.

A couple of my 3D creations -

Bead woven using mostly peyote stitch.

Beaded on weaving loom with 3D leaves.

Bead Therapy

So much knitting leaves little time for beading. But I needed a few minutes of bead therapy. Here is the results



A simple bangle, loom knitted with left over cashmere yarn.

I plan to upload this as a free pattern as soon as I get the new computer set up with the software I need to make it into a pdf file. That's the only problem with having a new computer.



But at least I don't have to share now. hehe

Wordless Wednesday (Work In Progress)

Wordless Wednesday (FO beading)

Absent blogger

I suppose a better description is - blogger didn't have anything interesting to blog about! Boring life here. No one really wants to know how many loads of laundry, how many trips to the grocery store or pharmacy, how many bills, etc. You don't, do you? If so - get a life!

I have been knitting but since it's for publication, I can't show you. And I have been beading, but I hope it's for publication too. So what can I blog about?

How about what this little beaded rose...



...that I posted here in December but couldn't tell you about until after Christmas (it was a present!)

It's a beaded pen cover for disposable pens.



A good friend of mine loves to have flower(s) on her desk. She normally cuts one from her flower beds (which are lovely). And as she loves roses. I was inspired!

The cover is removable when a change of pen is needed.



I'm pleased that I was able to surprise and delight her this Christmas.

BTW, she developed a passion for loom knitting last year...and I'm to blame (evil laugh!)

Nirvana

When hubby's away, I can't sleep. I *think* it's because the house is so quite at night. But whatever the reason, I get loads of cleaning done.

During the sorting of my knitting, beading, craft book shelves...



...I found this...



Oh joy!! Nirvana for this knitter/beader!

How could I forgotten about this one? Oh yeah....it came about the same time as Deathly Hallows.

OK, Bead Knitted Bags is being packed for the trip.

P.S. I'll tell you all about the beaded rose after Christmas. It's a surprise for a good friend who loves flowers of any kind. But I will tell you this....it's useful too. ;-)

Wordless Wednesday

Beadin' the heat away

West sizzles They aren't kidding. It's projected to hit 115 today in the Los Angeles high desert where we live.

This calls for hunkering down with the AC (hopefully uninterrupted by a rolling black out) and beading...



Notice what I use for thread wax?



Carmex! It's inexpensive and always available.

But I did do a little loom knitting.



A water bottle holder for when I do venture out.

Loom knit tidbits

New loom patterns coming along. I'm in a bag phase....



Can't go too long without beading something. This bracelet was loom knitted with wire. I really like the affect of "top layer" and "bottom layer" of beads.



New loom! This one came from Isela's de-stashing (lucky me!)

When the going gets tough....

....the tough go shopping!

Actually I never need an excuse to shop for yarn, beads, and books. And since I have finished not one damn thing no pictures of finished items to show you, I thought I'd show you the goodies I've purchased (other then yarn) since the beginning of the year.

I had Nicky Epstein's books on my Amazon wishlist for Christmas. No one took the hint (oh well). So as my congratulations to myself for finishing the loom knit booklet and getting it to the publisher on time, I ordered them for myself. (snicker)



In February I spotted this crochet pattern booklet in an Annie's Attic catalog.

Flip flop toppers! Love them. I've picked out the first one I want to do. I just need a free evening to do it.

Then there's the loom I've wanted for so long! When the new peg style was announced at Decor Accents, the urge became overwhelming. Here's my new baby....

It arrived a little over a week ago. Of course, I'm swamped once again with UFO that absolutely must be finished before I can start another project so I content myself with petting it.

March was a great month for new releases of books! This one....

....was written by a very talented loom knit designer and very nice lady. (Hi Isela) I've only had a few minutes to look at it. The instructional graphics are so good! I predict that this book will become a must have for loom knitters.

This book...


was a must have for me. I love Sensational Knitted Socks. My expectations for More Sensational Knitted Socks have been high. Thus far, I've only had time to glance through it so I can't give a review. However, I did note that the layout has changed. My first impression is that the change makes the patterns more difficult to follow. But as first impressions aren't necessarily accurate, I'll reserve my final opinion until I've had a chance to actually knit one of the patterns.

On Friday, I stopped by the post office to pick up a package of yarn for another test knit I'm doing. And guess what!? My co-op bead order had arrived too...yippee skippee!



I'm a member of a bead buying co-op which really saves me some $$ when putting together some of my designs to submit. I'm working on a few beadweaving designs that need multiple colors of delica beads I didn't have (that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it!)

Of course, as long as I'm ordering delicas, I might as well get a few hanks to do one of the bead crocheted snakes from Adele's book. (Forgot to mention buying that one in February hehehe) To top the order off, I just had to order some crystals because they're gorgeous! always needed.



I still do not like snakes but really want to do the memory wire bracelet in this book!

Buying frenzy aside, I noticed a new link on a friend's blog. Of course, I had to click on it. Here it is.....


At last! I can "forgive" myself for being an infrequent blogger.

Beading for the day

I love *having* to bead for a class...what pain, what agony and they pay me for this!!!! HAHAHAHA

March beadweaving class will be on tubular peyote, making beaded pen cover - really simple!

Recipe for a beading type of day - delica seed beads, beading thread (Nymo for me) and a needle, hot tea, and a good movie.


Tonight....back to the boring part of paperwork.

More bragging on students

I just love it when a student falls in love with a technique or pattern I've taught. This brag time is dedicated to Sayy Pauly (who doesn't have a blog that I know of so I can't link to her).

This particular bead class was held two Sundays ago and she fell in love with Swarovski Pure Allure crystal beads - like the rest of us.

Here are three cuff bracelets that she created from the pattern




Really beautiful!

Bead crochet

I love doing bead crochet. It is quite possibly my favorite beading technique as it goes so quickly (once the beads are strung). Almost 3 weeks ago, I had the pleasure of teaching a bead crochet class in which two of the students fell in love with it too.

Linda sent an email with her finished rope attached and with her permission, I'm showing it off for her!





This was the rope she started in class. She sent the pictures to me less than a week later. The stitches are beautiful! She really took to this technique like a duck to water! C'mom...tell her how great she did!!

Way to go, Linda! ;-)

The need to bead

In between loom knitting projects, I brought out my bead loom to weave a fall necklace. Beadweaving is a passion of mine. Here's the result



The "leaves" are 3 dimensional (I love adding 3D to my beadwork).


I hope everyone has a great day!