Over the past week or so I have placed a LOT of beads on Evenstar! So far about 1,850 and I’m a little over halfway around the border. I think the grand total will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,800. I think I’m getting pretty good at it and have decided on my preferred method. Drumroll, please.
The Fleegle Beader. As I mentioned there is definitely a learning curve involved, but all of a sudden, it just clicked and I find it the easiest, most convenient method. I found that about every 10-20 beads I would come across one that just didn’t want to cooperate. I discovered that some beads have a hole that’s just slightly too small. Once I decided to stop fighting those beads and just put them aside, things went much more smoothly. I’ll keep those and if I run out of beads at the end, I can always place those using the floss method. Only 380 rows to go! I will also be ordering the larger size Beader to try out as well.
In the meantime, I needed something a little simple to rest my mind and hands, so I have started the Wilshire Shawl.
This is KnitPicks Shimmer in Blue Glass. I had started several other shawls with this, but it pooled unattractively. This, however, looks as of it is going to work just fine. This is what I consider “mindless” lace – no big surprises and lots of stockinette stitch when you just want to let your mind wander.
My mind has needed the opportunity to wander a bit lately. I find myself just a tad over committed. I had told myself that I would just say “no” to new commitments, but two came up that we’re so very important that I felt led to agree. On the plus side, they are both pretty short term and should be over by mid-June. So I’m kind of in survival mode right now and my knitting is keeping me sane. Oddly enough, having a complicated project like Evenstar keeps me as sane as the simpler ones.
Adding into all the other activities, I have our Annual Spring Tea coming up this Saturday. I had promised Mei-Mei a new dress, and I finished it with time to spare:
Mei-Mei’s pretty easy – as long as it’s pink and sparkly she’s good. And if the skirt twirls, it’s even better. This dress accomplishes all of those! Here’s a close up view of the beaded ribbon:
Isobel is a little tougher. Getting her into a dress is impossible, so probably the best I can hope for is clean jeans! So I made her a cute hooded tunic to go with whatever she decides:
I was not over impressed with this pattern. It was very poorly written and I will not be making it again. So I’ll need to scour the pattern books to find other things to sew for Isobel. Or, I could just knit for Isobel and sew dresses for Mei-Mei. Mei-Mei doesn’t seem to care much for sweaters I make, but loves the dresses. Isobel is just the opposite!
I got a chance to go on a photo adventure with my good friend Bethy last week. I’ve decided to hone my skills using only my iPhone camera. We got some beautiful pictures of a unique piece of driftwood that has always captured my imagination. Here are two of my favorites:
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missouristar 
The little girls at preschool always make me smile. The pink and glitzey group really try to out-glam each other. I think they are at the age of just beginning to pick out their own school clothes (which is a good thing) and they are certainly learning to express themselves via their wardrobe. Then we have the blue jean and sweatshirt gals, and a small minority of cow-girl types. Cowboy boots and western themed t-shirts. The boys seem to be totally oblivious to what they wear, with perhaps the exception of their footwear. Anyway – your girls just made me think of my preschoolers.
The driftwood is amazing! And thanks for the beader critique. Not sure I’ll ever get that far into beaded knitting, but nice to have an opinion filed away. Any spinning going on??
So now I have endorsements from two skilled beaded shawl knitters on the Fleegle beader. I suspect I’ll become an advocate too when I get to my Evenstar.
The dress and tunic are lovely–I particularly like the combination of fabrics on the tunic.
I’m with you on the complex. I find being engrossed allows me to block out all the stressors, whereas with so-called “simple knitting” I my mind just wanders to the things I want to turn off for a while.
And will there be a new dress for *you* for the Tea, as well?
Love your photos! Though I thought the first one of the driftwood was a shadow puppet before I read the description…
Great photos, Dorothy. I love your sewing projects, too. Interesting about the beader…I’ll have to think about trying it.