Pearly-girl

Well, I was going to enter my faerie collection in Sarah's contest... but an email from Sam got me thinking... diamonds or pearls?
It was one of those questions in one of those silly friend surveys. I am 100 per cent, whole heartedly a pearly-girl. I could careless about diamonds... my best friends aren't cold hard rock... they have fur, whiskers and tails....
My love of pearls was ignited by an old co-worker who wore pearls constantly... it was fanned further when my Nanny gave me my great-grandmother's double-strand pearl necklace. It really got set on fire when I met a local jewellry artist named Jeremy Byrd, who showed me that pearls don't just come in pink, white and black.
It's turned into this!

This isn't my entire bead collection.... just the pearls.... but as you can see I can get pearls in every colour under the sun! (Which is why they are such a great option for creating wedding party jewellry)

In other news, as promised here are some pics of my works in progress

Shimmer

Branching Out

This is 100 per cent pure silk yarn I bought on e-bay off Clever Cat Knits... absolutely lovely.... except I did this to it... It slipped off my knees while I was rewinding the skein. :(
It's a little more than half untangled, but I just couldn't wait to knit with it.

I'm also beading a little.., though probably not as much as I should be I'm finally using the austrailian opals I bought off ebay last year. I wanted to do something that would highlight the little flecks of fire they have. I finally decided on a rainbow of stones with (L-R) Iolite, Peridot, Citrine, Sunstone, Garnet, Blue Topaz and (not pictured) Amethyst. It will probably be up for sale on Etsy by the end of the week.

And before I say goodbye.. is there anything cuter than a cat carrying something in his mouth? (Unless of course it's the rather expensive alapaca you're knitting with at the moment)

Another weekend gone...

This one was pretty busy, but not with anything I really wanted to do.....

Dave likes to be busy... me... not so much

I'm content to sit on my butt, watch tv and knit or bead or draw... all weekend long (which is probably why my butt is several inches wider than it should be)

Any he got it in his head that he was going to rebuild an old set of speakers, finish rebuilding the carburator for my grandfather's tractor and put the new information console in the dash.... all in one weekend.

Now, this might be conceivable if we were morning people.... but we're not. Dave works afternoons, so doesn't go to bed until well after midnight, and me.... well I'm lazy.... just ask my mom.

I am content to stay in bed all morning snuggled up with the cats (or Dave depending on the day of the week) Fortunately, I have a job that allows me to do that.

Anyway, Friday night, Dave shows up and announces that he wants to do all these things... great... but then we start drinking... at about 2 a.m. we finally decide to stumble up to bed. He slurrs to me.... "set the alarm for 9 a.m. Lot's to do"

I laugh to myself... 9 a.m.... like that's happening.

So we wake up at 10:45... finally pull ourselves out of bed at about 11:30.

Here's the game plan,

Drive into Hamilton - find fabric to cover speakers on Ottawa street.

Travel to Smithville - stop at parents so Dave can use power tools to cut speaker pieces

Travel to Wainfleet - get part for tractor, go to grandparents to rebuild tractor

Travel home to Beamsville - so Valerie can knit and Dave can hide in the basement and finished building speakers, then install dash.

Here's how the day really went -

* Drive to Hamilton

* Visit every store on Ottawa street looking for vinyl to cover speakers with.

* In last store Dave finally decides to buy vinyl (which was exact same as at first store)

* Dave decides he needs handles and metal corners for speakers, so head to Mountain Music

* On the way to Mountain Music Dave decides he really wanted to go to Absolute Music, clear across the city.

* Dave curses at traffic on Upper James (the boy is from Toronto, you'd think he'd be able to handle it)

* Arrive at Absolute Music and Dave realizes he really wanted to go to Recycled Sound, which is about 5 minutes from Ottawa Street, now a good 25 minutes on the lower end of the city.

* Dave makes faces at Valerie when she lets out exasperated sigh because Dave has no concept of direction or memory of store names, even though Valerie live in city for first three years of relationship.

* Discover Absolute Music doesn't have parts, Dave decides to head to Pongetti's across the road

* Dave curses at traffic some more

* Discover Pongetti's doesn't have the parts, but learn about Lou's Music that might

* Head to Lou's music, cursing at traffic, and Valerie who apparently isn't giving directions fast enough even though she isn't exactly sure where the store is and Dave is driving too fast.

* Arrive at Lou's music, pay for parking

* Discover Lou's music is closed and in the process of moving to Upper James

* Dave laughs at Valerie when she steps in pothole and badly twists ankle

* Head to Mountain Music.

* Dave says something about not having eaten yet and should stop for food

* Dave curses at snow in parking lot at Mountain Music

* Dave makes impatient sounds at Valerie who isn't walking fast enough because she is limping due to twisted ankle

* Discover that while Mountain Music doesn't have parts, can order and Valerie can pick up on Thursday

* Dave makes comments about being hungry again, then passes several suitable restaurants

* Dave decides he needs contact cement and speaker wire, stops at Rona

* Dave makes more impatient noises as Valerie limps through Rona store

* Buy contact cement but not speaker wire

* Head to Smithville

* 20 minuntes later, reach Smithville and decide to continue on to Wainfleet, can stop at parent's after

* 20 minutes later get to Wainfleet, go to tractor store, discover tractor store doesn't have and can't get carburator part

* Dave curses broken carb part, ebay and 1941 Ford tractors

* Dave decides he's hungry again, decides to go for pizza

* Arrive at pizza place, Dave decides he doesn't want pizza, travels down the road to sit down restaurant similar to several that were passed by earlier

* A good two-and-a-half hours after finally leaving the house without breakfast, Valerie gets to eat

* Head to grandparents

* Dave decides to use power tools at grandparents house

* Dave gets roped into fixing grandparents computer

* 5:30 p.m. finally leave grandparents house, Dave decides to go to Source for speaker wire

* Half way home Dave decides to go to Smithville to parent's for soldering iron first

* Arrive at parent's house, Dave rummages around in garage while Valerie harrasses Russell the orange cat

* 5:50 p.m. leave with jigsaw (don't know what happened to the soldering iron) Dave announces time to go to Source, at which point Valerie reminds Dave it's a Saturday and Source closes at six.

* Dave curses and drives there anyway

* Arrive at Source which is indeed closed

* Head home

* Valerie puts feet up on couch, waits out the pain in her ankle, considers picking up needles but it too tired so watches a string of romantic comedies while Dave alternates between building speakers and yelling at cats.

Sunday was a lot more of the same, except it involved a flea market, the Source, my parents, and the dollar store. So I didn't get any knitting done, the speakers aren't quite finished, the dash isn't in and the tractor's not fixed... best laid plans and all I guess.

Late this afternoon I did manage to get my latest bead order organized and put away and some new stock made for White Flame. (For those of you who are in the Hamilton area, my jewellry can be found at the White Flame Company.)

I don't have any pictures of new stuff however because I left my camera at work

There is a few new things up on Etsy though, so you can take a look there....

I'll bring the camera home tomorrow and take some more intersting pics and hopefully next weekend will be less hectic and more productive....

Return of the Fati

It's official...

My cat has turned into Jabba the Hut.

I've gotten a fair amount of work done on Shimmer, I'll post pics later. I also didn't get a chance to post stuff on Etsy on Friday as promised, so I've just uploaded my newest creations....

Fanciful Fantasy Bookmarks

You can see them here.

I only have faerie and mermaid bookmarks right now, but I've got a line on some knitting charms and hope to do some knitting book marks too.

Problem child

I have a problem...
What makes the problem worse is the culprit looks like this....

Three days in a row now I've come home wool salad.... well tossed. It's usually stretched out across all three floors of the house and well tangled around furniture. I'm literally at knit's end here... I've done everything I possibly can to discipline him, but he just doesn't care. And what's worse is he's not just coming across the yarn, and thinking "hey, this looks like a good time"... he's actively seeking it out! The pink yarn (RY Classic baby alpaca) is part of a sweater for myself I haven't worked on in six months. It's in the bottom of a basket, on top of my computer desk (a good six feet off the ground) The brown yarn tangled into it is a current project that was on my couch hidden underneath a blanket (so he wouldn't touch it). The other two days of salad tossing included a ball of peach chenille that I'm using to make and Elizabethan Barbie Dress. It was on my kitchen table, and a left over ball of Dave's alpaca silk, which was also on top of the computer desk.

If the little monster didn't already have his nuts chopped off, I swear I'd be doing it myself. Dave's solution is to take him back to the barn, but to me that's akin to taking your kids back to the hospital for colouring on the walls... so I guess I'll have to keep disciplining, rewinding and hoping he grows out of it......

In other news I've started another project...

I really shouldn't have cast this on, I have several projects on the go, but the yarn was calling me... It's Debbie Bliss Pure Silk. I got a really good deal on it on ebay... but I was a little dissapointed by the colour. It was called Royal purple and looked much darker..... my intention was to make Mom something for Mother's day, but it's really not her colour. I'ts more of an electric purple, so it has to more of an accessorie piece. So I am making Shimmer . However I'm not sure if I'll have a enough yarn so I'm making it with sleeves that go just past the elbow instead of full length. It's also done on dpns, but we all know I don't do dpns, so I'm reworking the pattern for two needles. It is absolutely lovely yarn to work with and the shrug is done on 5mm needles it shouldn't take too long. Especially considering it's mostly just sleeves.

And of course I haven't set it down for two minutes and somebody's already plotting.

*Sigh*

In other news, Ive posted some new and fabulous designs to Etsy! Check it out! I'll be posting something new every Friday, so be sure to stop by often.

Girls Rule! Boys Drool!

Just a quick post to keep you updated...

Dave's sweater is done and was completed by Tuesday! Huzzah! I won't post a pic of it until I give it to him.. boring old ribbed sweater looks blah on it's own.. we need a pretty boy to put it on!

In other news.. I was scouring ebay for some knitting patterns and came across these....

Apparently Dr. Ken's opinion that nurse Barbie's outfit wasn't sexy enough wasn't taken very well and he needed to be muzzled....

I'm not at all sure what happened here....

He's not even allowed to see.. maybe he was ogling the other bunnies on the ski hill... or maybe he just couldn't bear to see himself in those tights.

Of course, by the looks of the dolls the patterns are from the 60s so maybe it's just feminism kickin' in.... maybe the designer burnt her bra prior to creating these.. I know I'm always a little cranky when the girls haven't been properly supported....

SNOW DAY!!!

The following picture embodies all that is both wonderfully great and pathetically sad about living alone:

This was my dinner tonight..... a big plate of whipped potatoes. That's it... no meat.. no veg.. just potatoes.. well whipped and lots of them. Living alone is great because you can actually eat stuff like this (or a bag of chips, or half a brick of cheddar and four dill pickles, or a can of cashews with a leftover chocolate santa for dessert) for dinner without anyone telling you otherwise. And it's totally sad that I actually do.

Anyway.. it's all my Mom's and Corner Gas' fault. My mom because she makes the best whipped potatoes in the world and I don't get them very often now that I don't live there. And Corner Gas because is was the episode with the enchanted potato bowl... made me hungry.

In other news. Today was a snow day... so screw the newspaper's deadlines. I got to pay attention to my own!

The sleeves are done! Looks like it will get done for the guild meeting but only if mom has a short 3.5 or 3.75 mm circular needle so I can do the neck.

I also have five balls of this lovely wool left over. My coat is brown and I've been thinking I really want a pair of alpaca mittens..... and maybe a hat!

And since I have posted a pic of my snuggly walrus... I mean cat.. in a while...

Tux is yawning because I woke him up in the 15th hour of his 16-hour sleep-a-thon. I am totally coming back as a cat in my next life.