To begin, here's the latest beading accomplishment:
All of the beads started as glass beads. They were a bit of an experiment. I wound them with silver wire, glued them (super glued them) and then lacquered them. They're so lovely now, and so not-costing-me-$5-a-bead.
That was from before break, because I'm back into my crochetting mode. I'm almost done with the never-ending afghan. When I was making an afghan for Emma, Mendon kept saying that it was small, that it was short. So, I listened when I decided to make one for us. For whatever reason, I overlooked the fact that when one makes something bigger, that it takes much more time to make and finish it. I cannot wait to be done. Regrettably, I've more to do than the stitches. I have to make strips, whip stitch them together, redo some of my previous whip stitching (most all of it) because it is too tight and, in my opinion, ugly, AND THEN, I still want to reinforce it because it is too large to support itself very well. Lesson learned: think ahead.
The beast:
Additionally, Tally, my crazy cousin, is getting married. She's crazy, in my psychologically sound opinion, because she lived in Mongolia for two whole years. Do you know, Mongolia is cold! I'll be off at her wedding in a week or two and was struggling with how I could find a nice gift for her. It's so convenient the way hand-made anythings make up for the I-have-no-clue-what-you-need factor and the I-really-don't-have-any-money factor at the same time. I joke with that, but I love crochetting when it's for other people. There's a different feeling to it than when I make things for myself. Additionally, I'm a sucker for gifts that people make for me, so when I put effort into gifting, I have a tendency towards the same.
Here's her "moss":
Also very awesome:
Once I finish with these projects (ha. hahaha.) I have a task for my new skill, knitting. I could do a backwards garter stitch before, which got me some very homemade-looking scarfs. Now, I can do a correct garter stitch and I can purl, which means I can do quite a bit more. Maman taught me this weekend. :) Although, I was stealing her attention while Mendon was trying to get it to do taxes... oops. The best part about this new ability to purl is that I can now do a project that I had previously just given up on before. The project, a blanket, called for the ENTIRE thing to be done in single crochets (i.e. slowly). The problem with this is that the project was able to stand up on its own because of this. Now, with my new yarn powers, I can knit it and it will be softer than the door mat it was going to be. Yay!
I love the beads! I've been playing with breaking out the metal-using skills (i.e. just starting to experiment) and I wouldn't have thought to super glue & lacquer them! I'm jealous of some of the beading supplies you clearly have access to - they just don't have much innovative stuff available here in Haifa - I best start shopping at some other bead shops! I am also super jealous of your knitting lesson with Maman. I do know how to purl, but my knitting practice is somewhat dead in the water at the moment.
Mara, fancy lacquer = clear nail polish. You could totally handle this project out in Haifa. :) Oh, and my beading access feels rather... stunted. I have Wal-mart, and that's it (ew!). Oh well.
As for the knitting lesson with Maman, I would have been secretly jealous if I had missed out on one, too... it does feel like such a treasure. There were a handful of awesome moments with your Maman from the weekend, and it was great to be able to share them with Mendon. I'm really glad we went home.
Your afghan is gorgeous. the blue background brings it all together so neatly. And I like that color of blue bunches. Learning to knit and crochet and beading are heritages of our forefathers; oops- I mean sisters and mothers. These are wonderful gifts and keepsakes. They far outweigh the purchased comercial gifts. Of course, one could hire one to craft one for them.
Thank you. :)