Beading

I felt like working with some clay today. I decided to try to make some beads. This is really my first try at this and so some mistakes were made, but some good came out of it too. First big mistake was I baked all the beads together, no matter the thickness . . . which meant a few of them got burnt. I know better, I just wasn't paying attention.

I had some green and white swirled clay left over from a while ago when I made my mom a Venus figure, so I figured I would use some of that up first. I made an attempt to make some different shapes.

















I then made some with a blue and white barber-poled together.




this one got a little burnt but not too bad


This one was so tiny it got burnt badly. You can see the brown/purple color towards the bottom, yep, burnt.








This was a venture to see if something could work. I am going to make Justice an owl sweater and was thinking maybe I could make my own buttons to go with it, maybe a J on them. We shall see, need to get better at this before that will work.





Lastly, I decided I really wanted to use up the rest of the green and white swirled, so I decided to make more of a pendant size Venus figure. She didn't turn out quite as well as I would have hoped, but since it was my first time making one this small and I didn't have any Q-Tips available, I will cut myself some slack.

You can see here, her upper torso is a little too thick.







I placed holes in her head to hang her.





This is the first time I used the little oven my mom sent me when she stopped doing clay. It worked great.

New commenting system

This is a test, I am trying out a new commenting system by Disqus.

Socks Finished

Well, there has been a lot of reorganizing. Trying to get my craft stuff more all together. I think it worked well, just took a couple days to do. So I haven't gotten much crafting done, but I did manage to finish my mom's Christmas socks and Vera's matching pair.


Yarn: Rozetti - Always Dreams
Content: 75% Acrylic 25% Wool
Care: Machine Wash, Lay Flat To Dry
Color: 116-10 (Variegated Olive Green)
Needles: US 2 / 2.75mm wooden dpns
Gauge: 6.5 sts/1"
Size: US 7 Woman
Pattern: My own.

The gusset is the calculations that Cookie A. recommends in her book, Sock Innovation.


I tried a round toe here.





Vera's socks have the same info, I just adjusted my pattern for a 1 year old size, using this chart from Wendy Knits for size reference. I made them a little big because they are for Christmas and warm.










And here are some pictures of them together:









All in all, I loved the way the two pair turned out!

New Food

Spicy Vegetable Soup

This is something simple I was making myself some times to eat and the boy wanted to try it, now he likes it and has even asked me to make it a couple of times. Sometimes it has chicken in it, but sometimes just veggies.

In the smallest amount of water needed, I boil frozen corn, carrots, broccoli, and sometimes cooked chicken together. For seasoning, add Instant Chicken Bouillon(I add the amount recommended on the package for the amount of water I used and then add one more servings worth, the saltiness is a nice contrast to the spicy) and Spicy Thai Chili Sauce (here it just depends on how spicy you want it). When it comes to a boil, turn the heat down to low and drop in a couple servings of rice noodles(I prefer rice noodles to any other kind of noodle) and let it sit while the rice noodles soften. I usually let it sit for a little longer than the package says, just to make sure the noodles are well cooked. And serve. Very yummy!

A little break . . .

Well,I have a little time off from work. This was intention and yet not. We were suppose to be heading back to Ohio, to visit the boy's family for a few days, this has been planned for quite some time. I requested the days off from work and all the jazz, at the last minute, the boy decides that he doesn't really want to go to Ohio due to cost. So, I have a few days off now. Yesterday, I took a lazy day, if you exclude doing laundry and grocery shopping. I sat outside and did some spinning and knitting. It's been overcast, rainy, and in general spring-like here.

Here is my spinning:



And here you can see how much I still have left to spin. I am thinking that at this rate, I should definitely have a pair of socks worth.



Here is some knitting:

My mom's socks are almost done, just a few more rows and then I begin the second toe.


This close up is more accurate to the color of the yarn.





I have started Rhoni's Christmas Socks. I was inspired by Bea of BAA BAA BLACKSHEEP post on a dishcloth she recently made. So the top of the foot will be this(ravelry link) lace pattern. I did some more knitting on them last night and the lace pattern is working very nicely.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Lastly, my order from JoAnn Fabric got here. I needed more of the warp yarn for my Dad's blanket and couldn't find it in the store anymore. I also ordered a couple other things . . . let's face it, might as well get your money's worth for the shipping price, but that will be another topic.

Yeah!!!!

I have more craftiness to blog about later today and let you all know what is going on, but this is what I woke up to today!!!! I won the weekly book drawing for Janel Laidman's new book in progress(almost done), The Enchanted Sole!!

I am beyond elated! This is so cool! Yeah!! If you haven't checked out her blog, I definitely recommend it. Just look at the patterns she is going to be having in this book. They are beyond beautiful!

Glimpse

Glimpses of what is happening . . .



I had time to begin sewing Echo's purse/tote last night. Only got about 1/4th done, but I want it to look nice, so I am being detailed about the craftsmanship of it.




More spinning. I am not even attempting to do Tour De Fleece, I have learned that I craft better without deadlines.