gumdrops

I think this is cute. I'm using wire and beads that were my first purchase in Hongkong. They are quite heavy so the wire is better for them too. The pattern was learned in class and now I'm beginning to understand when to use the wire. I don't think wire can do as intricate stuff as t he nylon or fireline.

I also finished a pink cotton top now drying and close on two more and moving now into the wools. So I have 30 squares (2") to do still on the Koigu log cabin vest. This one goes back years but I have hopes it will be good. The colors were personally chosen for me by M. Landru at Stitches East.

lacy loops

Today I finished Lacy loops by Lois Fetters from the April 2005 Bead and button (p.126). It was a very easy pattern but with a lot of satisfaction at the finished result. I have added a whole bunch of older Bead and button magazines now and there are lots of wonderful projects to do so while I want to make this one again with different colors, I think right now I need to try something else.

I also started my third bead course and this one has a Russian teacher who speaks much better Hebrew than I do. We are working with wire only and the whole course is completely different from what I've done up til now. I probably won't enjoy this type of beading as much but I am very happy to know how to do it as there are a lot of nice projects using wire and this should make the whole thing a lot easier for me.

I did have one lesson in Russian today and I learned that the famous "white" book does use nylon threads.

I saw my family dr today and since she is a beader, we spend most of the session showing each other our latest efforts. Healthwise, I'm probably not going to be seeing her very much as I seem to have run out of any tests or things I need to do. I think hobbies, especially beading, are very good for one's health. I'm on a diet now and the beading is so exciting, that it keeps me from eating all those bad foods.

FO

After two summers, I finally finished this one. It's a Barbara Khouri design from Reynolds #82008 and is the second one I've done in that booklet. Because of the lace bottom, I decided to work it around in one piece which created a few problems. I had to refigure for the sleeve increase and since I also changed from a v neckline to a round one, more figuring. The buttons are really gorgeous. I found them in Bangkok. I'm hoping I'll see some wear soon. Meanwhile I've started putting back ufos for next summer while now concentrating on just finishing a few of them. This summer was spent very much learning beading which ate into my knitting projects. However, beading is perfect as a switchover from knitting. So many people injure themselves with knitting or crocheting, and beading is much easier on the hands and arms. So it makes a good change.
Tomorrow is my first day of a new bead class and Monday is my first Russian lesson. I will show my teacher all the Russian beadbooks.

Triangles

This bracelet took me 2 days and I did have the triangle beads which I bought in England this summer. I didn't have the right size though and I had to use 10s and 8s so I also had to cut down from 16 across to 12 in order to get the right width for me. I think I will try the pattern in square beads next. It's from Oct 2005 Bead and button, p. 122 by Perie Brown. I also didn't have the clasp called for unfortunately.

more bead books

Today I really did well. From Amazon I got the new Diane Fitzgerald Bead garden and the Hector Art of beadwork. From the Russian book wholesaler in town, I got the big white one I had ordered and there was a new blue one and a new magazine so I bought them too.
I also got some more Classic Elite sweater pamphlets from Elann.
Yesterday I finished my two herringbone bracelets that were learning for me and they came out well. Colors are manly so I'm hoping I can offload them on my son.
Today I started and restarted the pattern in this months Bead and button using triangle beads in a herringbone stitch. I brought the beads home from England. I also finished the body and neckline of a pink cotton pullover for me. I'm now doing the sleeves from the top down as I don't know how far the remaining 3 balls will go.
Anyway, if anyone knows Russian, please let me know more about the books I've bought.

new books, some on knitting

Well, I got lots of new books today from Amazon that I saw in London mostly. Most are on embroidery but a few are on knitting and one on bead embroidery.
Burr, Trish, Redoute's finest flowers in embroidery. This has actual flowers with instructions on how to embroider them and they are large enough to take from the book as is. Looks very useful.
Andrews, Carol, Making needlework accessories. This one is embroidery using beads also and is for small projects holding things like scissors. Looks fun and fast.
Allen, Pam, Wrap style. This is the follow-up to last year's bestseller on scarves and it looks disappointing and I doubt if I'll make anything. However there do seem to be some nice shawls like the aran one from Zimmerman. The rest are those shortie ponchos. I suppose they could be useful in bed or at an office or something. But kind of ugly on the whole.

Roberts, Luise, 1000 great knitting motifs. I bought this for help in fairisle designs and reserve judgement hoping it will be useful.
McCallum, Graham Leslie, 4000 flower and plant motifs. For $13 this is a great buy and he has a new one coming out now with animal motifs. Again, hoping this will help with embroidery or bead projects.

Stanton, Yvette, Mountmellick embroidery. This is an Irish embroidery which is done with white threads on white cloth and also has knitting on the sides. The stitches are easy to do and I definitely want to try it. I have bought all the materials in England.

I am also ordering all the Bead and button magazines still on sale in their back issue section. But I decided to go only through 2000. Of all my bead magazines and books, these are the most interesting and each issue has a few items I want to do, considering myself at this time an intermediate beader. There are harder projects to do later on. I find the instructions in the Beadwork magazine harder to follow as they aren't clear enough. I also like Step by step beading but only have a few issues so far.