Snow time adventures

So many factors came together last night to make the whole snow situation really awful. The snow came on fast and furious so that visibility was bad. It was cold. The roads weren't really treated or plowed. But for people trying to get home, the worst thing that could happen was probably that every one got on the roads AT THE SAME TIME.

Washington, DC rush hour spans 3-4 hours because we attempt to stagger our work schedules. But around 4, everyone realized it was time to get going, if they hadn't already done so. With everyone on the roads, the road conditions being as horrible as they were, people were having a horrible time driving.

It took me about an hour to get about 1 mile away from the office. At the rate I was going, I had a feeling I would end up getting stuck going uphill so I turned off on a side street and came back to the office. My boss was still here so we wandered out for some food. We wandered back and found some others were also still stuck here and were waiting for rides. Those rides came close to midnight. My boss ventured home around 1 in the morning. I slept under my desk. I didn't really feel up to attempting to drive home in the middle of the night. Anyways, there had also been some alcohol involved and I was still feeling a bit of the buzz so there was no way I was getting on the road in that condition (me and the road both).

It's morning now, the sun has come out, and it's still a beautiful snow covered white out

Flowers of the Field

I said I would have something by the end of the weekend and here it is:


This is Flowers of the Field by Melanie Potter. I bought the kit last year at BeadFest last year. It was a fun kit to work through and it definitely took a while. Finally when there was an end in sight, I just sat and beaded and got a bit of that mojo back. It's quite lovely! She sells her kits at her School of Beadwork website where you can also find some kits from Carol Wilcox Wells.

Now for something a little bit different

I started that this afternoon while over beading at Donna DeAngelis Dickt's house. Donna is my mentor for the beaded flowers. We have all been taking a bit of a hiatus from the flowers and are slowly finding our way back. For anyone local, she may be starting up classes again soon and I told her I'd help spread the word.

Workspace

It's not so much a workspace any more as much as a storage space.



That's one wall of the room. On the right, are my various seed beads. The Czech beads are in the drawers and the Japanese seed beeds are in the plastic containers. There are also gemstone beads and some focal beads in the plastic containers. To the left is all of my wire - stem wire (16 & 18 gauge), 26, 28, and 32 gauge copper wire. I have containers and floral tape in various colors.



Along this wall, is the bookshelf of books. There's also a table with more cabochons. The blue basket has all of my Swarovski crystals. Under the desk are various findings, wire, and random tool type things.

Once I got this stuff together, it didn't feel as if I had that much and found that I definitely had enough storage containers. At least it feels like a bit of a relief. My big project this year is to move into a smaller space. I think if I found the right armoire, I could fit all of this stuff in there.

Hopefully next week, I can post a picture of a finished beaded project. I have just a little bit more to go and I think I should be able to finish it up this weekend. For now, here's a little preview.

New Year, new project, new goals

Hello 2011!

This sweater barely made it into 2010. I had 30 minutes to spare.


It's Idlewood (ravelry link). It fits nicely and it keeps me warm.

I'm slowly knitting through a couple of projects, both old and new as well as trying to de-clutter my house and get a move on with things.