Christmas jewels

Way back in the summer in the first flush of our jewellery making, Chookie and I decided that my mother-in-law might like some of our creations for her Christmas. I bought a very her black and white agate heart cabochon and had a notion to make a pendant. And there it sat until last week where I finally decided what I wanted to do with it and, well, did it.

The setting is a wirework braid using five lengths of 1mm wire and the ends form the bale for hanging.

My braiding could be neater but I'm actually really pleased with it. I think it's wearable, anyway.

I made the kumihimo braids, too. The bracelet has a raised twist effect which suits my mil's more flamboyant tastes! I made the bale and eyepins with the same spiral design to match (there's real possibilities in this wire business) and added an obsidian, smokey agate and lavender pearl for some bling.

The ends are glued into magnetic stoppers with some of the Gutterman textiles glue I have for purses. I tried to take one off a different piece the other day to no avail, they really are stuck fast! And that's another tick on my list, we're getting there! 

Two forward, one back

You know when everything is difficult and nothing just falls into place? That's where I'm at just now with the Christmas making. I had good intentions of making nothing this year for gifts and, well, I just kept seeing things that would be "perfect for so-and-so" and ended up with a list and no early start. So I'm under the kosh a bit and very little is actually finished. I also can't actually show you much so this is a bit of a pointless post except to sympathise with other slightly frantic makers.

This pendant for my mother-in-law needs a kumihimo chain run up (this is just a 3 inch test piece) but I'm waiting on more cord arriving. There's a bracelet, too, and I can show this once it's finished. Hopefully this weekend.

Six of these chaps. I've quilted tonight so just binding to go! Almost there but not quite, I need to buy a half metre of something suitable at the weekend. 

This pretty stack needs to be a quilt in the next 28 days. Yikes.

A couple of scarves (although the cats voile is for me!! It can wait...)

But I HAVE finished these. But can't show you. They're awesome though! Even if I do say so myself.

I also have a hat and scarf and and socks to knit and a table square and a guitar strap to sew. So I may not be back before the big day. *grins* It'll be fine!! Onwards!!

I love it when a plan comes together.

I'm not a buyer of gadgets but after spending about half an hour making one pom pom when I need another 6 prompted me to pick up this chap in the vain hope that it might actually work.

And whaddaya know, it totally works! These four took 15 minutes. Not each, to make the four of them. Awesome! This is them straight off the doohicky.

And this is them after a wee trim. Is it me or is tidying up pom poms just about the worst job in the craftiverse? I have a whole new regard for hairdressers.

And also this weekend I received this fabulous parcel from Emily. I made a couple of rings for her and she offered to spin me some yarn as a trade swap. 

Isn't it just gorgeous?  It's from local (to her) Devon sheep and locally dyed but spun by her own fair hands.

I think it looks a lot like my snow topped Ochil hills today, dontcha think?

Yes, indeed,  it's a good day to have online buddies. 

Sewing

In between all the cupboard cleaning out and the house diy and starting Christmas prep (how is it mid November already?!) I have managed some sewing! And when I say I what I really mean is we. 

First my own sewing, though. I'm part of an international round Robin bee, The Pips, and this round I have Susan from Australia's piece. She started with that modern, freeformy flower in the top left and her inspiration mosaic had a few flowery things in with the colour suggestions - we seem to have taken the botanical idea and run with it!

My addition is the row of little cacti along the bottom. And the wee bit of embroidery? Well after my War of the Worlds Tripod last time I was having a chat with Jan. Who instantly mentioned Triffids. Ha!! Baby Triffid it is then! They are paper pieced (I made the templates myself!) and finish at 2.5 inches each so quite wee!

This isn't due until January but it's so nice to know it's done and I don't have to think about it over the frantic Chrimbo period.

So, what else? Well Chook has been attending the Muckhart Quilters with me and this session they are running a block of the month series so by the summer we should have enough blocks for a quilt.  This fascinates Chook so I said we'd do one together if she liked and I'd show her how to sew them. She picked her fabrics and we've each sewn one of the designs in her colourway. 

Don't they look great? I think she made stellar colour choices and her sewing has been really fab. Did I tell you she passed her Grade 1 baritone, too? With merit, no less. Actually, she only missed a distinction by 2 measly marks, I thought she did wonderfully! So she's skipping Grade 2 and going straight to 3 probably next October. The house is full of "A Whole New World" practise just now, her first new piece. Busy busy! *g*

Knittering

I did a nice wee bit of knitting the last week or 10 days. When I finished my Age of Brass and Steam scarf I had a bit of yarn left over. Quite a bit, it turns out, as I only needed a few metres off the second skein to finish it. So I thought I'd have a bash at a wee pair of mittens. Fingerless ones to maximise the yarn yardage. Did you know the cool kids call these wrist warmers now? Apparently so.

They were a lovely wee knit! So fast and fun and I thought the holey pattern matched really well with the neckerchief. That pico edge is so clever, too. It's done by turning over the top 4 rows so the edge is really the middle of a row of holes. I don't know if this is the regular way of doing it but I thought it was devilishly smart.

Of course, at the start of the second one I was convinced I wasn't going to have enough yarn so ordered another skein when I was buying Christmas present yarn. And, again of course, I actually had plenty. So I have a spare skein and a small amount left over to be doing something with. A matching hat, maybe?

Yes, I'm quite pleased with them. They are lovely and soft, too, that Manos silk blend really is lovely stuff. They'd make a lovely wee gift for someone if you needed a fairly quick, inexpensive gift since they take less than a 50g skein of DK. Result!

Yarny Deets:

yarn: Manos Del Uruguay silk blend in 9999 - Andromeda. Less than a 50g skein

needles: 5mm dpns

pattern: Susie Rogers' reading mitts a free Ravelry download. I knitted the small size.

Birthday jewellery

My mate Biff had a birthday yesterday so a few weeks ago I decided to make her some jewellery. I really wanted to do something using her kids' birth stones so had picked up some amethyst and emerald nuggets from JewelleryMaker.  There were a few false starts until I remembered the Irish waxed linen I had bought. Knotting it is then!

And a wee pair of earrings, too? Why not.

That'll do nicely.

They were well received, I think, and I was pleased enough with them that I have another couple planned for Christmassy things. Result!

Lest we forget

I've talked a little about what the military means to me before here and here. My great-grandfather, grandfather and husband were all in the army during different wars and while none of them ever really talked of their experiences (only in the last couple of years has Spouse done anything but dismiss his time served) it shapes people in irrevocable ways.

 The meaning of Armistice Day has changed over the years, the "Never Again" refrain largely being replaced with "We will not forget." A hope for an end to all war seems hopelessly naive, especially in our current climate of invisible terrorists.  Regardless of what one feels about any particular war, our service people ALL deserve our remembrance whether dead, injured physically or mentally, still serving or not. Not a glorification of war but a simple recognition of a hard job done for something larger than oneself.

We can't attend our local service this year due to a clash of schedules but we try and go most years. One of my proudest moments as a parent? Watching my shy 6 year old carry her Beaver colony flag in the local parade in 2008.

• "How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!"
• Maya Angelou
   

all bad things must come to an end

Oops, I've not been so good with the blogging this week! I blame having a surprisingly busy week, starting off with a whirlwind road trip with friends to a concert. 

Here's me and Spouse in Newcastle. We had journeyed down with friends (travelling with two and meeting another two there) after work at lunchtime on Monday to see Motley Crue in their farewell tour. They weren't coming to Scotland so three hours was the closest gig to us. And the four of us driving were all working the next morning but you do what you gotta do, eh?

Here we are just before heading out for some food - Spouse is obviously starving. *g*

Alice Cooper was the support and he was awesome! Got straight jacketed by the mad nurse, brought a Frankenstein's monster to life, had four costume changes and got his head cut off all in 50 minutes. Very entertaining! This below is waiting for the Crue to come on, the scaffolding is the drummer's rig. His kit rides that rollercoaster flipping him upside down while he plays - it is incredible!

I hadn't seen a light show like it, either. It was really effective and the pyros were fabulous, I reckon they might have blown the profits on explosions and fire!

And at the end two band members were whisked out over the audience on little cranes. It was rather spiffing, TBH.

We got home just before 3am and had a bleary start to the day at 8am but it was worth it. And a big special thank you goes out to our girl, Av, who expertly drove us there and back again like a total pro. Although I may still not have caught up on my sleep - I'm not doing so well at the early nights just now, too much stuff to do!!