CiM Beeswax Milky |
Wednesday 31 March 2021
CiM Testing: Beeswax Misty and Beeswax Milky
Tuesday 30 March 2021
A bit of a crochet post
I finished my sister's Aria blanket on Friday. It was a lovely day here on Saturday so I washed the blanket and spread it out on a duvet cover on the patio to dry in the sunshine.
Big thanks to Lucy of Attic24 for such a lovely pattern - so lovely I made it twice.
I started another crochet blanket project on Saturday and this time its a big one. This thing is going to be about the size of a double bed sized duvet. The pattern is the Rainbow Sampler Blanket by Kirsten Ballering of Hakk Maar Raak.
The blanket is made up of stripes featuring various crochet stitches in a host of wonderful colours. I'm making it in the same colours and yarn as Kirsten used for her original blanket. The yarn is Scheepjes Colour Crafter and my word, it is the softest acrylic I have ever encountered. And yes, that is a 6mm hook for working DK yarn. In both knitting and crochet I always have to go up at least one needle or hook size to get the gauge required. My natural yarncraft tension is tight like a tiger!
In bead news, I will be adding a few beads to the shop tomorrow at 16:00 (UK time). I do have a mailing list that you can sign up to if you'd like to receive news of shop updates. The emails are very short and I don't pester you on a daily basis. This mailing list is not my old one (pre 2020) so if you were signed up to my previous mailing list and aren't getting emails from me, that'll be because you need to subscribe to the new one. You can do that here.
Big thanks to everyone commenting on my blog posts, and also to people who subscribe to the blog by email and who send me replies. It's really nice to know that people read my ramblings and it's always great to have a little conversation with you.
Monday 29 March 2021
CiM Testing: Kniphofia
Kniphofia (Latin name for the red hot poker plant) is a deep, rich, translucent orange.
Friday 26 March 2021
CiM Testing: Burnt Sugar
Thursday 25 March 2021
CiM Testing: Avalon Misty and Avalon Milky
Avalon is a very pale green and there are two versions of it - misty and milky. The photo above shows the misty version.
CiM Avalon Misty |
CiM Avalon Milky |
CiM Avalon Milky (left) and Misty (right) |
Blog like no one is reading
Chris asked me yesterday how my blog revival was going. I told him that next-to-nobody is reading it or interacting with it but that I don't care and I'm carrying on regardless because I find it comforting. It's nice to put a few thoughts and pictures out there, I think. Little snippets of life recorded until the servers are no more. I'm enjoying reading other people's blogs too. Bring blogging back, I say!
Crochet in the morning sunshine |
I've not got much to report because nothing much is happening. I've been getting up early to crochet before work because the mornings are lighter earlier and once the sunshine has woken me up I'm awake for good. There's no point lying there in bed effing-and-jeffing at Twitter and the news on my phone, so I get up, make myself a cup of tea, feed Nigel, then get a couple of hours of crochet done.
I'm enjoying the new CiM colours and there are some really lovely ones in this batch. I'm in a polka dot mood this week so every passing bead is getting polka dotted to within an inch of its life.
This bobbly one is polka dotty too, just with added raised bumps. In case you're interested this bead is CiM Heather with polka dots in CiM Quetzal, topped with CiM Aegean.
I'm very much liking the springtime. Last week the flowering cherry tree I walk past on my way to the shop had burst into full bloom.
I love this particular tree because we used to have one like it at home. My Great Uncle Bernard gave it to me when I was really small. I got a flowering cherry and my mum got an apple tree. Here's a photo of me watering one of them just after we'd planted it.
Socks and sandals |
Both trees grew to be quite large over the years and sadly we had to have them taken down not long before we moved as the roots were doing damage to the lawn. Still, whenever I see flowering cherries I always think of the one at the bottom of our garden.
Anyway, I'm off to clean some beads and take some pictures of them and then I should be back later with another testing post.
Tuesday 23 March 2021
CiM Testing: Coming Up Roses
Coming Up Roses is a transparent pink glass that has a slight purplish hue to it. It has a nice smooth, not-too-stiff working consistency and it wasn’t shocky but the rod I had did have a fair few microbubbles in it. They’re not a major issue, though. Remember that you’re looking at a photo of beads that shows them way bigger than they are in real life. The beads here are only 12mm diameter. What I’m trying to balance here is telling you to not let the tiny bubble thing deter you from using this very lovely colour, with simultaneously letting you know that the tiny bubbles are there.
These beads are CiM Heffalump encased with Coming Up Roses, with polka dots and spacers in Effetre Lavender Blue 247.
The beads were photographed indoors in natural daylight.
CiM Testing: Dollhouse Misty and Dollhouse Milky
Dollhouse is a very pretty rose quartzy pink glass and there are two versions of it - misty and milky.
Dollhouse Misty Photographed indoors in natural daylight |
Dollhouse Misty photographed outdoors |
CiM Dollhouse Milky |
CiM Dollhouse Milky |
Sunday 21 March 2021
Nothing in particular
When I first posted photos of the blanket in progress on my Instagram stories, my sister fell in love with it so I said I'd make her one too. I started hers about ten days ago and this time I made all the inner circles first...
Sunday 7 March 2021
And the winner is…
…Uyen! I’ll drop you a message on Instagram to get your delivery address.
Thanks to everyone who entered the draw. I shall do another one soon.
Saturday 6 March 2021
More dottiness and some new tools
Remember the green and lavender bead from the last post? well, it turned out like this. I really love that mossy, slightly yellow green against the lavender colour. Definite springtime vibes.
I'm still making big hole dotty beads.
I think some of them are a bit too large for bracelet charms but they will work nicely just strung on a chain, and of course jewellery makers can turn them into pendants. One of my favourite pendants is one that I made with an Akihiro Okama big hole tombodama bead. I must photograph it and show you.
But yes, dotty big hole beads. Some of them have so many dots. The one on the left in the photo below has 288 dots in total. That's a lot, right?
Those raised dots are made up of an opaque dot which I flatten with a tool before I add another dot of transparent glass. I've always flattened my dots with the paddle of one of those pairs of tiny tweezer mashers that I've had in my tool arsenal forever. Thing is, even though the mashing paddle area is only about 7mm x 10mm, this is a tad too big when you're working as small as I do and sometimes I can't flatten one dot without the paddle accidentally touching another dot. For as long as I've been lampworking I've always intended to buy a set of stainless steel sculpting tools and this week I finally got round to it.
I bought the set of tools from Amazon for £15.99. Happy with that. The tools are really high quality and they come in a lovely little case.
In crochet news I've completed all 144 squares of my Aria Blanket and I'm now working on the border.
I was feeling quite sad about nearing completion of the blanket as it has been an utter joy to work on but my sister fell in love with it when I posted it on my Instagram stories, so I offered to make her one. I'm really pleased that I get to crochet all that colour and cosiness all over again. Hurrah!
Don't forget the necklace prize draw if you've not entered it already. I'll be drawing a winner tomorrow night so head on over to throw your name into the hat.