Beading and Knitting and Friends Oh My!

Ok, now how cute is this? The picture above is my friend Shannon and her husband, Chad, at her grandparent's 50th Wedding Anniversary party last weekend. Note his hand placement. What do you think he is hiding??

Ta da! It's the beaded motif I fixed for her. Hard to see in the pic, but it doesn't matter about that. I just love the way he did that. Cracks me up!!


I still am not finished with Renee's wallet. I've got the pockets sewn into place and although the picture doesn't show it, I finished the leaf vine too. I finally got smart and rather than line the pockets with pellon and a satin-y material, I used ultrasuede which eliminated me having to 'hem' the lining. So much easier and faster too.

The inside flap and the liner aren't in place yet, but that will have to wait because I'm personally challenging myself by taking a sock knitting class (thanks Jackie). Oh boy.

I have done some knitting in the past. Felted Bags (simply so I would have a place to put these large beaded flowers I was making at the time - I'll have to post some pics of those someday), a sweater that never got finished and a few pretty shawls. But other than that, I've never adventured into something like this.

I was really overwhelmed in the class. Right off the bat, I found out I cast on differently than everyone else in the world (apparently). So here I am learning to cast on while everyone else in the class is zipping along getting their 60 stitches on the needle. Great, not looking too good here.

A lot of chatter going on, which is normally a good thing, but I needed to concentrate on every little thing I was doing, and I kept getting distracted. I swear I had to re-count my cast on stitches 20 times! And those needles - jeepers I felt like I had Shrek hands. Considering I work with a needle and thread everyday, I was surprised at how clutzy I felt with these tiny little needles.

I got home after 2 hours of class and had less than a 1/2" finished, but at least I could see the ribbing pattern forming. I knitted away yesterday morning before work for about an hour and then after work some more and then......yikes. Not sure where I went wrong, but it was way wrong. After attempting to un-knit I finally gave up and just ripped the whole thing out. I wasn't even sure if I would remember how to get it started again, but I was so disgusted that I knew I had to at least try. I didn't want to go back to class on Monday and ask the instructor to figure out my mess, it just didn't seem fair. And after all, I'm challenging myself here, right? And I'll need to know how to start for the second sock in the pair, right? So I made the decision to start fresh.

After two attempts, I finally got it cast on and after about 3 hours of time, this is what I have to show for it:

But I really like doing it and now that I can (almost) do it without every ounce of my brain cells burning up, I'm confident that I will get my homework done. I'm not even going to think about the heel part...........

Just Goofing Around

Rather than be productive, I spent my Sunday morning playing.

I made a video of my peach flower which was altered by using a kaleidoscope program. It took a really long time to load up, so I'm not sure if it will come over or not. And it looks a bit blurry. If you can't read the credits, the program is www.krazydad.com/kaleido it's so cool - check it out! But with a word of caution - it's highly addictive.

And the picture on my title is of the butterfly I made which is now living at Tracey's home, also altered by the same program.

Getting Started

After procrastinating a few days, I have finally started working on a wallet for my hairdresser, Renee. Once the pattern is cut and the pieces assembled, then I finally get to start the embellishing!



I began with the pockets that will hold her credit cards and such. The beads are from ArtGems, Inc. and I just love the colors. The darker beads are called fancy grey color lined gold AB. I am assuming the AB refers to aurora borealis finish, but they really don't have the purple-y blue typical AB look. They are just beautiful. I accented with a fancy topaz color lined beige (also from Art Gems) and then edged the pocket in a metallic gold bead I picked up from the Historical Society here in Lockport.


All my wallets and coin purses have a vintage coin. Renee's features a regal looking lion and is dated 1950. Looks like it has Russian letters, but I really don't know where it originated from. I have it surrounded in peyote stitch and now I am finishing that off with the sunburst pattern using grey faceted rounds (I think 8 mm) and really pretty Miyuki beads from Joggles in 11 and 15.

Although these wallets make up so beautifully, they are somewhat limiting to me, since everything that goes on them has to be able to withstand being in a purse. That means no fun stacks or fringes or larger beads that stick up. Bummer.

You can click on these pics to get a close up view. I realized that if I crop the picture before I post, you can't zoom in (at least I think that's the reason). So I purposely didn't crop any of these. If anyone can determine the origin of the coin, I would love it if you would let me know.