4/30/2009

Knitting dolly (Nancy, spool, whatever) - a new experience

Can you believe I never used a knitting dolly (Nancy, spool or whatever name you know it under, we call it a "Strickliesel") as a child? After I started crocheting with wire everybody hearing about it said "Ah, with a knitting dolly!". "No, with a crochet hook." "Huh??"
So my sister had been telling me from the start she would bring one for me to try. Finally she thought of it and here is my first attempt. Not perfect, I know, but actually it's not as easy as you might think. Wire has its own mind when it comes to bending and moving down through a little hole to finally come out the other side, I found out. I think after making four strands my right arm developed an extra muscle, but I have the feeling that it could actually get addictive, even as much as the crochet.

Now I had four "ropes" of wire, but only knew how to braid three. No problem, what have we got the internet for? I looked it up and really it's so easy. All I had to remember was "over, under, under" and voila, here is the result. Not finished yet because there are no findings on it and since it is not perfect, I'll keep it myself. The idea is stuck in my head, though. I wonder which other vital information had to leave my brain to make place for it, probably I'll know when I don't find my way to or from work anymore? ;-)

4/23/2009

Why ....

.... did the people give me strange looks at the hospital today? I was prepared to wait carrying my little bag of silver-plated wire, already strung with bead soup (can you string something with soup or did I string soup beads??) and I managed to make two thin bangles there and on the train home. Exactly the right thing to do and it kept me from falling asleep. At the sonography it didn't work, though. I just had made the first stitch and I was called in. By one of my favorite doctors, so that was okay ;-)
It's terrible to be an addict, I wonder if I can find a support group "Crocheters Anonymous" around here somewhere! *lol*

4/22/2009

New kitty line!

Ok, the line itself is not so new as you know from a former post. The line surfacing in my shops is new and I can't seem to stop making those little kitties, probably because they are all as different as my own fur monsters are.



Speaking of fur monsters, Greebo's eye is starting to close up. I hope it is "just" a little cold and not another allergy attack like a few years ago when his asthma started. That was so terrible, my poor baby hardly able to breathe, only when he was standing up. I so do not want to hear these whistle sounds again! What worries me is that it came so sudden. Tomorrow we are off to the vet's. I can't go tonight because I have a doctor's appointment myself. I would rather go to the vet's!

Back to the kitty line. The little fellows have no closed eyes and are immune against colds and allergies. If it always were that easy ;-)

4/18/2009

Namaste

Heute wird mal auf Deutsch gebloggt, auch wenn der Titel auf Hindi ist. Beides hat seinen Grund.
Schon mal von vedischer Mathematik gehört? Wie ich mich inzwischen habe belehren lassen, gibt es Kritiker und Befürworter für diese Rechenmethoden. Die Kritiker sind der Meinung, es ließe sich weder belegen, daß sich die Regeln auf den Veda zurückführen lassen noch handele es sich um Mathematik im üblichen Sinn. Befürworter weisen allerdings darauf hin, daß mit Hilfe dieser Regeln Rechnungen wesentlich schneller als mit den unseren gelöst werden können, was Praktikern vermutlich wichtiger sein dürfte als die Bezeichnung. In englischsprachigen Ländern sind diese Regeln um einiges populärer als bei uns. Dies zu ändern ist das Ziel des Buchs "Der Matheknüller" von Armin Schonard und Cordula Kokot. Hier wird auf Deutsch erklärt, wie man auch ohne Taschenrechner, PC oder Stift und Papier auskommen kann. Kopfrechnen, ja genau. Lang her, das letzte Mal, was? ;-)
Wer es mal selber ausprobieren will, kann sich hier etwas mehr Informationen holen. Viel Spaß beim Rechnen!

4/17/2009

Almost over

Since last night the weather seems to pick up my mood and the sky is raining for me. I don't feel like crying only because this is my last day of vacation, but it still is a little depressing. It has been nice here at home, relaxing, neglecting all kinds of chores, just hanging out with friends, family, the furkids, going to bed really late, hm, or early because I was glued to my armchair while the hook was glued to my fingers.
But hey, that's the way it goes.
"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Thanks for this sentence, Mr. Stephen King, it is so useful to twist around.
All play and no work makes Cat a happy girl ... but when will the laundry rise and take over the place? Will there be a sock named Spartacus leading the single sock army against me? Will the closets break down under unfolded shirts? Or will we all go down in a cloud of dust? I am a responsible grown-up and I can't play all the time, but that means now I will grab these last few days and squeeze as much time out of them as possible! :-)
"So come up to the lab and see what's on the slab" ... geez, must be my quoting day today. But it's true, just wait what I am working on, mwahaha ;-)

4/15/2009

Trying something new

Actually I had thought about that from the moment I started crocheting with wire, but yesterday, when I was trying out all the crochet hooks my MIL gave me and finally came to the smallest one, the spark of inspiration (that Terry Pratchett is talking about in his book "Sourcery") hit me with all the might a spark can hit you.

I hope this idea will develop, my big goal is to crochet a life-size elephant ;-) You don't believe me? So what about a kitty head, not quite life-sized?


This was my first attempt, in sterling silver wire, jade beads as eyes and a red seed bead as nose. Yeah, yeah, I know, no mouth. I will keep him as a good luck charm, I think. Without the ears he is about 0.4 inch high.



This is number two from brown copper wire. He is larger and he has tomcat cheeks. And a mouth. After all you don't really see cats' lips. The eyes are aventurine, the nose a red seed bead again. I'll have to search my stash for a pink seed bead or maybe a black one.



Stay tuned in case I post the picture of the life-size elephant some day .......

4/12/2009

Happy Easter! :-)

Today we spent at my in-laws' house. Eating too much and afterwards chilling on the various couches and talking while the sun was shining it.
When we came home, this little fellow was waiting on our hall steps with a card "a new spring wardrobe for Cat's cell phone". I wonder if my neighbor had seen my shabby little cotton something that was good for nothing. Isn't that so cute? I truly love it, she is such a dear lady.



4/09/2009

Horses are big

So I spent last evening and night at my friend's house. We ate, we drank (just a litte prosecco for me), we laughed, we discussed things, we chatted and we petted the cats. Before that she took me to the stable. I have never been the kind of girl that was crazy about horses, never even for one moment. I look at them, I think they look nice, but so do cows to me. I just don't feel the urge to touch them or more - to sit on them! Over the many, many years of my life I often had to discuss that with friends. I was even forced once to sit on a (beautiful, but mighty big) horse because then I would change my mind. That's what they thought. They were wrong. Poor horse, poor me. A few pictures exist of this exciting venture, but they are not to be shown here because they are too embarrassing. For me, not the horse. He looked great. I was merely a monkey clinging on to him. My friends prefer the pic that I named "two butts". They have a good laugh just thinking about it.
So the hour we spent there looking a possible new riding instructor doing a test lesson was not exciting for me. Oh well. Sometimes you have to make small sacrifices ;-)

4/08/2009

Meet Jo! ;-)

This is Jo. I didn't want to call her "The Head", after all she is gonna have to help me modeling my things. This morning we did a little test run with my hats. She doesn't want to smile, but I think it was ok for her, too. After all we were not in a hurry, no Paris fashion shows under pressure in this house.
I guess you will get to see her more often from now on :-)



I am still on the bangle trip. This one is from wire that looks more like brass, it's thicker gauge and very sturdy and it was probably not too smart to give the wire an extra twist every few stitches to give it a different look. Afterwards my fingers hurt, ouch. I think the effort was worth it, though.



This is antique looking thicker gauge copper wire with hematite. I really like this one. It looks much better in real, but hey, it's not easy making pictures at 6 a.m. Especially if you are tired and only up because the furry masters commanded you to. Oh, and if your camera is nothing special. And if you are just a lousy photographer like me :-P



Egg and copper ... I did it and it worked. Why shouldn't it have, though? Everybody told me it would. It looks much better on this agate than the shiny copper. I'll have to buy more eggs, I guess.



Now I should really get myself into gear. I'll go visit a friend overnight and there are still a few things to do around here. It's amazing how fast 5 hours can go by if you don't want them to. On the other hand ... I want to meet my friend and therefore want them to go by. Nah, too complicated for me now, I'll just get going. Litter boxes, here I come!!!

4/06/2009

Being organised

I think this was one of the most unorganised days in the last week. Not that I didn't get to finish anything (except folding the laundry, this exciting chore I kept for tomorrow), but I started here and then there and really I am surprised I got anything done at all. Nice was that while working on protocols and jewelry and laundry and in the kitchen I could leave the windows open (no worry, just the ones with the cat nets in'em) and fresh spring air was coming in, mmmh. I was surprised the cats didn't spend all day sitting on the window sills! Probably too loud outside or not interesting enough.

So what did I get done? I worked on three club meeting protocols, I listed something on Etsy (peace, people! ;-)) ...



... I made some earrings ...



... I crocheted in an agate disk with copper wire, no picture available for that, though, because it is spending its time in a plastic bag together with a squished boiled egg. I wonder what is gonna happen, it's my first try at that, but I am not ready for playing with chemicals yet. Did you know (no, you didn't, why should you, but it's a figure of speech) that my chemistry teacher in 11th grade did not even know my name? I think he knew it after he caught me in the hallway imitating him. Lesson learned, never imitate your chemistry teacher right beside the chem lab door! Ah, I digress.

I ordered new copper wire in different colors (banglemania is still calling me ;-)) and silver wire, I cleaned the kitchen and fed the insatiable crowd about a billion times. I did the laundry and I ate junk food *sigh*

Almost time for me to call it a day, I have to get up early tomorrow morning. That's supposed to be vacation time, pfffffft! :-))

4/05/2009

Banglemania!!!

This is so addictive! Yes, I watch Bollywood, yes, I own a saree that I have never worn and yes, I love bangles, but I have to admit I have a problem with the sound they are making if you wear many and bangles have to be worn in abundance, right?
So I was sitting there looking at my colored wire, looking at my stone beads and t
he small candle in my brain started to shine, a little flickering at first - which is why the first one became a children's bangle - but then I really felt I was on to something here.
I hope I won't be the only one to think that. Do you know this feeling? You are all enthusiastic about something, you do a little happy dance and all your soul and thoughts go into this project, no matter what kind it is. You are excited t
o show others and then the bubble blows because you get a polite "Ah yes", "Mmh-mmh" or something else along that line. Sometimes these experiences stick to you like glue, sometimes you shake them off. I learned it is important to always do something for yourself in the first place and then maybe the spark is gonna flow.
I had fun making these bangles and I am sure they won't be my last, I'll just have to stock up on beads and wire. What a sacrifice! Shopping for beads an
d wire is one of the hardest thing to do, well, at least if you don't have the money to say you take everything ;-)
Today we were at a minerals and fossils fair. I took the tall guy along
because of his wallet, eh, I mean because he is the perfect companion for this. He headed off to hall 7 immediately where there was an antique fair. He found something, I found something, we are both broke, but happy :-P

And here are the first bangles with round beads, I also made some with chips. Not Doritos! Red goldstone and rock crystal. Not as tasty, but they sparkle mor
e ... Eventually they will pop up in one of my shops, too - in a few days, I guess.

Sterling silver wire and labradorite



Copper wire and brown tiger's eye



Copper wire and red tiger's eye



Green coated wire and light green Chinese jade



Hot pink coated wire and rose quartz, bangle plus hoops with copper earwires



I am sure the banglemania will go on now that I have new beads ... gotta hurry, my hook is calling me!! :-D

4/02/2009

More netted pendants

"Please go answer the phone", my mom told me when I was over at her place. While I was talking to my sister who was on the line, I was playing with some rocks in a bowl sitting next to the phone. They had come with a fountain my sister had bought for the garden. Big, substantial rocks in all colors. Too big for jewelry? Hmm. When we had finished talking, I took the bowl to where my mom was sitting and started looking. The shape was important and the color. Finally I had picked three of the maybe twenty-five. "May I ask what you are doing there?" my mother asked and I told her. She allowed me to have them under the condition that I would give one piece to her.


"Black mist"
Netted in sterling silver wire, I don't know what the name of the stone is, but it looks like a sodalite, just in black. Maybe one of you can help me out on this one? Attached is a little star for guidance through the mist


This is the pendant I made for my mom. A big, chunky sodalite, netted in sterling silver wire, wearable from both sides and adorned with little very light green jade dangles.

Front side where you see more of the stone



The backside where the netting is more dense, like a little window for the star


Shhhh, I might have to go back to that bowl ....................................... ;-)