the Akamai Knitter

A couple of weeks ago I started a Twisted Ndebele/Herringbone piece just for practice. I thought I’d make a bracelet out of it, but then I thought I might as well make a necklace since that might make a dent in my stash. It didn’t, but that’s another story.

Once I was done, I felt the piece needed something more. So I made a little enhancer.

What’s nice about the enhancer is that you can slide it right off!

That little piece took me about 3 hours to make. What I did was make a peyote ring, then I embellished it by adding each bead/crystal/pearl/whatever one at a time.

Once it was done you better believe I did a big happy dance in my living room.

Finally,  here’s the second in a series of three photographs starring Quincy. You can see he’s heard the camera on him!

Happy Friday, everyone! Have a great weekend!

Back in February I bought a bunch of yarn.

Since then it’s morphed into this.

It’s my very first Log Cabin Blanket.  It’s for my mother and it’s in her favorite sports team colors. Both the Duke Blue Devils and Dallas Cowboys have basically the same team colors, which makes life pretty easy when you’re dressing up to cheer for your team at game time.

I’m having so much fun with this project! The mindless garter stitch is the perfect relaxation remedy when I’m done working with my seed beads or my wire projects.  And by a happy coincidence, blue is my favorite color.

I also love the yarn, Berroco Comfort. Yes it’s a man-made “acrylic”, but it’s so super soft and so easy to work with. I love the fact that you can throw it in the washing machine and for all that? I love the price too.

It’s just too bad that I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve had a chance to knit in the past two weeks.

Ah well, it’s not going anywhere and it’s not like a blanket is an absolute necessity in Hawaii. ;-P

Part of the reason I haven’t been knitting? I’ve been making these.

Don’t look too closely, some of them aren’t perfect as I’m still learning how to use resin. I’ll most likely put the imperfect pendants up for sale at a discounted price in the coming days.

Look! Kitty!

That’s the first photo in a series. Stay tuned for more.

Happy Wednesday, folks! I find Wednesdays the hardest day to get through. How about you?

Since last year I’ve wanted to play with resin. It wasn’t until this last bead show I went to that I finally took the plunge.

You’ve seen my first attempt. Now I’m ready to put a few pendants out there for sale.

Of course, the one I love the most is the black cat.  That one isn’t up for sale quite yet. I thought I’d show her off a little more though.

I’ll definitely be making more of these. She’s too adorable!

Thanks to all of you who asked after my safety during the Tsunami scare.  For those who don’t know, I don’t live in a coastal area so I had no need to evacuate. In fact, I was quite snug in my home for the duration of the event.

It did shake me up a bit though. I live right next door to the warning sirens. To hear them blaring at 6am was quite a wake-up call. Especially since I went to bed at 2:30am the night before.  It’s taken me a few days to get my sleep schedule back on track. I think I’m good now though. :)

There’s another bead show tomorrow.  I’m not as excited as I usually am. I think I’ve reached a heavy saturation point where beads are concerned. I feel like my stash will soon explode and then I’ll have drowned to death in a sea of beads.

Haha!

So I plan on going tomorrow and I plan on being extra picky. My main focus will be the Green Girl Studios. I love talking to Andrew and her beads, buttons, and pendants are just so fabulously unique. I always go a little crazy at that booth.

Sammy says, “Whazzup!”

(Let us now talk about the carpet. The carpet is doesn’t exist in my reality. It just doesn’t. In my reality that right there is hard wood floors.)

Happy Thursday, folks!

So I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I’ve been consumed by the seed beads. Only I’ve missed my shiny, so when the new Step By Step Wire Jewelry came in the mail, I was inspired to try one of the projects.

This is what I came up with.

Of course it’s a little different then the project in the magazine, but whatever. I didn’t stray too far from the original design.

That is until the second and third piece. I’m calling them Medusa’s Nests.

I originally just left the edges alone, but genius Jamie suggested I coil square wire all around the piece. I’m not sure she meant to coil it the way I did, but that’s the only square wire I had on hand.

This piece was done with an earring hoop frame.

The earring hoop is made with a really thin wire, so I decided to make my own frame with a sturdier wire. That’s what I did with the third pendant.

The kitty bead is from Green Girl Studios and was the basic inspiration for the pendant. There’s a bead show rolling into town next weekend and if you wear a piece with one of their beads you get a free bead!

I’m not sure how Andrew from Green Girl will like what I did to their bead, but I used it and I’m gonna wear it.

You see, I’m really ambivalent about my latest creations. I can see they’re not for everyone. I mean, you should have seen my mother’s face when I showed her the purple pendant. She has very classic and simple taste.

So when I wore one to a class at The Bead Gallery and I received compliments, I ended up acting like a fool, asking people “Are you sure it’s not too garish?” or “You don’t think it’s gaudy?”

Yeah. Way to take a compliment!

But since I did indeed receive compliments and I have a lot of fun making these, you’ll probably see them pop up in the shop.

That is if I don’t drown in seed beads.

Happy Thursday, folks!

I made a deal with Cookie because she’s such a good friend. She sends me beads and I make her jewelry. In return, I get paid in beads. Cookie likes the simple stuff, so this works even more to my advantage.

As I was making her jewelry, I was inspired to keep on going with the simple.

Sterling Silver Crimson Red Glass Earrings

Sterling Silver Carved Cherry Red Glass Earrings

Black and Silver Lampworked Glass Earrings

Thank you, Cookie for the inspiration!

Sometimes less is really more. Not to mention there’s a certain restfulness in such simplicity. :)

Speaking of rest.

Since I once again woke up at 6:30am, which is waaaay too early for me considering how late I go to bed,  I do believe Quincy has the right idea.

Happy Tuesday, folks!