the Akamai Knitter

So you know I’ve been knitting, but I’ve also been working on different things. For instance, I whipped up a couple of pairs of earrings for the new shop last night.

These are called Shanti Earrings.  I did one pair with 16 gauge wire and ice blue freshwater pearls.

I did another pair in 18 gauge wire and smoky quartz briolettes.

I’m not sure if you can see it in the photos, but there’s a different feel to the earrings because of the different wire gauges.  I’m not sure which one I like better. Luckily, I don’t have to choose.

I’ve also been spinning. Here’s a peek of some singles ready to be plied.

And here’s a picture of the batts that’s currently on the wheel.*

It’s good to be busy. :)

Happy Tuesday, folks! What’s keeping you busy?

*Both the fiber I spun the singles from and the batt came from Hungry For Handspun. She be my crack dealer.

Remember the sock that I started? Well, I was merrily knitting my way along until this happened:

I’m not sure how this came to be.  All I did was pull out a little bit of it to untangle. Then a huge chunk of it came out. That’s when it all went to hell.

It’s so bad, I had to send it out of state for help.

/sigh

So what’s a girl to do when a sock project is in crisis mode? Start another sock!

I pulled out another bag from the PSC and came up with this gem.

My dear friend Becky sent it to me ages ago and I’ve been saving it up to knit for my Mom. It’s just the perfect colorway. Not only is it in Dallas Cowboy colors, it’s also the Duke Blue Devil and Orlando Magic* team colors.

Becky must have put some really good mojo into this yarn, because it’s knitting up pretty fast.

I wasn’t too thrilled with the way the colors were playing out at first, but it’s growing on me. The more I look at it, the more I like it.

Regardless of whether I like it or not, my mother loves it. That’s what really matters here.

I have to say the yarn is really nice to work with. It’s soft and buttery and there are zero tangle issues. What more could a girl ask for?

Meanwhile, we’ve been having a heat wave here. Last week we broke four or five record high’s.  The air conditioner has been cranking and still, the cats continue to bask in the overwhelming heat instead of resting in the cool air.

Cats are nutters.

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend!

*I don’t want to talk about them or the NBA Finals. /sigh

Last weekend I was naughty and I splurged at The Bead Gallery. I bought enough fixin’s to make some earrings*.

Smoky Quartz Earrings

Silver Chain Drop Earrings w/ Tanzanite Kyanite** Briolettes

And my favorite pair, the Aquarium Wedding Cake Earrings.

I was not nearly so naughty when I went to the shop yesterday, but I did pick up some nice components that I hope to play with in the coming days.

I’ve also been *gasp!* knitting! Stay tuned to see exactly what it is. I will say that I’m not thrilled with it, but I’m sticking to it.

Finally, a shot of Quincy in yet another odd resting place.

Happy Friday everyone! Have a great weekend!

*None of these will be going into the shop. These are all MINE! But if you really want a pair let me know and I might be able to arrange it.  ;-)

**Wow. I totally thought those were Tanzanite, but I checked and those are Kyanite stones. My bad!

Over the weekend I was able to hit two bead shops. I always find such visits immensely inspiring even if I don’t buy anything. ( I’m not saying I didn’t buy anything, I’m just saying it doesn’t matter if I do or not. Mum’s the word. :P )

Once home, I got my tools and goodies out. Then I started playing. I came up with several pairs of earrings, which I’ll show at a later date, and a couple of necklaces.

This one was simply inspired by the pendant.

I love all things that are Maneki Neko, so when I saw the pendant I knew I had to get it.

I played around with several necklace designs, before I finally decided to go with something simple.

The next necklace was inspired by a charm I got at a bead show earlier this year. The message on it is something I strive to do every day. It simply says “Just Be You”.

I really struggled with this necklace design and I chopped up quite a bit of wire and headpins before finally deciding on something I liked.

Although I like the design, I’m still on the fence as to whether or not the actual necklace suits my personality.

I also made two pairs of simple earrings.They’re the same thing so I only took a photo of one pair.

Those are leftover pink opal stones from the bracelet I made the other week. I think it’ll be nice to have something understated in my jewelry wardrobe.

As for why I made two pairs? The other pair is for the new shop I opened this week. It’s called Opalescent Jewels and it’s completely dedicated to my jewelry. (This is my big news!)

I’ve been busy this week moving the jewelry out of The Opalescence to the other shop. I’ve also been adding new pieces to the new shop.

Here are some of the things you’ll find new in the shop.

The reason behind opening a second shop is that I didn’t like the clutter of all the jewelry intermixed with the yarn and stitch markers. I think this way people will have a much easier time finding what they want.

Here’s some random trivia. You can subscribe to an Etsy shop’s RSS feed via your favorite blog reader. This way you won’t miss out on a shop update.  The link is on the bottom of the sidebar to the right. You may or may not have known this. :P

Kitty pr0n! (Yeah, I’m really scattered today.)

Quincy has been escaping the 9oF+ heat by hanging out in the kitchen sink.

He doesn’t seem to realize that it’s cooler in the living room where the air conditioning is cranking. Silly cat. In fact, when I have the air conditioning on none of the cats hang out in the living room. Idiots. :P

Happy Wedneday, folks!

I would have preferred to have spent the day resting and recovering from the root canal I had done yesterday. (It went as well as could be expected, but I still have a sore jaw.) Instead I worked on listing some new yarn in the shop.*

Mountainside

145 yards

12 WPI

4.25oz

Merino/Silk

fiber from “Hungry For Handspun”

Blueberry Parfait

150 yds

12 WPI

3.75 oz

100% Rambouillet

fiber from “Hungry For Handspun”

Tequila Sunrise

295 yds

14WPI

4.05oz

100% Merino

fiber from “The Yarn Wench”

I’m all about fat and squishy  yarns right now. Only I have a thin 3-ply on the wheel at the moment. I’m really struggling my way through it and I’m tempted to put it aside and throw something else on.

After all, I have multiple knitting projects. So why not multiple spinning projects?

What I’d really like is another spinning wheel. That way I can dedicate one to fat, squishy yarn and the other to delicate, thin yarn.  (What? You think it’s easy switching out the wheel?)

If this is going to happen then I need to stop buying the shinies and the fluffies and start saving my money.

It’s all about will power.

Ha!

Scheyer is pretty surprised I even know what that word means.

Happy Tuesday, folks. I have some news to share tomorrow, so stay tuned. :)

*All those skeins of yarn are on sale right now. So get’em while you can.