Trying Out New Things

While I love doing my wire wrapping I have some stones that are too small for wire wrapping. Or they are at least too small for the work I like to do. I have done some metal working but I really just don't enjoy it as much as I do working with wire. I really wanted to start doing some stuff with prong settings and wire and alot of the stones I have aren't a perfect size that I can use a pre-made prong setting for. So, that only leaves doing it yourself.

I searched etsy for a tutorial on prong settings with wire wrapping and came across this ring tutorial. Since some of these stones are smaller I thought a ring pattern wouldn't be too bad to learn, plus I could understand some of the basics on making a prong setting out of wire. This was my first try, which didn't turn out half bad and used a labradorite stone I had.












Speaking of labradorite I recently listed this awesome looking labradorite pendant I call "Tempest" because of the blue section at the bottom that looks like a small storm.


And this moonstone pendant I called "Phantom" since the sutle blue flash on this one seems like it comes from the inside of the stone instead of across surface of the stone.


On the knitting front I am back to starting more projects that I can keep up with. I worked quite a bit on the shrug yesterday at the knit store and am finished with the one sleeve and am now a couple inches in on the back part. This will probably be my knit store project as I can go there, sit down and just work on it and it doesn't seem so bad.

Of course while I was there I picked up this pattern to make the G-man a dragon scarf. It's going quite fast and the more I work with it the more I'm thinking that instead of doing the head as it's shown in the picture I'm going to make it as a hood. Lets face it, it doesn't get that cold, that often here in Florida and if I make it into a hood he can use it more to play with and pretend he's a dragon.



I checked on my special ordered yarn and it will be 6 weeks before it shows up. Maybe earlier but that's the estimate right now. It sucks because I'm anxious to start on the hoodie but I also have these other things going on so that gives me time to finish them.

Circle

Okay, so I'm a day late with this post. Here is the picture of the center circle of the vest I'm working on. It's going along quite quickly and I've already picked up the stitches and started the knitting part which I fear will be the part that bogs down for me. Figuring out how many increases or where on something I'm "knitting as I go" as never been my forte so I forsee many episodes of pulling the stitches of the needle on to scrap yarn so I can make sure I'm doing the right amount the right amount of rows inbetween.

I don't mind pulling the work off the needles or dropping sttiches because that's an easy fix. It's just threading scrap yarn on to 180+ stitches to check and then putting those 180+ stitches back on the needle again is tedious. But, I'm making notes as I go on what I'm doing so I'll have an actual pattern for the next one.

A nice relaxing weekend

A quick update on our furniture mishap, we went back up to World Market yesterday and they gave us the missing hardware for our new patio furniture. Dave was able to put the bench together in no time and we spent the morning enjoying some time on our porch this morning while Little G ran around the back yard.

On my new project front I scrapped using the yarn I got in the other day. It was really too thin of a yarn to use for that. Dave's dad had some stuff going on this morning so instead of me going to the knit shop for a couple of hours and Dave and Little G going to grandpa's house we just made a quick trip to the yarn store to look for some yarn for my project and then to the auto parts store to pick up some tool Dave needed for one of the vehicles.

I really wanted a self striping yarn since this piece is in worked in the round for this middle part and I thought that would really make the design I picked stand out. So I ended up buying 4 skeins of Noro's Taiyo, which is a nice Cotton and Silk blend yarn with a bit of Wool and Nylon mixed in. I wasn't sure about the color as it is very bright but it's turning out absolutely beautiful. I have about 90% of the center circle done and hoping to finish that part tomorrow. I'll take pictures and have those up of how it turned out. I already have a bunch of ideas going through my head on what to do next.

Tomorrow, being Father's Day, were taking Dave's dad out to breakfast and I think grilling hamburgers for dinner and spending some time hanging out by the pool. It should be a nice relaxing day.

Debating

This weekend has gone by too fast, or at least today has. Yesterday I made it to the knit shop which was nice. Since I don't have any more entrelac classes I gathered my displays that I had up there and brought them home. This is what I'm debating selling on etsy.

I learned how to do entrelac specifically to make this wrap. I picked out the Noro silk garden yarn, special ordered it and made it up. I have never worn it and it's been a display up at the shop. I made it because I thought the pattern and idea was absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, I'm bad about picking out things to make that are absolutely beautiful but are not something I will wear/use. This is a prime example. I love it, I think it's beautiful but honestly the most use it will ever get from me is draped over a chair and I think it's too nice to just end up as something like that. So I really am debating selling it so at least it will end up with someone who will love it as much as I do but will actually use it.

Speaking of knitting I did pick up some new yarn. It's a green tweed looking yarn that is alpaca and cotton. It is an awesome blend of yarn that has the smoothness of cotton but the softness and lightness of alpaca. I'm intending on making a hooded cable vest out of it for the fall months. I also have a hooded jacket I'm making out of some chunky cotton yarn that is progressing. I only have the sleeves complete and maybe 4 inches but I'm also doing the back and two front sides at the same time so there's a lot more stitches each row.