February 26, 2007
A Path Less Taken
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We discussed what qualities a skull cap should have. It should be very close fitting, not lift in the wind, be comfortable, have a weave that he could put the ear pieces of his glasses through, and have ear flaps for colder days.
The purple hat in handspun wool worked well and provided warmth from an unusually chilly Tombstone winter, but it needed some tweaking in the length and fit of the ear flaps.
He belongs to The American Legion Riders who participate in parades and other ceremonies and requested something that emulated an American flag. Thus the Flag hat was born. Now the actual construction became well defined and perfected. By now I knew what I was doing and just how this hat should fit and work.
I commissioned a friend , Jen, to knit him a winter dicky in Harley Davidson colors and I made the matching skull cap from leftover wool. It's a good thing he has a great sense of humor as the orange just begged me to put a jack-o-lantern face on the back. This final hat met all of the qualities that we had discussed
So if you see a uniquely dressed man on a Harley in and around Tombstone, Arizona, it's probably my friend. He seems to be satisfied with my final design. Thanks Ken, for giving me a side trip with a creative challenge and some fun in crocheting with yarn again.
Now back to beading after a small side trip down a path I haven't traveled in a long while.
February 25, 2007
Arizona Beading
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February 21, 2007
Tribal Stripes Necklace
The other impetus to finishing the necklace is that I'm headed to Chicago for 4 days and I wanted something dramatic to wear with all the gray and charcoal shades I have in my limited Arizona winter wardrobe. This is what the 3 necklaces look like when twined together. I think they will do nicely as my only jewelery for the trip. The three pieces are various combinations of elements from my Tribal Stripes patterns that can be found on Bead-Patterns.
Just how often do beaders hurry up and finish or quickly make a piece just to wear with an outfit or for some special occasion? I seem to do it fairly frequently. I think it happens more often than we'd all like to think about.
Trivia - Do I have Value?
My blog is worth $2,822.70.
How much is your blog worth?
Interesting tidbit of useless information......
Thanks to Claudia & Jen for sending me on this amusing trip.
February 18, 2007
A Designing Trip
This rope needed to be a pattern that ran parallel to the length of the rope and did not spiral. I graphed what I thought would work in 2 shades of green with a cream colored belly. This type of pattern is what I call "The Thirteenth Bead"; an odd number of beads in a repeat crocheted in an even number around - in this case a 13 bead repeat crocheted in 6-around.
OOPS, somehow I got a dotted patterned belly rather than a solid color and I really didn't like any of the green shades that I had chosen. However, on closer inspection, the pattern I did get looked like a zipper and was interesting in it's own way.
This led to trying the "zipper" in matte root beer and matte crayon colors. OK, still interesting, but a bit too busy to suit me. So, the next effort was in black & white, which are easy colors to see what's really happening with a pattern. Those who know me also know that I just can't leave something alone..... I wondered what would happen to the the cross section of the rope if I used drops for one element? In the back of my mind was a possible snake vertebrae effect. Now this pattern was really getting interesting and I like the last two large-bead effects. Those two I think I'll keep and write up for Bead-Patterns some time in the future.
I still don't have a Grass Snake pattern, but I'll give that another go again tomorrow. Just remember to never throw out a mistake pattern or stringing as you never know what interesting thing you might come up with.
I started a "Snazzy Chain" necklace with the turquoise chips and coral drops that I purchased on one my Tucson bead buying trips. I really like how it's coming out with the copper metallic thread.
Bead Crochet Sampler Ropes
One way I get around the
Some of my sampler ropes end up being unusual enough to turn into a lariat or necklace. They are truly one-of-a-kind pieces.
See my next post for the story of the grass snake pattern evolution - and it does not even end up being a snake pattern!
February 9, 2007
Tucson Report II
I did the Holidome with my sister Tina, Cherie and Annette - 3 tents, 10 hours and very full bags of neat things. The one thing about the shows that impressed me was the attitude of all of the shuttle and transport drivers: all cheerful, usually funny, and very helpful.
The next day Annette and I went to the Palo Verde Show to have fun and to look at the rocks & mineral specimens. We admired what Mother Nature offered up. Rutilated quartz was everywhere and when it was back lit you could see what looked like fine hairs within the specimens.
Other than the 11/0 1-cut marcasite beads, I didn't add any seed beads to my collection. I was fascinated with the matte black onyx that I saw here and there. I bought myself a few strands of 6 mm rondells. I'm not sure what I will be doing with these stone accent beads, but they will go into my collection waiting for that creative urge to use them.
My very last stop was at Gary Wilson's booth for a selection of his unusual beads and cabs. This year I brought home drilled rocks - no fancy, polished minerals.... just rather neat rocks. They contrast so well with the delicacy of seed beads.
February 8, 2007
Six Weird Things About Me
1.- I wear flip-flops year round, and socks only when the snow gets deep.
2.- I bead in bed.
3.- I have two studios; one in the East & one in the West.
4.- A favorite treat is sauteed chicken livers.
5.- I am guaranteed to wrinkle... and I have a beaded pin that I wear that says so!
6.- I collect old kitchen things and have about 100
returnable tin pie plates that say something.
I have not tagged anyone else as everyone I would consider tagging has already been asked to play along.
February 4, 2007
Tucson Report
I spent several days at the Best Bead Show with Judy Kintner, the Bead Spinner Lady, signing my books, talking to other bead crocheters and demonstrating bead crocheted ropes. Judy and I have fun once a year catching up with each other's lives and I get to meet a wide range of people who want to learn the technique or talk about what they've done.
I spent one day at the Manning House Show catching up with people I knew. After years of corresponding, I finally got to meet Sig Wynne-Evans in person. She is as delightful in person as in email and we had a nice long visit. I was accompanied by a friend and it was interesting to view the beading world through the eyes of a non-beading male, computer oriented person. He was interested in how patterns are done and the variations of ways they get listed out. I guess you could say that beading patterns could be computer code for a beaded project.
While I was at the Manning House, I treated myself to a set of John Winter's unusual glass beads in a beautiful floral, black matte color. So far I just seem to be collecting and haven't used any of the beads I've bought from him. One of these days I'm going to have to actually use some of them instead of just admiring them.
This next week will be working trips to several wholesale shows to see the direct importers. I'll be looking for what's different this year, stocking up on sterling, findings and probably stone beads. So far I haven't seen anything really new and "Oh Wow" things. I may skip the Rodeway show that I usually go to as my sister went this past week and said she was really disappointed in what was there. The only reason to go would be to visit Wild Things and see if they have re-stocked their 11/0 marcasite seed beads. However, if I don't go, I won't be tempted to splurge on their large selection of Czech pressed glass accent beads.