It's Monday again

I like them better when they are Bank Holidays! But at least we have seen a little sun today, and I gather the promise of more to come.

Yesterday was dampish and chilly-ish, although it did improve as the day wore on. I started out with another trip to the hospital at Elland for poor H to be MRI'd. Rather her than me, all those awful warnings about bits of metal in the body -what about the fillings, eh?

Then spent some time beading. Before we went to France, I googled a few things including "bead shops" and found that there was supposedly one in Toulouse. We did indeed find it on the day we went in. Interesting - not a bead shop as we might know it, but an irresistible cornucopia of luscious Indian beads in a gorgeous jewel range of colours. You know the sort of thing, cheap glass beads, but rich and glittery in appearance, and the pieces that they had on display made with them were quite wonderful. I didn't feel it was exactly the thing to go around the store photographing all of them, and I also didn't feel that I wanted to spend too many euros, but I couldn't leave empty-handed, could I, now? I rather liked some very simple bracelets they had for sale, and I knew I could copy that design, so I got beads to do two of them, plus a handful of great big green gobstoppers for a necklace. Viz:



and:



I am not all that turned on by simple stringing, although with the great beads around, you can certainly make some good things. But these needed to come home with me, and I don't think require a complicated treatment!

The bead email list I am on was reporting a rumour that "Beadwork" is moving over almost entirely to stringing, and it certainly does look to be the case, which is a terrible shame. Might force me to swap to Bead & Button, but as ever the awkward one, I don't like it as well. (It is a fact of life that if there is a minority counter-position to take, then guess who is in there....the EC, any political or social issue,books, plays. I don't know if I was born ornery, or became so for the adrenalin-rush.

Fibre-wise, yesterday found me tearing out my hair. At the SOAR market last year, I for some totally unknown reason bought two balls of a "fancy" yarn, kid silk haze stranded with a variety of other fancy yarns. I don't usually buy yarn at all, I spin enough of my own (or did)but this seduced me. I got it out the other day and started playing with it, and it sucks. Starts out ok with nice funky glittery bits, but then segues in to furry stuff, of which a little goes a long way and I am all furried out. Plus, although I will have bought it with something in mind, I can't think that two balls is enough for anything I want to do. So, do I a) knit something for my mama; b)stick it back in the box; or c) put it up on ebay? (Leaning towards the latter.....)

So, what to knit? Dragged out a large quantity of grey shetland, spun some time back. Can't find a waistcoat that inspires, but oh guess what, it would make a great shawl, in the quasi-faroese mould, but this time with maybe a cable around the neck edge, and something in the centre panel. I have found a veryveryvery simple lace stitch that doesn't really look lacy, just textured. I am sampling. I am barking mad.

I continue to spin the merino/silk blend on my new wheel, which I am beginning to bond well with. I was immensely cheered last Thursday to find that Freyalynn (I would link to her blog, but she only wrote one post in it, last November, which is a dam' shame as she could put up photos of all the LOVELY WORK she does ahem)also finds it a bear to spin well. Don't really understand why it won't draft out evenly, it should do, merino and silk should be a perfectly ok combo. Ah, well.

Onward and upward.

gw