No end of help

Things have been somewhat hectic lately, to say the least. We're barely managing to get anything done, though Hubby has managed to almost finish replacing our front door. (There are a lot of steps involved, and we often don't know what's needed until we start to do something.

With some furry little help, I managed to finish the first of a pair of socks done in Knit Picks Essential in Peacock Multi...

This has become a very common pose after working days, me in the Love Sac (a giant bean bag, for those of you who haven't heard of them; a.k.a. world's largest cat bed) with Zoe across my chest and Oscar on my lap. By the end of the evening, I'm nearly supine on the floor, and my arms are tired from holding knitting away from the white fur.

In other news, Hubby has also replaced the kitchen sink. Like most of the other pojects in this house, it turned out to be a muh more difficult taks than one would expect. For instance, in this case, the faucets were welded to the sink. Expected? Certainly not. Also, who would expect that Binna could be so useful at holding Hubby down while he struggled with said project?

Binna's first act was actually to climb into the cabinet onto Hubby's chest, look up under the sink to see what he was doing, and while MIL went to grab the camera, decided that perhaps she could better anchor him in a position on his thigh instead.

More jewelry in progress. Finished a couple of pieces today, but still having trouble getting into the mode of reaching for the camera when something gets finished!

Happy V-Day to all!

I realize that not everyone celebrates, but as today marks the 6th anniversary of when my poor husband tried to propose while I was still high on painkillers due to a broken hand the previous month and was trying to figure out the TV remote!


Yeah, his story starts with "She stabbed me, so I married her" and all the supporting stories just get better.


So anyway, I promised some jewelry pics, so here they are! The above necklace was done with some pink stones (and of course, I've forgotten the name of them), silver bugle & seed beeds and silver pendant and findings. It's sort of a collar necklace design, made to contour a natural neck. (Which is why it's a little buckled on one side -- because this unnatural neck has no contours!)

This next set is some chainmail jewelry with crystal dangles. The bracelet is probably big enough to be an anklet for most people, but the earrings are nice and dainty.

The next is my favorite so far. The darker stones and the pendant are amethyst, and the lighter stones are called "purple crazy lace." If I had actually purchased the materials for this necklace, I wouldn't have let it stay on display at the store.

In other news, I finished the knitting on yet another bag to be felted, but not enough time to felt it today, so that will have to wait for another day. I also attempted some transfer paper printouts we bought from Office Depot, but it didn't work for the punchneedle, so I need to find more options for creating transfers that can be duplicated.

Ph, and the funky-chunky wooden necklace I had been wearing to work decided to explode when I took it off last night. Glad that didn't happen in the dark in the truck! (Or at the store, in Safeway, at the barn, or outside anywhere else!)

Guess it's time to restring the sucker after all...

Lots of chocolate wishes to all!

Photo update & Secret Company revealed!

Now that I have finally had the intro business lunch with the necessary person and had a bunch of questions answered, I can share all the nifty neato things I've been working on during January!

In addition to working almost-full-time for Ben Franklin in Monroe and still teaching crochet and jewelry classes, I'm also now making handcrafted models for Clover! Clover produces many kinds of tools for crafting such as crochet, needle felting, hairpin lace and punch needle.

So now, after long avoidance (not because of lack of interest, but because it would be yet another "skill"; although really, it seems like a skills that was born from someone's husband or child trying to be helpful and dumping the entire laundry basket, wool sweaters and all, into the washing machine and setting it on Hot water [because you take Hot showers, not cold showers, to get clean, right?] and washing and drying everything together).... Where was I? Oh, right. But don't worry, I know there's a very long history of purposeful felting for very good reasons.

Anyway, after long avoidance, I have now been producing a good nmber of felted bags, as well as a couple of fine crocheted items. Here they are!









I think that's everything.... There is a new hairpin lace shawl currently in progress, and then it's on to some punch needle projects. I'm having the time of my life with all of this!

Jewelry pics to be posted soon, I promise!