Ebb and flow...

My moods come and go, and this applys to the crafty things I do as well. Ene's Scarf is moving along. I have finished the first repeat of chart 3. I have 4 more to go. The good news is that according to the book, I am now under 300 stitches. I'm not really going to bother to go back and do that.
Flowers...I taught another class today and it went well. I think I'm getting better at this. Each time, I remember difficulties people had and I try to use it. I do want to get back to flower beading soon, but first I want to finish Ene's Scarf and start in on the Peacock Feathers shawl.
Gerbera, yes, the pattern is done (finally!).
But what I really want to do...well, there are two things. First, I want to get my own domain for the beady things and go play with it. I think in some ways, work isn't enough. I want to come home and continue doing it. I guess I could start off working on the style sheet and get my colors and fonts in order. I can study my current blog template and see how I can incorporate that into my final vision.
I've also been playing around with google calendar this week. It's pretty cool. You have your main calendar, and then you can overlay additional calendars on top. I've got my own schedule and I've got the US Holidays overlay. This morning, I came up with the brilliant idea of overlaying my calendar with the Bead Obsessions calendar. It drives me nuts to see the class listing because it's in alphabetical order on the website. I need something in calendar form so I can see what there is today, or for the coming week. To do that, I either have to go into the shop, or come home and pull out my hard copy calendar, or search through email for the pdf of the hardcopy. And you all know I'm lazy and how I'd rather spend a few hours coding...so that I don't have to do this stuff again. So I started reading up on XSL and XSLT. Ah...personal enrichment exercise.
It's true. If I didn't do this stuff for a living, I'd be not sleeping and doing it in my spare time.

Friends don't let friends...

...knit drunk. So the voices in my head said, "you should bead!" so I am.

The geek emerges again

I like the new template. But I can't stop thinking about tweaking the template, and it has me up at nearly midnight looking at the source code and trying to figure out all the css and the blog tags. Maybe I need another day job? But, like my boss said, if I weren't messing around with code for my day job, I'd probably be doing it at night. I just get to get it out of my system 8 hours a day.

Second finished cabochon necklace

And I haven't even posted pictures of the first!

Well, the cabochon is a piece of diachroic glass I had bought at the gem and jewelry show earlier this year. I backed it against ruby colored felt to bring out the red. The seed beads used where size 8 Tohos and delicas in a gold/topaz tone to bring out the gold specks in the glass.


This is the whole necklace. There are certainly aspects of this I would do again and wished I had paid more attention, like paying more attention that the thread had not gotten tangled up in beads in certain parts of this necklace. Fortunately, you can't really tell.


Here's a close up picture.

Finished - Angelina Sweater

I finally got around to taking some pictures this weekend. First up is Angelina. no, you do not get to see my head. Head and legs are cut off. And note that these were taken of myself in the mirror. Sorry if they look like crap. I'm really pleased with how this sweater turned out. I wish it were maybe a couple of inches longer but I'm not going to complain.

Yarn and Pattern from White Lies Designs. The yarn is a wool/mohair blend in an ivory/eggshell color. Needles used were size 5 clovers, and size 7 and size 10 Addis.

Other knitty thoughts

So, I'm planning a trip to Taiwan to visit family in November. I've also been eyeing the Fiddlesticks lace shawl patterns. It is late April. If I chose something on the simple side, or maybe the intermediate level...okay, I'm thinking the Peacock Feathers shawl...would I have time to make 6 of them? And maybe some sort of a thin scarf for my grandfather? Will I have gone crazy by the end of this? Hmmmm....

New Look...and some progress

Yup, I got a new look. I wanted some lighter colors so I searched the web and found this template called "Tickle". Pretty neat!

Made some progress (again) on Ene's scarf. I am now done with 16 rows. Time to lifeline again before I move on.

I'm hoping to finish up with the gerbera daisy pattern and be done with that once and for all this weekend. Otherwise, rainy weekend. Do some laundry. Work on some projects.

Enes progress

Row 11. Urg.
This basically goes back to where I was before the start of the annual homeowner's meeting. Urg. At least I lifelined.

Work smarter, not over and over again

I finally am progressing (knock on wood) with ene's shawl. Once the Misti Alpaca starts to work up....oooh, does it feel nice!
I attended the annual home owner's meeting for my neighborhood and I am apparently remembered as "the smart girl who brought knitting to the meeting last year cuz she was the only one who got anything accomplished that night". I can't help it if I fall asleep listening to lectures or presentations if my hands aren't moving! I"m currently on row 14 of the first set of charts. Whee!

The complaining post

Things to moan and bitch about today.
1. I was working on Ene's Scarf...happily going along on row 11..12..13...wait...I dropped a stitch...how did I miss that? So what do I do, I decide to venture down 2 rows to see if I can pick the stitch back up. Oh, and I was living on the wild side by not having a lifeline. URG!

I think I will be starting over again for the 4th time. URG! I can not buy a Fiddlesticks shawl pattern until I do Ene's scarf. I think it's time to rewind the Mista Alpaca laceweight. And I should not be too proud, or daring, or whatever to use a lifeline.

2. I went to Tyson's to go to Hechts to see about a bag. Tyson's was closed. My first thought..."WTF kind of hick place to do I live where they still close for a religious holiday???? Time to move north!" Still, I"m annoyed. Heck, if they needed someone to keep the stores open, I would've worked! And I wasn't the only one out and about at the mall. There were lots of others out there. The only portion open was the new end...and even more specifically, the Barnes and Noble and the restaurants around it. Bastards.

Giggity giggity

I'm just excited. I'm not Quagmire from Family Guy. I'm excited that Angelina is seamed. I've got a couple of loose ends to weave in and it will be done, DONE!

I started a new beaded cabochon yesterday at bead and chocolate. The cab itself is set now. At some point, I need to make the necklace part. Patricia and I discussed doing a beaded cabochon class. That will be exciting...and give me an excuse to go buy some cabs over on Fire Mountain and make some pretty necklaces.

I need to finish up...

• the gerbera daisy pattern


• beaded hydrangea


• Charlotte's Web


• Ene's Scarf - though I just started this

Seaming and Steaming

I bound off the last edge of Angelina last night. Tonight, as I watched Kill Bill Vol1 for the first time, I was weaving in ends, as a distraction from the endless slaughter and flowing of blood. I just finished steam blocking the lace edgings. Tomorrow, I'll pick it up and seam. I should be done before the weekend is over if all goes well. Whee!

Angelina-almost

Angelina-almost
Originally uploaded by jyiu7.

So, I thought it was time to take a picture. I've still got all the ends to sew in but I finished the collar and the lower edge. The body itself didn't make any sense until I realized that it's more like a shrug in construction...one of those that you knit in 1 long rectangluar piece and sew up the sides except for the middle. I used safety pins to pin the front and back together so I could try this on and get a feeling for how long the sleeves are. Now I'm working on the lace edgings for the sleeves. I'll have to try this on again to make sure I've got the sleeve length okay.

ballwinder

ballwinder
Originally uploaded by jyiu7.

I finally got a ball winder, and it helped after I read the instructions. I'm not sure how I managed to live without it!
The first ball of yarn that I wound was Koigu for the Charlotte's Web shawl...currently in a hold state.

Tough Choice

I think I may have to choose between the MD Sheep and Wool Festival and New Orleans JazzFest. MD Sheep and Wool will be there next year. My friend in New Orleans is moving to Germany in June...sniff...I'm leaning towards New Orleans.