Lets twist again...

Beading is dominating my life at the moment. My evenings and weekends have been spent trying to complete some projects. If I stop and think how much I have got to do between now and the end of July I start to panic. So, I have been keeping my head down and trying to take it one step at a time.


My experimentation with spirals continues. This time I am playing with peyote or Cellini Spirals. These are great fun. By varying the size and shape of the beads you can exaggerate the shape of the spiral. There is a really good tutorial on creating this spiral here. My aim is to make some beaded beads out of spirals and put them together in a necklace to sell on our stall at the Community Festival at Christchurch.

Then I have to concentrate on my course work so that I am ready to exhibit at the Textile Kaleidoscope exhibition at the end of July. This is a showcase for local City & Guilds students. Sadly it might be the last ever exhibition as Dorset Adult Education is scaling down the range of art and craft courses it offers. Apparently government funding has been cut for 'leisure' courses choosing instead to fund adult literacy, numeracy and computer courses.

Even though I am up to my eyes in beading at the moment I still need to have a project on my knitting needles. It is really nice to have a project in my bag to work on in my lunch breaks or when watching the television in the evenings. I have just started a pair of socks for my OH as he really loves my hand knitted ones. I found this pattern on knitty. It is a great source for beautifully designed hand knitting patterns and I would highly recommend it.

Diamond Waffle Socks designed by Danny Ouelette

Good News

I received an email from the organiser of Priory Beaders telling me that we have won the group entry of the Beadworker's Guild Challenge. Great news I am so thrilled. We are a very new group having only been formed in September 2008 so it is a great achievement. I don't have any pictures of the finished piece at the moment but will post some as soon as I can. This cheered me up immensely as the saga of my injured knee continues. I have had the results of my MRI scan and there is good and bad news. The good news is that I have not torn the cartilage and so don't need an operation. The bad news is that I have extensive bone bruising. This means that I have lots of little cracks on the head of my femur and tibia. It will take a long time to heal, possible up to Christmas and beyond. So far I have been trying to carry on as normally as I can but it is very painful and I will have to continue to walk with a stick for quite a while. At least I haven't done any permanent damage!

On a brighter note I have been working on my next beading project - a beaded bag. It is once again inspired by the shapes and colours of passion flowers. The whole thing will have an Art Deco feel and will be pyramid shaped. I am aiming to make it up from beaded shapes and line it with silk in a contrasting colour. I am going to incorporate lots of Swarovski crystals and fresh water pearls.

Some beaded elements for my Art Deco Bag

And I am continuing my adventures in sock knitting. Spurred on by the success of my Salvation Socks I bought a copy of 'Cool Socks Warm Feet' by Lucy Neatby and I am now knitting some toe up socks with a Turkish Heel. Great fun!

My finished 'Salvation Socks'

Grand days out

The past few weeks have gone past in a blur. I have been so busy that I haven't had time to update this blog. Work is hectic as always, with lots of teaching to plan and deliver. However I have been busy with fun things too. On 4th October I attended a 'Vibrant Velvet' workshop run at Walford Mill by Jane Venables, a very talented textile artist. I have experimented with dyeing cloth in the past but sadly don't have the space at the moment to do it. As soon as I saw the course advertised I knew that I wanted to attend. I have read several of Jane's books so jumped at the chance to be taught by her.

Getting to the venue in Wimborne meant that I had to get up quite early. I woke up at 6:00 am with butterflies in my stomach - excitement and nerves combined. When I arrived I was welcomed by Jane who then proceeded to show us some of her stunning work. Her technique involves painting dye directly onto the back of the velvet using a large brush - very similar to painting in watercolours. Because the velvet is dry, and the dyes are very runny it starts to spread and the trick is to paint quickly so that you have some control over it. I couldn't wait to get started.

I was the only complete beginner there. Everyone else immediately set to work and produced stunning works of art. To my embarrassment mine resembled the daubings of a three year old. Jane was very supportive and gave me lots of encouraging advice. So, undaunted I embarked on my first scarf length. Part of the joy of this technique is that you really are not sure how it will look until you are finished and can turn it over. To my immense relief the design of red tulips on a dark background looked quite nice. My next attempt was going really well until I accidentally dropped dye where I shouldn't have. I then had a go at creating my own devore using fibre-etch fluid. This was a bit of a disaster and will probably be relegated to the back of a drawer. I have one length of velvet which can be made into a scarf and one piece which will be used for my beadwork. I also ended up walking around with blue hands for a couple of days after picking up a piece of velvet which wasn't completely dry. The next day I got some very strange looks from the woman on the supermarket checkout. I wonder what she thought I had been up to! Despite my lack of artistic talent I thoroughly enjoyed my day and have signed up for the next one day workshop in June.

My feeble attempts at painting silk velvet

Last Saturday I went to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace with my long suffering OH and three friends - M, P & K. I have been to the show before but none of the girls had so I was interested to see their reaction. It involved a very early start. I am used to getting up at 6:00 am but even I struggled to get out of bed before 5:00!! Once on the coach my OH discovered that, apart from the driver he was the only man amongst 35 women. Brave soul! I think that everyone had a good time. M gives a very funny account of the day on her blog 'Knitting Keeps Me Sane'. The highlights of my day were meeting Nicky Epstein, seeing the work of Takako Sako and the looks of complete wonder on my friends' faces when they entered the Great Hall for the first time. I bought a copy of Nicky's new book 'Knitting On Top of the World'. She was there at the show that afternoon and signed my copy. It was a real privilege to meet such a talented person. I rounded off the day by buying some gorgeous hand dyed sock yarn and a scarf pin. Then it was home again on the coach, happy but very exhausted.

Alexandra Palace (affectionately known as 'Ally Pally') in North London

Full sized kimono by Takako Sako - it contains over 180 colours and more than 2,000,000 beads

Scarf pin from Purlescence

Cherry Tree Hill 'Supersock' and Hand Maiden 'Casbah'.

Socks update

Just a quick update as I promised to post some pictures of my finished socks. Now that I have my camera back again I have been able to take the following photos. They have proved a great hit so I am aiming to make another pair - possibly from the toe up this time - as soon as I have finished the scarf.

Plus here are some more pictures of the Gardens in the centre of Bournemouth, which are looking absolutely stunning at the moment. I was waiting for my Other Half yesterday evening and couldn't resist taking a few shots.

The joy of socks

I am getting totally obsessed with knitting socks. That is probably a very sad admission! I have almost finished knitting a pair of socks for my Other Half. They are my first pair and I can understand how people become addicted to making them. They are little miracles of engineering yet you can make a pair in a matter of days once you master the technique. My Mum, who is a skilled needlewoman, taught me to knit as soon as I was old enough to hold knitting needles. She showed me how to knit in the round using 4 double pointed needles so I already had that skill under my belt - thanks again Mum! Now I simply had to master turning a heel. The first sock was a bit of a struggle. I couldn't get my head around the different parts of the heel and how they fitted together. I took a deep breath, forged ahead and I did it - a sock started to take shape before my eyes! I have now discovered that there are lots of different ways to turn a heel and shape the toes. You can knit a sock from the top down, or the toe up, or even two socks at once on a circular knitting needle. I can't wait to explore. I will upload some pictures of my progress as soon as I get my camera back from being repaired.

I want to take a moment to pay tribute to my wonderful Mum. I owe her a huge 'Thank You' for teaching me how to knit and sew. My Mum was a dressmaker when I was a small child and one of my earliest memories is sitting on the bedroom floor playing with cotton reels while she worked on her beloved Singer treadle sewing machine nearby. When I was old enough she taught me to sew on that machine. I can still remember the joy of finishing my first sewing project, a brightly coloured wrap skirt trimmed with white rick-rack braid (well it was the 1970s!). Who cared if the hem was a bit wonky and the stitching was far from perfect - not me. Over the years I have sewn a host of things, curtains, clothes, patchwork quilts, bags, scarves, cushions, slip covers for my sofa, the list goes on. I owe all that to my lovely Mum. Thank you for your patience and encouragement.

I attended my City & Guilds beading class last Thursday. It is held in Christchurch and I sometimes go to the Quay and watch the swans after my class finishes. It clears my mind and lets me think about what I have done during the day. I always look forward to seeing the others on the course. They are all very talented beaders and it is fascinating to see how their work is progressing and to bounce ideas off them. I really look forward to our monthly meetings.

Swans squabbling over bits of bread on Christchurch Quay

Monument in the grounds of Christchurch Priory

Life, knitting and other mysteries...

My Father died nearly twenty years ago and I still miss him and think about him every day. A recent incident started me thinking about him and the influence he still continues to have on my life. He was very down to earth and practical and a good person to turn to in times of trouble. Diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis while still only in his mid twenties his adult life was a constant battle with ill health. He rarely complained, although he must have suffered a great deal. Whenever I told him of my troubles he would listen very carefully and give me some really good advice but would invariably end by saying. "No one ever said that life is easy or fair - you just have to make the best of it". When he died at a relatively young age from cancer I was devastated. I still feel that he is with me, guiding me, so I am trying to take his advice and I am feeling much more positive this week. As always, a friend was also a great help. After meeting her for coffee at the end of last week she suggested that I go home and spend the afternoon doing something I really enjoyed. I did just that and took up my knitting needles again. I started knitting a pair of socks for my Other Half! I have been promising to do this for over a year. So far I have been really enjoying it. The process is challenging enough to keep me engrossed but as socks are fairly small I should finish them in a day or two. Sitting in my living room knitting away I felt a sense of peace come over me. Not only was the knitting soothing but I get to keep a promise to my Other Half.

I feel bereft. My camera has been sent away for repair. I bought a digital camera in December, using some of my Birthday money. I have never been one for gadgets and the latest phone but I love my camera. It is so small that it fits easily into my pocket and it takes great pictures. Apparently it is only a minor fault with the mechanism that holds the SD Card in place so it shouldn't take long to repair. I can't wait to get it back. I use it to record the things around me and use it for inspiration for my beadwork.