One Crazy Fiber Lady

A storm named Katrina has my thoughts directed south.  My father’s brother and his wife live in New Orleans.  My very pregnant cousin (their younger daughter) and her husband live there as well.  I got word this morning that the women headed off to Atlanta to stay with my other cousin.  I believe the menfolk are watching the homesteads.  A quiet prayer for them and for all those other in the path of this storm is needed and appreciated.

While I have no pictures, I did finally add the new socks to the WIP list.  While waiting for Elaine to arrive on Tuesday, I cast on using the Opal Rainforest in Fish.  I’m making the leg a bit shorter than normal, but short’s a relative thing.  For a change the ribbing is a 2×2 and I’m using the short row heel instead of the flap thing I normally do.  The more I knit a short row heel, the more I like it.  I hit the toe shaping this morning during my commute it so the first sock is almost done.  Hopefully the first time I post a picture of them, they won’t be FO’s!

I didn’t do a massive amount of knitting this weekend, but I did transfer Birchington to the new, longer Addis.  While knitting onto the new needle, I took advantage of having the extra space and took a picture of the progress.  I love shots like these with the lace clear in the front and that indistinct sac in the back.  I’m planning on doing some 8 inches of the quatrefoil pattern and then moving onto the next.  I like how it is coming out so far.  I’m aiming for this thing to be a 50" square, give or take. I saw in my referrer statistics that someone googled "Birchington Shawl Pattern".  Is there an interest in my putting a pattern together?  Other than a couple of rows on this I did no other knitting and definitely no spinning.  Eris?  Nope.  Girlfriends Swing Coat.  Nope.  Nada.  Three rounds on Birchington all weekend?  Yup.  No, the kids did actually sleep, but I was distracted.  By what you ask? 

By this…

I’ve been bitten by the beading bug.  Hard.  While grabbing a couple of other magazines on Friday during my errands, I hit upon the August/September issue of Beadwork Magazine.  Sitting on the couch Friday night I flipped through my new magazines, and hit this one last.  I was captivated by the whole issue.  When I finally hit page 56 and "Stony Spirals" I lost my mind and will.  I spent the rest of the evening trying to find a local bead store as I had to make it.  Now.  Couldn’t wait for stinkin mail order.  Hell, I couldn’t wait to get back into the city and head to one uptown from the office…(though tempting now …:)  After lunch on Saturday, the twins and I headed to Beads by Blanche in Bergenfield, pretty dangerously close to home.  While not as big as some of the places I visited with Elaine last week, it had a pretty decent selection, even if there was limited stroller parking.  I wasn’t overwhelmed as I had the pattern in the magazine with the requirements listed.  A starting place and roadmap to keep the wandering eyes on course.  A quick chat with the owner confirmed I gathered all the requirements.  Yay me.  She recommended a couple of add-ons, a pair of scissors, a fuzzy matt thing that would keep the beads from scattering to the four winds and a nifty tweezer/scoup double ended dohickey.  The picture shows the results of three hours at the kitchen table after the twins went to bed.  I worked on the second half during nap and bedtime last night.  Wearing it now Maybe a picture of it tonight, along with the sock. The pattern is a sprial rope and I did a pretty darn good job for my first threading project, if I do say so myself.

I spent the remainder of last night digging through the magazine (and another Bead mag I bought a while ago) looking for projects I could do with the supplies I had on hand.  I found something and will probably work on that.  It should keep me until my order from AuntiesBeads.com arrives – which I hope will be before the long weekend!  Just what I needed.  It at least is another hobby that involves thread of some kind so it does fit nicely with the rest.  Any guesses as to how long it will be before I start knitting with the beads?  Anyone?  Bueller?

Craft on!