Socks and Baby Things

Working on a pair of socks for me...YAY! Sock-a-licious Yarn by Kollage...wonderful shades of blues, like denim...the yarn makes me think of the colors of the ocean in the Florida Keys...think I will call them my "Key West" socks...I'm not finished with them, but here they are so far.....Toe up, using a pattern from Liat Gat of Knit Freedom, called Beginner Socks for Magic Loop, except I'm not doing Magic Loop, I'm doing two circulars...

That's ok....just haven't gotten around to watching the videos to learn how to do Magic Loop...Still working on my little frog pacifier clip....lost the instructions so not sure if I can figure out how to finish him! But gonna try.....He has a little butterfly and leaves on the strap. Have to embroider some eyes and a mouth on the little frog and he's done.

Wish I could find my instructions...have no idea what I did with them...Usually, I copy them if they are from a book and put them in a zip loc bag along with all the supplies needed for the current project. But this time, the instructions have come up missing...Sigh! I do this to myself all the time and it's so frustrating!  I don't have the book any longer to go back to to find the directions....And we're not near any library, so that's out. Phooey! Hopefully, before another week goes by, they will turn up.......

A Gift from My Sister....

We get our mail once a month and so, when January's mail came, I missed getting my sister's Christmas present by just a few days. She is back to weaving small things, and sent me these beautiful coasters! I love them!

Thanks, sis!

This week I saw a pattern for a pacifier clip holder from the book Itty Bitty Nursery....I just had to make the elephant. It was quite "fiddly" as you are using double pointed needles and just two to three stitches per needle for most of it. I felt like I was "all sticks" and not much knitting going on while using them, but it worked out ok. I bought the regular pacifier with a ribbon holder at Walmart, then took off the ribbon part and used everything else for the holder. I've seen some holders where they used bulldog clips from Staples or Office Max, but I think a purchased holder turned out much cuter.

I'm going to try the frog pacifier holder next.....See you next week!

Yarn Bombing

Until I started knitting this past year, I had never heard of "yarn bombing." What a concept! Let's "soften" up our harsh world with bright colors and textures and get everybody to stop and look and appreciate art in a whole new art form....well, maybe not so new...I love it! Where these places are, I am not sure...I just decided to collect a few examples of it.....Eldy says I could yarn bomb the motorhome! How about mirror covers or a giant windshield cover? he asks...Whew! That's a tall order, literally! I'll have to think about that one!

I taught a ruffled scarf class this week...It was a big success! If you'd like to read about it, check out Where's Eldo?

I'm worn out from all the preparations and but the scarves were so popular, that I've decided to try and sell them by making a few, and sending them around to family members in different parts of the country to see if they will wear them....maybe I can get the word out to at least sell a few....My sister says, she thinks I have found my niche..that I should be giving craft classes while traveling down the road full time in the motorhome. I'll certainly consider do that more if the opportunity presents itself. I had a ball working with adults, teaching them to knit the ruffly scarf. It's in my genes to teach, and I really miss it, so I can't wait to find another opportunity!  Until next week....   Jeannie (and Lyle!)

Anatomy of a Beaded Braided Bracelet

Tried my hand at beading a bracelet, braided, no less! It was a stretch of my very very basic beading skills. I've only made two pairs of earrings and constructed a very basic chunky necklace and bracelet, but this was so beautiful, I had to try it! We had a class at the RV resort, and the lady teaching it, Linda Breitner, was a very patient lady. I figured if she was willing to offer it and didn't put any skills limitations on it, I was in! Here she is showing us her "wild and out there" necklace jewelry that she was experimenting with.

Well, the class started at 2:00 and was to go till 5:00. At 6:45, I was still struggling to get the bracelet finished. My aging eyes started getting tired and a little blurry at seeing those little tiny crimp beads, and I felt all thumbs as I struggled to get my fingers into tiny little spaces. Stringing the first three strands was easy!

Second three strands not too bad....

And actually, the third set wasn't too bad either....

The hard part was getting the right type of beads on each strand. I accidentally strung two larger type bead strands side by side which was not a good idea in the end....Now for the braiding....

You have to keep the strands very flat as you go and they seemed to want to twist in different places while you braid. The other trick is getting the beads strung so all the strands are the same length as exact as possible. You have to keep the beads pushed up against each other as you go, also. The most difficult part was putting the end tube crimp beads up against the findings, getting the wire backed through the beads without twisting the strands you just braided! 

It was a frustrating project for me, as my skills just weren't quite good enough to manage all the manipulating of the findings, closures and tools...I needed more practice to do this kind of project, but Linda was so patient, she kept me from giving up. She actually had to finish the end of the bracelet for me, as we ran out of time with another group coming in. My strands weren't all the same length, and so we were under pressure to GIT 'R DONE! Thanks, Linda!

Here's a beautiful bracelet another gal did in teal....The colors are much more beautiful in person.

Got to practice this one some more...I really want to get it right! I'd definitely take more classes from Linda...she is so patient and gives you how-to sheets with photos to help you if you want to try and make another one. I think I'll need to put her on speed dial, if I try again! Until next week....

                                           Jeannie and Lyle