Free Bead Pattern

I wanted to share this chart that I created recently for a square stitched Hello Kitty. I sewed mine onto a felted bookmark as a gift for a Hello Kitty enthusiast, but you could extend the red or repeat the chart top to bottom until it is long enough for a bookmark. Or you could extend the chart left to right until you have a good length for a cuff bracelet.

The color numbers refer to Miyuki seed beads (NOT Delicas). These are merely suggested colors -- the colors that I used. You can easily replace these with whatever your color preferences are. I do suggest that you stick with Japanese seed beads and not Czech though, as Czech tend to be more irregular in size and are therefore not as conducive to flat beadwork.




Here is a picture of my finished product:

A contest!

Skeins Her Way is having a giveaway for some of the new Spud and Chloe yarn... so head on over and leave a comment!

Reality

Well, I've been asked by one of my best friends from back in Ye Old Minneapolis to talk a bit about reality today. So, for any of you just re-tuning in on my life, here's the skinny.

Moving, moving, moving! I'm not going to get too detailed here lest I bore some of you to tears. So, my husband is in Law right? So, he has a Canadian education and can't practice in MN without going back to school, and he went and took the NYBar while we were still exploring our options. And passed. That's the basic background.

We left MN at the end of last August, went to NYC where he got sworn in and had a two week "vacation" while we explored housing options, since the times we had come out before everyone who was supposed to show us apartments canceled on us. After really not having any luck, since Will hadn't been working in the US long enough, we decided to fly up to Canada to visit family on the Canadian west coast.

Flew to Vancouver. Visited family. Drove to Salt Spring Island. Visited family. Drove to Squamish. Visited family. By this time Will has had an offer from a lawyer in Revelstoke (where his immediate family is building a house and moving too) to be an articling student. For those of you who don't know, Canadian law graduates have to do one year apprenticeships called their "articles" as well as passing the Canadian Bar before they can practice.

So, to make this shorter, we end up moving to Revelstoke. Then Will had to go down to Vancouver to do his PLTC and Canadian Bar Exam -- all of this takes 10 weeks -- starting in Feb. We have *just* moved back up to Rev. We are currently staying in the place we were before for 2 weeks until other people have moved out of where we will ultimately be living.

I have gotten so good at packing. REALLY looking forward to being settled finally in a few weeks. Hopefully won't be moving again before next spring.

In other news, (which you may realize if you've looked over my blog) I am an indie dyer! I am dyeing and selling yarn to keep myself busy up here. As well as doing hobby knitting/crocheting/beading and taking care of housewife-type things.

Pay It Forward!

The first five (cinq) (cinco) (5) people to respond to this post will get something made by me.
This offer does have some restrictions and limitations so please read carefully:
Totally ganked from Andey's blog.

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. (No refunds… no exchanges!!!!)
2. What I create will be just for you, with love from me.
3. It’ll be done this year (2009).
4. I will not give you any clue what it’s going to be. It will be something made in the real world and not something cyber. It may be weird or beautiful. I may even create something totally unbelievable and surprise you!! Who knows? Not you, that’s for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.
6. In return, all you need to do is post this text into a note/post of your own and make 5 things for the first 5 to respond to it.
7. Send your mailing address if you don’t live close to me! Feel free to email your mailing addy to writers_muse @ msn.com.

IMPORTANT: This offer is null and void if I do not see you post your own note to pay this forward.

Whoops! Correct email address present now ;)

Felted Fingerless Gloves

TinkerAndPo

A friend of mine on Ravelry came up with a great idea: Buy old 100% wool sweaters from thrift stores and upcycle (via felting and sewing) them into fingerless gloves and card caches.

TinkerAndPo.etsy.com

From her site

"All of my fingerless gloves/armwarmers are made from repurposed merino wool, angora, cashmere or lambswool sweaters. Because they are felted, the fabric is soft, warm, sturdy, and will not fray."

So, I finally succumbed recently, bought a pair of the fingerless gloves for myself annnnnnd....

I LOVE them! I barely ever take them off, and I'll definitely have to buy another pair for the days when I want shorter ones. They're super soft and toasty warm!

The Latest from Joy of Life

Just getting pics up of my last 2 batches of hand-dyes. I've sold a few but most of these are still available in my etsy shop: Joy of Life.

Cozy Toes - Rose Garden


Cozy Toes - Atmosphere


Cozy Toes - Terrarium


Cozy Toes - Briar Rose


Cozy Toes - Dragonfly Wings


Cozy Toes - Blackberry Picking


Cozy Toes - SuperGirl


Cozy Toes - Lilacs


Cozy Toes - Scuba Dive

An Enigma Wrapped in a Shawl

I organize a 2 month increment KAL/CAL in Bubbo's Pants on Ravelry and for March/April we decided to do lace. This is my first major lace project, so on recommendations from others I picked something with a short repeating chart. I decided to do the Woodland Shawl because I've been dying to knit up my Enigma (a yummy color that reminds me of Butterscotch and Vanilla pudding swirled together) from Andey Originals, and I felt that the color went really well with a leafy pattern.


So far, I'm really enjoying this pattern. The chart is short enough that after I do one repeat on each row, I don't have to look enabling me to watch tv shows online while I knit. I definitely recommend using the chart link she supplies. Also, if you're a beginning lace knitter like me, I found it very helpful to copy/print out the chart and then write down the setup for each row. The pattern undulates so before you start the chart on each row you have a few setup stitches. I just found it easier to have it all in one place.