What?!! Crafting?!!!

Ok, don't get excited! I know it's been pretty craft poor around here. The spinning I have been able to squeeze in due to puppy issues (such as he loves wood and wool!!!! And the combination would probably drive him insane!) has all been done on a drop spindle and is the Carbon Superwash sample that Leah sent me with my last order. Oh yes Leah, I love it...and would love to order more, and would if it were not for a little challenge that I made to myself about using my current stash this year. I've broken that only for Mom as I didn't have all the beads I needed for her birthday present. (see below.)

The knitting I've been able to work in has just been on the ever patient hubby's sock. I've finally gotten that to a point of shaping for the heel. This is the first time I've done toe up socks so the whole heel thing feels foreign again, but it should (I hope) go faster on the second sock? (No Second Sock Syndrome, No Second Sock Syndrome, No Second Sock Syndrome......)I think I'll take a pic of it this week after Nascar knitting and post it for a general progress report. I'm hoping that I can get The Sweater out and start working on it again, but we'll see. Tucker will definitely have to be outside for that! lol

So the only completed craft this week was Mom's birthday necklace. It ended up being much simpler than I had planned, but that was only because I (0f course) modified the pattern and also used a different sizes of beads than was required in the pattern. So in reality....I didn't follow the pattern at all. lol. This is a simple right angle bead weave using 3mm pearls and 11's for the smaller ones. Its hard to see the pattern here and I do apologize for the poor quality of the picture. I was a bit rushed during photography as I finished it late the night before and had to wrap it up to give it to her. lol She really liked it and has wanted a handmade pearl necklace for awhile. I have another rope type one that I want to make for her as it's more versatile, but I'll have to plan that one out better. Being a hand crafter, she truly appreciated the hand made gifts.

Well, it's off to beddy bye for me as I just found out tomorrows an early day! Hubster has to open the store tomorrow and that means lunches and breakfast will need to be done about an hour earlier than normal. No biggie, but to bed I'll be headed now. lol

Hope everyone is doing well! This Saturday is the Scrap night at Tracie's so I should have a huge update on Sunday! ( I made many page kits today and really really hope to be productive at this gathering!) See y'all Sunday!

GASP! No Crafting?!!!

Ok, I promised not to make this just a blog on the new puppy, but to be honest.....he's a wonderful time vac! I have done no crafting in the last two weeks other than a few rows on Dons' sock. Sad, but true. lol I'm working on the sock more though and if I can get the jumping crocodile that we call Tucker into some kind of routine....I may get my sweater out of the closet and work on it more. I have an idea in the back of my head for a necklace for Mom's birthday.....but that would require getting the beads out and hoping that Tucker doesn't ingest any. lol Maybe Wednesday. lol I've also got to get some page kits put together for the Scrap Night at Tracie's on the 17th. (See Tracie....I did remember! lol) I'm afraid it won't be the wedding album I'll be working on, but the garden album. Or new puppy pages. lol Oh dear....I feel myself falling behind already. lol. So! Pictures and some projects updates next time.! Promise. Really...and no fingers crossed behind my back. lol

Beaded Crochet

One of the things I've always wanted to do is beaded crochet. Last weekend I sat down with a pattern happily supplied from a member on the Spindlers yahoo list and started my first project.
The pattern for the Beaded Amulet Bag can be found here. http://host83.ipowerweb.com/~knitting/crochet/beaded-amulet-bags.htm. I don't know exactly what I was thinking when I started this project. I've been wanting a smallish bag to hang on my wheel for holding my container of oil, a screwdriver and an extra drive band. So why did I think that this was going to even come close when I finished the bottom and started the sides?!! I didn't. I didn't even think about it. lol I was so entranced with making sure the beads were slid up in time that I didn't even think about how small this is. I constructed this one out of embroidery floss divided down to three strands and size 11 seed beads. The embroidery floss gives you great color options, but can be a bit of a pain to crochet with as the lengths are not really that long. This little bag used just over a skein of floss, so that's not bad. I'm sure I'll be making more of these up though as they are quick projects and everyone I've shown them to loves them! I'm currently working on a proper sized bag for the wheel...that will be done soon.

What I've Been Up To

It's been awhile since I posted last and not because I've been avoiding crafting. As I read around blog land there seems to be this lack of crafting going on. Almost a post holiday crash if you will. I suspect that those that are busy crafting are just not posting as I notice a few suspicious absentees on the blog rolls. I know I've been working on various items, and plan on posting them shortly, but have not wanted to log in and work on the blog. Partly because I didn't want to cut into craft time and partly because of computer issues. It seems when I want to post I can't get online, and it's not worth the effort to make hubby reboot his system for me to be able to log on. Especially if I can use that time to work on a project. lol

I've started working through my list of items I want to complete this year. This self imposed list is basically titled..."Things I've always wanted to do, gathered the stuff to do, but not done yet!" First on the list is the beaded egg.

At first glance in the magazine I thought..."I have to make on of those!" I just never got around to it. So while I was crocheting on the afghan during vacation I thought about it and decided on the colors. After putting the afghan away, I started on it. It was a fairly easy beaded project once I picked up the rhythm. The pattern is from the April 2004 issue of Bead & Button and really, they did a great job with the diagrams showing you how to weave this! I worked the main portion of the beading on a Sunday, and finished it on Wednesday, so it really was a quick project. (The egg was painted Monday and sealed on Wednesday morning.) I don't know why I thought this was going to take much longer!! The only thing left to do is to buy the stand for it as it's current resting place is a crystal bud vase. lol