Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Ok, so it's already 2010...

 Last Saturday April 17, we lost a good friend. Yes, I know Tigger was just .a cat, but he had one of those unique cat personalities that endear you to the bums.  He loved snitching food from our plates, and as much as it bugged us at the time, I miss it now.  Every morning when I got home from work, he would be sitting on the kitchen table hoping for a treat.  Later he might relocate to the cat tree, porch, a comfey chair, on top of the clean laundry, or a windowsill.  He loved fleece and could often be seen dragging blankies down the hall and growling.  Until he got sick, he always visited us in bed several times a night.  He wasn't happy about moving here when Bill  and I got married, but managed to make friends with one of my cats, Sleepless, even while he struggled to find his niche among our other pets. 

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Phooey!!! (or pliers therapy)

Yep!  That's what I said, "Phooey!"  For 2 months I've been trying and failing to start a dragonscale bracelet.  Double Phooey!  Sad thing is, I didn't make anything else.  Nuttin.  It was like the muse had left the building.  All because I was being stubborn and determined to make that silly dragonscale bracelet.

Now I've made dragonscale before, about 5 years ago to be exact, and had no problems.  So I know it's possible.  My mind knows how to do it.  I just can't get the darned thing started because the rings want to fall all over the place.  (and yes, I've tried multiple strategies to nail them down- I guess you have to be smarter than the rings!  :op)

So tonight I waved the white flag.  I gave up. . . on the dragonscale. . . for now.  I realized that the dragonscale weave had just decided it didn't want to be made right now.  Maybe later it will be more cooperative.

Then I took out a big bag of 18 gauge BA rings, I think they are 1/4 inch in diameter and a container of 20 gauge, 5/8 inch diameter BA rings.  I'm forcing myself to make a Japanese variant weave simply to get creative again.  This is not my favorite weave, but it's simple, and I need to see some success in my work again.  After a half hour of work, I was imagining how it might look with triangles, danglies and scales, so it just might be working.  Only time will tell.  And this isn't something I have to finish.  I see it more as therapy than work as such.  Open the ring, put through other rings, close the ring.  Doesn't get much more boring than that UNTIL you see the wonderful patterns emerge.  That's what I love about maille.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

This is a test!

You have been warned! Last time I tried to post from here it posted several different places, and I really don't want that to happen every time- even though it would be nice occasionally...

This time I only want it to publish to blogger and this blog.

that will be all!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Stretchies for Grandbabies

Had some birthdays last week and I am big on corrupting the grandbabies

The bracelet is one I made for the birthday girl's little brother, a 3 year old. She got a pink one. The o-rings are glow-in-the-dark. Got them from "nototo" on Etsy. (highly recommend her!!!)

I won't do it this way again because it doesn't stretch enough. First I made a regular Euro 4 in 1 stretchie and it was just too floppy. Soooooo I gave the edges a HP 3 in 1 finish. I have yet to crawl in the closet to see if they glow in the dark... I'm sure the kids will check that for me.

Also made a really sweet Elfweave- 20 gauge, 1/8 inch ID. PINK and PURPLE!!! Perfect for a six year old girl. She got it before I could get a pic.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Bummer!

Right now I'm seriously bummed.

Overall I had a great day. 2 cats and a dog to the vet. I was injured by a kitty (Puddin) during the round-up, but it's just a scratch. Britty had a breathing issue that should be ok- just an old age thing, but still something to monitor.

Did some birthday shopping for Dad and Emily. Found some good stuff.

Decided to make a maille bracelet for Em for her birthday. Decided elfweave would be cool, especially in pink and purple. Had to look up the instructions again, no problem. the problem came when I tried to do step two, where you insert ring 1 into 4 rings. Couldn't believe my left hand could shake so badly. It was shaking before, but when you do 1 in 1, it's no big deal. The more frustrated I got the worse it got. major bummer.

Maybe a nice Euro 4 in 1...

Friday, April 3, 2009

OK, this is just goofy!

All this time I've avoided the blogs because stuff has gotten lost in cyberspace.

Now I've gotten a new laptop and the first time I type "blogger" in the address bar, it goes straight to my blog. No sign-in or password or anything. That's kind of scary

I guess it's because I have a Google account and have been signed in there, but it still makes you think twice!