Beads and Bears, oh my

At first I started to tell you about my knitting shift. Then I thought, gee, they might wanna hear you bead confession first.

Gems

There's been a hunt for a bulk bead supplier for my designs. While searching I buy ya'll goodies all year long for the club and what not. Least that's what I tell myself. They are also used in KAL's but the stuff that's backing up,,, beads a whole lotta beads. A holy mackerel what were you thinking amount.

First there was dyed tigers eye, I mean who wouldn't fall for them? Bottom row. Then I met dyed and heated technique and was entranced. Left middle and top. There's also agate and dragon vein?(lace?) not sure but they are purdy.

Top right, yeah crystals came into the mix, they are just so pretty.

While searching for something I found two more bags of beads that should have become stitch markers by now but haven't. Mother of pearl on the left, agates in the center and pearls on the right.

The frogs aren't beads just too cute to leave behind. The top right is a flower ball which I'm going to make into a fiddler. Yeah weird.

Left side crystals and then 4mm gemstones for small lace knitting markers. Possibly for the heirloom which yes, it's in the works. Actually might be closer to done then I thought.

ANNNNDDD... 6/0 beads! Oh man I've been pulling in smaller then normal amounts just to see if they are as nice as they seem, they are. Now I just need to figure out how to get half a kilo instead of 10 grams at a time.

Needless to say, ya'll are getting gem stones for Christmas in July which will open around May I believe.

The heirloom 

Did I tell ya'll about it? Cobwebs become very difficult to find, so this year we are on a 1750yd/100g weight yarn which is thinner than the 1300's at least right? Its name is something like Diamonds and Stars in Space? Not sure. I only just found out yesterday how much diamond stuff is actually out there. Diamonds wouldn't be so expensive if you could pick them up off of the street (possibly on last two?? planets) that's for sure. Regardless, the name came from the shapes in the shawl, there are stitches that make stars encircling and ringing around the entire shawl, a technique I love. Then the diamonds are down the center of each wedge with a magic diamond edging. Only thing I'm not sure about the set up of the design. I know it's a circle, but is it? It could be a 6 or an 8 wedge shawl, the 6 wedge opened up the front. I have to think about the 1750 yards and start to knit it to figure out how far it's going to reach. The design is about 300 rows currently, way subject to change. 

Other then beads, been making blanket after blanket. Need to get photos of all of them, I think there are 8 on my side of the bed along with 4 quilts. Who needs a weighted blanket? I might be a bit tired of knitting them but always have one to use as comfort knitting. I sit in my nest surrounded by my cross stitch and quilted pillows along with all my critters. For some reason they like to sleep with me. Then I turn on Chinese or Korean historical drama whos subtitles have to be read... which is where the garter stitch comes in. Course there are always skirts, poncho's, ruana's and capes to be knit too. :-)

Knitting veer

Well, it's been an odd sort of knitting time for me. Normally I make functional stuff, shawls, sweaters, socks etc. Until now, I'm determined to replace my 40 year old stuffed bear. Think Velveteen Rabbit times infinity, he was well loved and the plush fabric was mostly mesh. He'd been washed quite a few times and got pretty tore up over the years so there was a good bit of mending and restuffing. Bear Bear was lost in the hospital during the Covid shuffle. I couldn't get to sleep without him most of the time so DH had him brought in to me and...

poof,

gone, gone,

by, by,

see ya.

Instead of buying plush fabric and potentially completing it in one day, I figured I'd knit it and felt it, soft and lovey. Start putting that love into him before I even start to knit. Found a great pattern called Louie Bear on Ravelry, fits all the markers I need, cept the tail but that was just a circle and an easy fix. The designer has even made clothing and other critters, fun. I work clothing on the fly so I wont need patterns.


Pattern calls for 4 hanks of Lambs Pride Bulky.

First one came out spot on to pattern specs, worked on size 7 needles and Peace Fleece thick yarn. I used one hank.

Second one,,, too small with my merino worsted weight and size 4 needles, one hank.

Little bit of Goldilocks going on here.

This one's too big,

this one's to soft,

this one's just right.

Hopefully I'll get the next one spot on. I'll be trying a size 8 (? depends on the swatch) needle with 2 strands of my worsted held together. I was thinking about adding a fun fur or my yarn called Teddy which has clumps of fur on a thinner thread.

Also thinking that my bulky single might do the trick here. It's the one in the center. Gee, never gave a thought to color... HUMMMM teeheehee, look out Bear Bear. Gee, could tie dye him before felting, that would be fun. Or I could paint the dye on afterwards, wouldn't need eyes and nose.

Yeah rambling when I should be: 

dyeing, 

designing, 

making stitch markers,

making Kelp bead bags, 

hanking the dried Kelp (sounds funny)

lableling the kits.

Yeah baby! Nothing but fun ahead, I'm so glad I love my work.

Have a great weekend, enjoy.

 ENJOY!! 💓💜