sheep in the city

The big reveal...

Many of you have figured out that I've been a little into beading lately. A few of my knitting pals have talked about it...and obviously my last post eluded to it. I have to say, beading was my first love...way before knitting. I haven't given up knitting by any means, but it has been taking a back seat to all the bead action going on over here.

The big announcement is...that I've opened up my very own Etsy shop to sell my jewelry! Go on over and check out what I have available. I'll be adding more stuff everyday.

The knitting will resume, I promise. I've been working on a couple different projects, some new and some that I pulled out the work in progress pile. Thanks for sticking with me over here, I know that the posting has been a little sporadic lately.

I've been busy...

..stayed tuned for details next week.

Weekend fun!

I played hookie from work on Friday and headed to the Denver Zoo with my sister and her kids. It was the perfect day to be outside. I think it was somewhere in the mid to high 70's. Everyone else must have had the same idea because the zoo was super crowded. We had fun despite the crowd though. Check out how big my nephew is getting. (click here for the sleepy picture of him riding back to the car!)

Sunday I was able to indulge in a favorite hobby of mine, beading! My friend Mary Kay had expressed an interest in getting together to make jewelry at our knit group on friday night, so she spent the afternoon with me on Sunday. In high school I used to spend hours working on beaded necklaces and earrings. Then I was able to incorporate my love of beads into my knitting in the form of stitchmarkers. Well, a few months ago, I attended a gem and bead tradeshow with Tiffany. Let me say that the old passion for making jewelry came back. I picked up tons of different stones, mostly coral and turquoise. Pictured below is the first necklace that I made, and I love it!

I also made some great progress on my Seraphim shawl. If some of you remember, I was knitting on this shawl back in October. Well, since I didn't get it done in time for Rhinebeck I sort of lost all motivation to work on it. It has been languishing in the "Work-In-Progress" pile ever since. The funny thing is...I did 2 things that I tell new knitters all the time not to do. First, I stopped mid row. On a lace chart. Big mistake. Always, always finish the row that you are working on. Second, I didn't mark where I was on said lace chart. What was I thinking?! Apparently I wasn't. Once I finally figured out where I was things just took off. I'm now only 6 rows away from the bind off. Hopefully this will be completed in the next few days.

In my Dad's health news...he and my Mom spent the past 6 days down at MD Anderson in Houston. He started a chemotherapy/clinical trial regiment and so far, so good. We'll find out in the days to come how his body is reacting to the chemo. Read all about it, if you want to, over on his health blog. It's kind of funny...in his latest post, he calls me the "knitting queen". Not so sure that I've reached that level of distinction yet, but it's the thought that counts!

I've been busy!

I've been on a roll making stitch markers these past few days. I am sending out 4 to my Bead it partner, and 4 to a local friend, and 8 to a buddy up in Washington...and a few of them are for me!! :) I've had a sore throat the past few days, so I haven't felt like doing much, but tonight I'm knitting down at Stella's with some friends...that's just what I need. A little hang out time with my knitting crew! This weekend the forcast is for sunny weather, so I'm planning on cleaning off my porch and planting some flowers. Have a great weekend everyone, and I hope it's filled with lots of knitting time!!

The Stitchmarker: A Tutorial

So, here is the promised tutorial on how I make stitchmarkers. This is the way I do it, so if you have questions feel free to email me. If you have another technique that you use...share it! I'd love to hear how you make them.

Supplies:

•Beads
•Head pins or Eye Pins
•Needle nose pliers (preferably small ones)
•Small Wire Cutters
•Pliers
•Split rings of varying sizes (according to what size needle you want to put them on) I like to use a 13mm size because it’s kind of a middle range size.

You’ll start by picking the beads that you want to use, then loading them onto the head pin. I would suggest staying away from beads that are really heavy, as they can weigh down your knitting if you are using a lot of stitch markers.

Next you will cut off the un-used portion of the head pin, using your clippers, leaving a little over an inch from the top of your bead. It's good to hang onto those little scrap pieces of the pin that you clip off, because some of them are big enough to use for something else!! (note that I am a pack rat, so you can throw them away...but they do come in handy for small markers)

With your needle nose pliers, you will turn the pin completely around, so that you end up with a little loop that ends right above the bead.
Like this:

Then stick the needle nose pliers into the loop and pull back on it so that you end up with a little question mark.

This should make it so that the beads don’t slip up and down on the pin a lot. This step took me a while to perfect, and it does feel awkward at first! But don’t give up!!

Now you can slip the split ring onto the loop. If you have to loosen the loop, that’s ok, just try to get it snug when you tighten it back up by using the flat pliers.

Voila! You have just made a one-of-a-kind handmade stitch marker!! Enjoy, and welcome to the world of beading. You now have a whole new hobby!! The eiffel tower marker was made using the same technique as the above, with the only difference being that I used an eye pin instead of a head pin. The charm can hang off of the loop that is already formed. This is a great way to make dangle earrings too. I'm working on a pdf document of this tutorial, so be watching the sidebar for that in the next few days! **until I figure it out, if you want a pdf file, I can email one to you!!**

Beads, Birthdays, & boring knitting...

First come the beads: These are the promised pictures of some of the stitchmarkers that I have made. I made the celtic/aran knitting looking one and the little pink VW bug on Saturday with the girls and the others a few months ago. Here are the two pairs of earrings that I made. They are so quick and easy, and the best part is that they are under $5.00 to make!! I'm working on putting together a tutorial about making stitch markers, so be looking for that in the next week! Thanks for the positive response everybody!!

I was asked to post a list of supplies that you need to make the stitchmarkers so that people can be getting ready, so here it is! Feel free to email me with any questions about the supplies!

•Beads
•Head pins and/or Eye Pins- I use the the eye pins when I have a charm to hang off the bottom.
•Needle nose pliers (preferably small ones)
•Cutting tool, like small wire cutters
•Pliers
*the above three items can usually be found in a set at any craft store like Michael's or Joann's for about $10-15*
•Split rings of varying sizes (according to what size needle you want to put them on) I tend to like the bigger ones, I think they are about a 13mm ring. If I'm doing the math right. They are just the right size to me, they fit big needles and they aren't SO big that they totally flop around on a smaller needle.

Now for birthday's:

We celebrated my Grandma's birthday on Sunday afternoon. She turned 79 years young! The woman is amazing, she just retired two years ago from running a preschool full time! She and my grandpa moved out here in October, and it's so great having them close by so that we can celebrate all the special days together...not just the major holidays. We had lunch at a historic restaurant here in town called the White Fence Farm. We had corn fritters and fried chicken. Yum! I can't remember the last time I had fried chicken?! My parents and grandparents talked about the way my great-grandma used to make fried chicken in a cast iron skillet...and how it tasted so much better "back in the day". I love sitting around listening to stories about how my grandparents grew up. Family history is so important...I suggest that if you have a living grandparent, go visit them, or if you aren't close by, call them. Ask them questions about their childhood and the town they grew up in. It's fascinating stuff and it will make them feel loved that you care enough to ask!

And last, but not least, the boring knitting:
Clapotis...or should I say "Bonopotis" as Cleo suggested:

I've dropped 8 stitches so far and it seems like I might be finally getting somewhere. I am in the home stretch on the straight portion of this monster scarf, then I can start the decreases! Yippee!

Resurrecting an old hobby

I've had many hobbies over the years...some have stuck, but many have fallen by the wayside. Some were just a fade and didn't hold my interest for the long haul. Beading is one that I think I had forgotten how much I really enjoy it! So, Saturday I spent the morning with some of the crew (Michelle, Wanda, and Cynthia) at a bead shop near Park Meadows. We went with the intention of making stitch markers...and boy did we! I couldn't help myself though...I have had these beads for almost 10 years so I finally made them into a necklace! (I made a couple pairs of earrings too!)

It was fun to see everyone's personalities come out in the stitch markers that they made, Cynthia was making "sets" of markers. They were all very uniform...with the beads matching up just so:-) I had to give her a hard time about it of course, but they were really cute. She took a great picture of her markers and Wanda's...go take a look! Michelle made a really cute one with a little coffee cup on it. Wanda was in the mood for fresh water pearls, so she had every color all together. I, of course, had very bright funky beads, but relatively simple ones. They were all so different! **I will post pictures of my finished markers tomorrow** After the beading session, we headed over to LoDo's for lunch and a little knitting. After lunch we did some damage at Joann's, seeing as they are discontinuing the only kind of Lion Brand that I would ever want to knit with...Cotton Ease. Those people at Lion Brand don't know what they are doing!!! We were all on the hunt for some to add to the stash. Bonus that they were having a great sale on scissors, 40% off, even the gingher scissors (you know...the wicked expensive ones, so now is the time to buy some!!!). All in all, it was another great day with the girls. And I think I may have just picked up beading again. (so many hobbies, so little time) I am seeing many more beaded stitch markers in my future.

*I am thinking of posting a little tutorial on making beaded stitch markers...let me know if that is something that you, my readers, are interested in!!*