Uli's Creative Corner

Sometimes I can't resist something and I could not resist these cat and mouse beads I found yesterday:

I turned them into stitch markers and the are now available at the Knitters Nook.  The kitties came in a little bag by themselves.  The mice came with ladybugs.  I didn't see the connection to the ladybugs but I love the mouse and cat set.

It was the Little Miss' 7th birthday party (and the actual birthday) on Saturday.  I did not like having a little trampling herd of 7 year old girls invading my home.  I would have rather paid someone like the gymnastics place or the bowling alley or whatever other venues go through great lengths to put on a fun party for the kids.  But it was my girl's choice to host it at home.  We had lots of emotion and some arguments and big tears, especially from an overly excited Little Miss.  I did manage to settle them all down for a perler bead craft and that worked well.  It was a fun party and I think everyone had a great time but I don't want to do this again next year.  Poor Sam, the kitten..... the girls were pretty rough on him but he took it all in stride.  My parents came and took JR to the mall and that worked out very well.  He was so devastated when the girls closed the door right in his face so when my parents came and rescued him, that was a very good thing.

Let me show you one of my favourite finished yarns:

This was some lovely merino roving that came to me from the Loopy Ewe.  It started out as this roving:

It was dyed by "The Dyeing Arts" and one strand was in purples and the other in the coordinating pink.  I really love the outcome of this yarn. 

I'm way behind on showing you all my spinning and I don't know if I'll ever cath up.  Right now, I'm spinning a wonderful merino in colours in the progression of the rainbow.  I bought it from Allspunup and it's so lovely.  I only just started so that will be my week-long spinning project to sit down to as I go along, whenever I get a chance.

I also finished a stocking cap style hat:

This was done in the 6-ply, Opal Rainforest, Ladybug on 3.25 mm Harmony circulars from Knitpicks.

Last but not least, here's my latest chainmaille creation.  A pendant made from bright aluminum and complemented with a Swarovski crystal bicone in the centre.  The crystal is an aquamarine colour.  It's attached to a silver toned ball chain with a lobster clasp.

Well, I shall be back soon.

How can I even begin to catch up?  I'm still super busy at work but I have been squeezing a little bit of spinning and a bit of knitting time into my schedule.  It's been rather crazy though and for some reason, I have to admit, that as much as I love my children, they've been driving me nuts.  JR is in the middle of the terrible twos and he has such a will of his own and is exercising it and Little Miss is only encouraging him.  Our evenings seem so hectic because I feel like I'm chasing them down or making sure one or the other doesn't get into trouble at any given moment.  As much as I don't want JR to grow up too fast, too soon, and there are many, many things that are so fun at this stage, I'm kind of weary and would love it if things calmed down just a bit.  But then, I might be able to handle it more easily if the stress of work was just a little lighter and of course, this high level of business is just a temporary thing.

Speaking of work, I forgot my lunch at home today.  :-(  No snacks, no nothing for me today.  I don't work closely to anything except a cafeteria style place called "the Pond".  The food is actually okay and I can get a farily decent grilled Chicken burger that's not too bad.  I just am trying to be so careful with how I spend our money that I really don't like to grab lunch foods out.

Well, I'll get into spinning and craftiness later.  For now, I'll record time by showing off a picture of the first day of Grade 2.

Yes, growing up so fast.............

And, help me welcome our new addition to the family............. meet Sam:

We're all, including the kitties getting adjusted to life with Sam.  It's going well so far........ the kitties are a bit annoyed but it's actually going more smoothly than I imagined.

Spinning, knitting, fibre and jewelry news next time.

Oh, it's with great trepidation that I go to bed tonight....... the start of another school year is upon us and of course, those of you who know what I do professionally, know that this is my last night before the hurricane.  The leisurely days of summer and the casual summer environment at work is replaced with a frantic pace of absolute craziness, long hours, tired brains and who knows what challenges tomorrow and the next few days will bring.  Every year, it's the same, yet, every year it's different.  One just never knows what will happen.  I hope that everything goes as smoothly as it can - and that just means that there will be no huge surprises and that the puzzle pieces will fall into place.  I know there will be many hours worked and I will come home late, barely making it to kids' activities or the dinner table and when they are asleep, i will sit back at the computer writing e-mails etc. etc.  But all that insane craziness will be replaced in about 10 days with a busy/hectic pace but not the mind numbing volume of work that starts at about noon tomorrow.  So if you don't see me or hear from me, send me some positive vibes and just remember that I probably have my wirless headset glued in my ear and that I'm drowing under a mountain of paper.

I always want to relax on the Labour Day weekend and especially on the Labour Day Monday.  Today didn't seem like a relaxing day.  Too much laundry, too much ironing, too much of this and too much of that.  I'm tired now.  There has been some spinning and some knitting but I don't have good pictures to show.  I have 2 hanks of handspun drying and I'm plying a wonderful wool/soy silk blend right at the moment.  I'll catch you up on all of those in a little while.

On Friday, I received a new shipment of chainmaille rings and I was in heaven.  My creative juices inspired, I went a way and created this wonderful bracelet:

This bracelet is made from 2 sizes of stainless steel rings and adorned with these silver coloured hex cut seed beads.  It's the super simple of the tone-on-tone that really makes me love this bracelet.  It was a new weave for me to learn and I have thoughts for many more in different colours of beads and accent rings.  I'm also planning on incorporating one into a great necklace using some awesome lampwork beads I have stashed away.

My second piece is one that has been in my brain and on my weaving tray for quite some time.  It's a bugger to photograph well so I haven't done much with it.  It is a necklace made from sterling silver and anodized niobium in the double spiral weave.  The anodized niobium rings are arranged randomly but always in pairs.  I love this simple necklace.

The bracelet is listed in my shop already.  The necklace will be up in the next few days.

There are some other Etsy news...... I was getting very weary about combining the knitting with the jewelry, especially since I'm trying to specialize my jewelry more toward the chainmaille work.  So, I created the Knitters Nook where I'm showcasing my handknits, often made from my handspun yarn.  I'll probably some day when I think I have a worthy skein of handspun, will offer it there and slowly but surely, I'm moving my shawl pins, stitch markers and knitting charms over there as well.  It's just not happening over night.  I don't know whether that's the right move but I'm giving it a shot.

I hope to be back soon!!!  I have lots of handspun and some knitting to show off, after all.