Toot! Toot!

Yes, that's me tooting my own horn. I know..."Pride goeth before the fall." It's done. I entered it in the county fair. I won some ribbons. Now I can take it to my daughter in Maine.

It's the Seascape Shawl. I fittingly used hand spun merino and seacell. Seacell is a man made fiber from seaweed. I also strung some cream coloured beads on one of the plies. Occasionally you find one...like you would occasionally would find a pearl on the beach. Yeah, that happens a lot, eh?

The last time I entered a dubbelmossa in a competition (12 years ago), I won some ribbons and it also went to my daughter. At least she's getting the best of what I'm doing.

What rock have I been under?

I was reading the latest issue of Knit Net and found a new advertiser..."Earth Faire". The Bead Stew Bracelet caught my attention...particularly the Moonrise on Neptune. I had to have it and ordered it immediately. I had the kit in my little hands within days and the shipping was very inexpensive. I am a lover of low or free shipping. Everything was included in the kit except the knitting needles (which I had). As soon as it arrived, I ran to Ravelry and submitted my new project. What a surprise to find 106 other people working on the same bracelet! So, yeah, what rock have I been under? These have been out since at least 2005!

When I get something I like, I want to extend the pleasure of working on it. I strung my beads the first night, knit the second, and finished up the third. All together, it was about six hours. The pattern was very easy to understand.

I have been putting beads in my yarn while spinning but haven't really thought about knitting with beads in clothing. Now that I know how to knit jewelry with beads, I'm on fire! My stash of beads will reduce somewhat as I purchase some larger beads to go with the colours I already have. Ha, ha. If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you. But the kits from Earth Faire are the best...and the price is not much above buying the individual parts, if at all.

I have started this bracelet using beads I already had:
I am allowing myself one kit per month and have already ordered "Moon Flowers". Go to Earth Faire to check it out.

Plans are already made for a black one, brown one, green, turquoise, blue.....

Update: 26 April 2009 - I finished my fourth bracelet with plans for at least four more. These are SO addictive and I have the time down that I can finish one in an evening after the beads are strung!

Update: 9 May