the Akamai Knitter

On New Year’s Day I was lucky enough to have the company of two great people, Kris and Naomi.  They both grew up here in Hawaii and they’re visiting their respective families over the holidays but they managed to escape long enough for a mini spin-in.

naomi and kris

Kris and I particularly wanted Naomi to teach us the way of the thick yarn since the both of us tend to spin on the thin side.

Here’s Naomi going at it on my Suzie.

naomi, the spinnin' wizard!

I think some of what she did permeated through my thick head, because I’m spinning some thickish yarn on the Lendrum right now. We shall see what it looks like when I get it off the wheel. :)

I had a really good time with them while they were here. It’s too bad they both live so far away and that airfare is so costly. I could totally do this once a week. :D

There wasn’t much time for me to be blue over the fact that they live so far away as I got to go to a bead show on Saturday. I wandered around for over two hours and managed to snag some pretties.

I couldn’t resist these pearls. They have such an unusual shape and the colors are so vibrant!

funky pearls

I also managed to snag some glass briolettes for my earring obsession.

glass briolettes

The faux Opalite is one of my favorites.

faux opalite and faux smoky quartz

I couldn’t resist treating myself to some special semi-precious briolettes.  I got a strand of Tourmalated Quartz and Smoky Quartz.

tourmalated quartz and smoky quartz

There are a few other small purchases I made, but since I want to show you a couple more things I don’t want to break anyone’s computer with more images. :P

With all these beads in the house, I had to do some beading. So I made up a couple of earrings. I’m a little ambivalent about these, but here they are anyway.

black trumpet flower cascade

I really love the bead caps on the second pair.

purple trumpet flower cascade

I think it’s time to go play with my new beads and my wheel.  Happy Monday.  I hope I haven’t innundated you all with too many pictures! :)

Last night I indulged in more jewelry making while watching a recorded basketball game and came up with my first finished object for 2009.  Yeah, I really know how to party. ;-)

purple waterfall earrings

I’ve had this design floating around in my head for awhile now.  I made something similar awhile back and I knew I wanted to do something like it again, but I wanted to add something more to it. The briolettes seemed like a perfect match!

purple waterfall earrings

The design isn’t all that original, but I’m still pleased with the results. I love the colors and I’m probably going to have to make another pair so I can put one up in the shop and keep one for myself.

purple waterfall earrings

Once the earrings were finished, my mother and I had our traditional portions of zenzai or red bean soup. It’s something I look forward to every year.  So we had a very quiet celebration.

For 2009, the only real resolution I’ve made is to get my hair styled. With the exception of the homemade dye jobs, it’s been over a year since I’ve had anything done with it. I’m getting mighty weary of constantly putting it back in a ponytail.

I’m weird about haircuts though. I don’t have a stylist I trust and I’m afraid whoever I go to is going to royally screw it up. I also can’t stand having a person hovering around me with a scissors and fussing over me. I keep wanting to shoo him/her away by yelling “Don’t Touch Me!” Plus scissors can be very menacing.

Told you I was weird.

Sammy and the rest of the boys wish you all a prosperous New Year! I do too. :)

sammy and his kitten face

I’ve been busily knitting on that stealth project that I can’t blog about, but I did take some time off to play with some wire. I probably shouldn’t have, but I stumbled upon a site with some awesome tutorials and I couldn’t resist trying my hand at one of them.

copper hoops w/ black drops

The instructions for these were clear and simple so I had no problems whipping these up. Not only do I see many more of these in my future, I can see this technique applied to other designs that are floating around in my noggin.

Once the earrings were done, I needed to get another wire project out of the way. There’s a bead show that’s coming to town this coming weekend. If I wear a Green Girl Studios bead to the show, then I get a free bead from their booth!

So I decided it was about time I actually made something with the beads that I’ve been buying from her for the past umpteen years. Seriously, I have over ten of her beads that I just fondle. Her beads are like the finest cashmere in my book.

ganesh necklace

Although the links in this piece aren’t original, this is one of the first pieces of jewelry that’s of my own design. Most of my other work has been taught to me by other designers. So this necklace feels intensely personal. Be gentle. ;-)

I chose the elephant bead because I thought it went nicely with the Bali silver beads. I think the necklace has a nice ethnic feel to it. I might still tweak the design a bit before I wear it out though.

Here are a couple of gratuitous close-up shot.

ganesh necklace close-up

ganesh necklace close-up

I hope everyone’s holidays are going nicely. It’s back to the grind for me. I might be able to wring out one more post before the new year. If not, happy new year everyone! See you in 2009!

Much of my time this weekend was devoted to stealth knitting, but I did manage to finish a project that I can share.  It’s Chubby the Fish!

Chubby the Fish

Pattern: Chubby Fish (Ravelry link) by MyGurumi

Yarn: Red Heart Classic

Hook: E / 3.5mm

Started: November 11, 2008

Finished: December 21, 2008

Chubby the Fish!

This would have been a quick project if I hadn’t lost steam once I finished the body. But i did and it ended up taking over a month to finish.

I really love MyGurumi’s patterns. Her signature eyes are really cute and very child friendly. The patterns themselves are well written and easy to follow.  I plan on making more of her fun creations.

I’d really like to make a companion seahorse in the same turquoise color, but I have obligatory knitting to do. Do you find that when you absolutely have to get a project done, you absolutely don’t feel like working on it? My inner rebel springs to the forefront when I have deadlines. So far I’ve been successful in beating it down, but it’s been quite a struggle!

Finally, I thought I’d share my second mini tree. My mom rescued this from her office before it hit the trash. The reason it looks so disreputable is that the boys (cats) think it’s their new toy. You don’t even want to know how my other tiny tree has been faring.

mini tree!

Happy Holidays, everyone! Please drive safely!

Friday couldn’t have come sooner for me this week. I’ve been down and out by a tooth extraction I had done on Monday. On Monday! So I haven’t been able to concentrate on much, but there’s a new project that’s been perfect for my brainless days.

freeform bracelet

My friend, Blogless Elaine, taught me how to make these bracelets last weekend. I haven’t been able to stop making them since.

ice queen

copper 1

copper 2

These bracelets are a great way to use up leftover beads that I have an abundance of. I’m still tweaking the general shape, but I have a feeling each bracelet will be unique.

Despite my growing collection of bracelets, I’m not prepared to try this bracelet out with my sterling silver wire. I imagine I’ll have to make a slew of copper bracelets before I gain enough confidence for that!

And can you believe Christmas is next week? Next week! I have a small gift card set aside for my mother. (She doesn’t read my blog, so she won’t find out.) Aside from that? I have no presents ready as I was going to make all my presents this past week. Hopefully I have forgiving friends.

None of the presents will be bloggable until the recipients have received them and my main knitting project is a stealth project. So I’ll be out of blog fodder for a bit. Posting may become even more erratic. I wonder if that’s even possible. O.o

Although I am looking forward to a possible visit with Kris of Bockstark Knits and KnottyNaomi. We’re hoping to have a mini spin in. Of course this means I need to clean my tiny living room up. Or I can just leave it the way it is and claim artistic license for clutter. :P

Finally, here’s a shot of my tiny, artificial tree and perpetual motion Sammy. I love the little battery powered lights!

teeny tiny tree!

Happy Aloha Friday everyone! Have a great weekend!