a walk down memory wire

I've got my beading stuff spread out (there really is no need for a formal dining table anyway).   Found a little group of number beads, which I'd intended to make into a nursing bracelet for a deserving friend or relative.  But of course I didn't have any memory wire (which is stiff-ish wire to make bracelets that don't need clasps) ... and of course that required an online visit to firemountaingems.com.   All in the name of finishing a project, right?  It's a dangerous site, because they are a bit expensive, until you buy a certain quantity.  at 15 items, there is a price break.  at 50 items, another price break, and so on...

Well, at least the package came on my birthday, so it was kind of like a birthday present to me.  :)

I've only worked with memory wire once before, because I remember it being a royal pain in the kiester to manipulate.  This wire was awesome and very easy - perhaps because I must have fortuitously chosen a smaller gauge / diameter.

The way this bracelet works is that every bead represents 15 minutes, and you take the little lobster claw charm (which is hanging down towards the bottom right corner here) and move it to represent the time at which you last fed your babe.  if you're breastfeeding, you move the bracelet to the side that you  last fed on or the one you will need to feed on next (as long as you remember which it was).  so for example, this bracelet is set to reflect 8:30.

The pink and purple beads are from my neighbor's vintage collection.  I threw in the variegated brown ones to try and modulate the loudness of the colors a bit.  I fear it is too pink for the intended recipient.  I figure that I'm not a pink person at all, but I kind of like this hot pink.  So I hope she likes it.

cover up

  I did a bit of sewing a while ago and can finally post now that the baby is here and healthy :)

pattern:  nursing cover

fabric:  amy butler fabric - found at a lake forest church sale!  yards and yards of home decorator weight fabric, for only a few dollars!

I ordered some boning online for the top, so that the mother can peek down at the nursing babe.  on one corner is a little terrycloth for wiping;  on the other is a little pocket, for a pacifier if needed.

The ultimate knitter's ornament

Seen on etsy here:  

May the force be with you

Pattern:  Norwegian Star Ear Flap 

and Storm Trooper Hat for the chart

Yarn:  Valley yarn from WEBS

Knitpicks Swish DK

Glow in the Dark yarn from Stitches

Next time, I would not carry the yarn between the heads, because it is a little tight - probably won't fit in a year or two.

Working on matching mittens!

The cloud is telling me to post

I'm a little spooked:

So I've been playing around with apple's new iCloud system and my iPhone and I opened my apple email for the first time in months, maybe years.  I've been having password issues with my me.com email so I just have ignored it for the most part.

Shortly after I did this, I received an email from  my apple email to my gmail account that just says "Files" in the subject line, and it had this picture.

It's a picture I took almost a year ago of a scarf that I wove for a friend.  The yarn is this yummy Noro Silk Garden, and I thought the colors reflected well her fabulously colorful personality.  It's my first attempt at a leno weave pattern, which involved creating a string heddle to help me 'twist' the warp fibers with every other pass of the shuttle.  What that means is that I took some string and tied little loops in it exactly every other inch.  I wove it under every other strand in the warp, and then put the loops on a dowel.  So when I lifted the dowel, it created a different space for me to throw the shuttle through.  Sounds complicated, no?  Thank goodness it takes up a lot of space and weaves really fast, because it was!

Pattern:  Leno weave
Warp:  Noro Silk Garden
Weft:  Habu Silk (see Win, I do use the habu! :))

The weird thing is, I have absolutely no recollection of putting it in my apple email.  I don't even remember ever accessing my apple email and using it for anything, much less uploading cool pictures like this.  And then this email appears to myself from myself.

I guess it's a sign that I need to post about it !

I'm not weaving, I'm managing my stash

Today I was listening to the KnitPicks podcast from late October on rigid heddle weaving.  Now I realize that this is a somewhat self-serving podcast, since it is created by a website that sells yarn, but there were two items worth commenting on:
 - Think of weaving not as a new craft, but as a means of stash management!
 -  You can pick up the edges after it's off the loom and knit an icord edge.

I haven't woven much lately, because there's a project on the loom that I don't know if I'm loving yet - though it is starting to grow on me.  That will be the subject of another post, since I don't have photos right now.

Here is a scarf I did this summer, to surprise a friend for her birthday.  I love the subtle sparkle.  The weft is a Claudia Handpainted silk/wool fingering that I found in the clearance section at Fiddlehead (!!  big score!).  It's tough to appreciate the colors from this photo, but it's a blend of pinks, oranges, and browns.  The warp is a cotton/viscose blend that I scored at an odd yarn sale out of someone's home.  This one practically wove itself.