Forward and Back

It's New Years eve and we've all made it safely to the end of another year--for which I am very thankful.  It was an eventful year, and definitely had its highs and lows, but overall it was great.  So here we go into 2009!  I've been cleaning up the work bench and ordering supplies, and boy do I have all kinds of ideas for beads:

• I would really like to work on texture, especially with reduction frit
  
• Big hole beads--rings and donuts
• Incorporating more complex stringer within the beads
• A fable series--which had been in my head for a loooong time--hence the name fire and fable.  Bead/jewelry collections based on fairy tales and fables.  
• Colour, Colour, Colour --combinations that sing.
• more knitting related paraphanalia
• and lots of other things....

Blizzard warning for tonight, so get out your knitting!  Happy New Year!

insert maniacal laughter here...

...still working on Christmas projects, 24 hours left.  at least all the knitting is done.  But have decided to make new Christmas stockings from old wool sweaters ('"as a fun and quick last minute project" ha)  hmmmm plus wrapping all this stuff.  24 hours left???!!   OK so up for tomorrow, December 24th:

*must dye hair (have hair dye already?--check)

*should probably feed and entertain the kiddies (note to self, hide the glue tonight)

*wrap a closet full of gifts (or not....)

*oh yes, make new stockings (note, requires sewing ((may require wine)))

*make (invent) chocolate truffle tart for christmas dinner

*last minute trip to the grocery store? (send Ken with kids :)

*Go to sisters for early dinner

*bath, stories, hang new stockings, bedtime

*toast the peace and quiet with a nice glass of irish whisky then go to bed and wait for Santa...

Oh boy, maybe I should stay up late tonight and get a head start.

Christmas Fish!

Can you tell I'm crazy about these?

I'm keeping the one on the left, the one of the right is off to BC for my brother (and I hope survives the journey via Canada Post).

Fish Parade

Fish from the sale:

crazy week

Where shall I begin really?

OK first off, a very exciting thing happened last week. I met Ilga Lega (a very cool knit wear designer) at Tangled Skeins; we had a great chat about knitting, dyeing wool and glass beads. AND she wrote about me in her blog! Here: http://ilgaleja.com/blog/index.php/P2/

So then it was the 4 Christmas Party's weekend, and somehow we all survived. Kids were great Friday night, Saturday night was my work party--and being on mat leave I wasn't going to pass up a free meal and wine. Oh yes, the wine.... after a few glasses at a friends house we cabbed it to the party, me in my red dress and sparkly shoes in hand. Our table continued the tradition of absonding with all the red wine at the half filled tables and from the white wine drinkers, and so several bottles later we danced, and danced and danced. It was a good time. Sunday morning was Kens work brunch, great food but kids were a little rowdy. Sunday afternoon should have been quiet time but turned into the kind of psychotic nightmare I'm sure you only get in mental institutions, i.e., kids were rotten. Then finally off to my sisters on Sunday night for dinner--cake was fantastic. So by Monday I was absolutely wiped.

And yet, I decided it would be a great time to melt some glass. All went well until I turned off the propane leaned over the torch (still a flame going) and nearly set myself on fire. Thanks to the self exstinguishing properties of wool, I only succeeded in putting a hole in my sweater. But I did make some more fish :) I'll post pictures as soon as I get them off the camera.

Finally, I had my second glass sale on Wednesday. Everybody loved the fish! Well, I don't blame them, I love them too. Thanks to everyone! Feed NS will be getting a great donation this Christmas.

This week I am knitting this hat http://www.helloyarn.com/wecallthempirates.htm
and watching more Deadwood, and hopefully making some more fish after the kids go to bed.

Phew, that's a lot of stuff.

Oooh Pretty Fish!

That's what Zea said when she saw them, and I'm quite happy with them too! I usually don't do sculptural type beads, but I've been trying to do different things lately. The last fish I made was a few years ago--before the kiln, so inevitabley the fins popped off. These critters look pretty sturdy though, so I think I will have to make more.....

Finally, a post about glass!

Sorry, I have been in the knitting trenches lately with no end in sight. I keep on starting new projects :)

But look what I made!!!!

I was determined to get my reactive glass to work, and sat down for while and played with it. Terra frit, Psyche frit, silver reduction stringer (pulled from nuggets), and dark silver plum---which has got to be the most amazing thing I've ever seen. Honestly, it looks like a black pearl, all irridesent green, purple and blue. It was really hard to accurately capture the colours in the photos. Too bad I only have 1/2 a rod of DSP, I guess I'll have to order some more......

I cheated

So much for the grafting! Perhaps if it would have worked if the pieces were flat instead of circular. This is what I did instead, a sort of three needle bind off with the right sides together (like sewing a seam, which makes more sense to me). It worked like a charm, the repeats lined up, and most importantly---it fits over my head.

Then Cleo helped me block it: Why must cats always sit on your knitting?

Today I am grafting..

OK i've got to suck it up and learn how to do this the right way. I can cheat with a sock toe, but this is a Christmas gift. May post a picture later if I can find the camera...

In the meantime (can you tell I'm delaying?) I will be having a second sale on Wednesday December 10th, new stuff, great deals, and 25% of sales to Feed NS.

note to self, stop buying wool, the closet is overflowing.

My new obsession

or rather, what I've been up to the last few weeks. Dyeing wool/down in the basement mixing up the dye/steaming and dreaming about colour all night long. What lovely sheepy goodness it is! I am pleased with the results, and have a great deal of respect and admiration for people who dye for a living, it is a lot a of work---but the colour, got to love it, once you start you can't stop?...

Now at Tangled Skeins:

MORE PICTURES IN THIS LINK TO A SLIDESHOW:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/15538509@N06/sets/72157609352181532/show/

slideshow

There is a much more elegant way to present these pictures in an embedded slideshow--but I can't seem to make it work... yet. In the meantime, here are some pictures of the remaining jewelry pieces from last weeks open house. There may be a second sale during the first week of December (with discounts!). I will post the details when I confirm the date.

Enjoy!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/15538509@N06/sets/72157609356057939/show/

Hot off the press

A few more beady pictures..

New Jewelry

Lovely ear wear

These are my new favorites!!! Colourful square disk beads with handmade sterling silver earwires. Very simple, fun to wear, and in several lovely fall colours. All available for sale at my trunk show on November 9th!

A flurry of new posts..

What 2 months have passed since the last post??! My how time disappears when you have kids. So lots to catch up on. First major developments in the health and safety arena; I now have a brand new ventilation system, thanks to my super DIY hubby. Its FANtastic, drafts well and is soooo quiet. I love it, here are a few pictures:

(Yes, that is a mailbox--its been converted into a Kiln for annealing my beads)

Pink and Bronze Hollow Beads

These two colours look great together -- I love Caliente glass!

RINGS

Back from the beach, great weather today! Here a few different rings that I made this spring:

A very long time

I have been very neglectful ---I can't believe the last post is dated December 7th, 2007! Time to start over. More beads, more jewelry, more pictures, more posts!
The past 6 (or so..) months have been very busy for me, with a new baby arriving in March (hello Liam) and surviving the daily trials and tribulations of a two year old terror (hello Zea). Lots of knitting done, and some beadwork (after they go to bed). I have big plans for my etsy shop where you will be able to buy beads and jewelry, as well as for a trunk show in November (details to follow soon!)

Here are a few pictures to start:

A beautiful hollow bead bracelet with handmade wire wrapped links--I'm in love with this one!