What I've Been Up To

Well, in part making jewelry to sell alongside the vintage costume jewelry. If you're curious to see more, go here and check out what's offered.

Also, being in jewelry-making mode and having a pearl necklace that needed restringing, and hankering for an Art Deco 2-stranded bracelet I saw with platinum and diamond fittings that is priced beyond what most people make in a week, I made this:
No platinum or diamonds, but the clasp really is Art Deco, a vintage one from the 1930's ($12 plus shipping), and the spacers were made with vintage molds so they look right ($4 for a set of 4). I love the clasp so much:

What else? I'm 3/4 done with the baby blanket. Baby came early Thursday and it's a girl, named for my mother. It's traditional among Eastern European Jews to name a baby for the deceased (I am named for both of my grandmothers, who were murdered in the Holocaust). Doesn't make it easier to call the baby by my mother's name: I remember my own mother telling me years and years ago how hard it was for her to name me for her mother (my middle name). I'll finish up the blanket and send it along with the girlie bibs I made (after taking its portrait, of course).
One more bib I finished weeks ago but was too lazy to shoot:

I know it's on its side; it's little fish swimming around. A fitting theme for our lives these days, I think.
We got water back late Friday afternoon. Yesterday DH and I took a drive to see the scenes of some of the disasters near us: DD's hospital (which has fish swimming in the basement), the little falls at Little Falls, and so forth. En route from DD's hospital, we were stopped by none other than El Jefe, the Commander-in-Chief, POTUS, you know, that guy who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave in Washington DC. Yep, the prez and our governor were touring the same scenes we toured. I have to say that seeing the rapids along the river were quite impressive. The falls roared like Niagara, and though we stood well above the falls, we could feel the mist. Sad to see were the neighborhoods along the river, where people were cleaning out, not just basements (lines of washers and dryers in the street waiting to be hauled away) but first floors too (sofas and dining room sets sitting out in piles of debris). The Red Cross was there, handing out gallons of water, as were the utilities. This was in the borough of Little Falls, and it was a heart-breaking sight. I feel so grateful we were spared much damage. But now 2 more hurricanes may bring us 4 days of rain in the coming week. Hope not, but I may have to build a boat to be safe.
What else? I finished the book chapter on lung cancer; now comes the editing. I'm immersed in my project on kidney cancer treatment, and hoping I get to write 2 more chapter on cancer. Tomorrow DH and I will attend a job fair for out-of-work scientists. Should be an interesting experience.
Enjoy your barbecues, trips to the beach, or anything else fun you have planned for today.

Bead All That You Can Bead

No, not a mangled slogan for the US Marine Corps; rather a discovery that I can knit and bead. The Evenstar KAL begins tonight. The shawl calls for 2900 seed beads. That's 3 ounces of size 8/0 beads. Initially I was going to eschew the beads, but the more I looked at beaded swatches (and my own bead stash), the more I thought, "I can do this." Indeed, with a crochet hook (0.6 mm in diameter is what I bought), it's eminently possible to add beads one at a time. Who knew it could be so easy? When my mother knitted with beads or sequins, she strung them all. With this technique, beads can be added at will, in any color order desired. How neat is that? What's even neater is the choice of lovely beads I have. Above are 2 I picked from my stash to coordinate with the Zephyr yarn. I want a subtle shimmer so I picked bead colors fairly close to the yarn color. Both are Matsuno shade 356g, called magenta-lined aurora borealis (AB in bead lingo) or Sparkling Dahlia (listed on my tubes) or Elderberry-lined AB. Maybe that should be Eldar-berry, in keeping with the LotR theme here; bad pun, I know. On the bottom are the smaller size 11/0 and at top the size 8/0 the pattern calls for. I might, just might, try to use the size 11/0; there's something about the more subtle glimmer of them that appeals to me. I want a mysterious look to the shawl, a nighttime look: subtle shimmer that resembles stars twinkling in the sky, not bold glitz and glamour. If I can't get the 11/0 beads on the yarn, well then, the 8/0 beads will have to do.

Now take these beads:

Aren't they gorgeous? Hard to capture the nuances of color, but believe me, they are stunning. This color is called Brownstone Iridescent. I think I'll add these to the edging of my Shetland Triangle shawl. The color will look super against the pale beige. I can't wait for the crochet hook to arrive from Fuzzy Mabel so I can start bead knitting!

And I'll wind up this post with some eye candy for you. Still keeping to the LotR theme, here's a necklace I finished late 2009 I named Arwen. I was inspired to make it by the headpiece she wore at Aragorn's coronation in Return of the King.

Nature at Work

No, you are not lost in cyber-space. I was kicked off internet and phone service for an entire week by the avian vandal shown in the above photos. Can you see what he's done? He ripped the phone wires out of the junction box on the telephone pole in front of our house! It took 3 days for Verizon to respond to our request for a service call (our house is a dead-zone for cell phones, being we live in a valley so that was quite dangerous- no way to reach emergency services, if we needed any. Does Verizon care? Hah!). DH says the sparrow is telling the world what a great job he did. I'm inclined to agree.

My MIL passed away peacefully in her sleep at age 92. The vandalism happened while my husband was sitting shiva, that is, during the 7 day mourning period following a funeral as required by Jewish law. People too far to travel generally telephone to extend condolences.

While my husband was sitting shiva, I had to get the house ready for Passover sans help from DH, who switches the kitchen implements and puts the Passover supplies away the previous year. This year the D's and I (mostly I) did it. Leaving me to do the cooking solo. I cook nearly everything from scratch for Passover. OK, this year I wimped out and bought some cake mixes and prepared foods. And a kind neighbor brought us delicious cauliflower kugel, which is a kind of casserole.

My brother went into the hospital during Passover for fairly risky surgery to reinflate his lung and repair his paralyzed diaphragm. Thank G-d my brother's surgery went smoothly. According to his surgeon, he recovered full lung function, which is a perfect outcome. He told me he was feeling so poorly he did not want to wait for Passover to end before going in for surgery.

Right after Passover, I went down to Baltimore to give a lecture at the University of Maryland Dental School. It felt like being home. I wished I could have stayed longer. I brought back a souvenir to share with you: Natty Boh (the National Bohemian beer symbol) proposing to the Utz (potato chip) girl. You see this billboard next to Penn Station when you walk outside.



Instead of knitting this week, I made some more eye-candy. The turquoise is Sleeping Beauty turquoise from the famous Arizona mine, the center pearl is a really thick nacre coin pearl. I tried to give it an exotic south Asian look by using the vermeil Bali spacer beads.

Closing in on the Perp and Some Sad News

Seriously. All it took was much persistence on my part- many phone calls to my congressman, the police, the DA's office; sending certified letters describing the crime to various folk, including the CEO of Sprint; plus other activities too nerve-wracking to relive.
We have a name, an address, a phone number. An arrest warrant has been issued. I have asked for a firing squad but don't think my wish will be granted. Drat.

Sad news from both sides of the family. It seems my younger brother developed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease due to misdiagnosis/mismanagement of pneumonia late last year. COPD is terminal. Would like to get my hands on the MD who handled him. He's now under the care of a competent pulmonologist at the best hospital in LA. If that weren't enough, my 92 year old MIL fell and broke her other hip (having broken 1 last year,less than a year ago). And refused treatment so was left in the ER for days whilst the MDs sought an override from my SIL, who is the only family member empowered to do so. DH is not empowered, nor his brother. SIL gave the override so that MIL could be treated. But MIL still developed a clot in her lung (pulmonary embolus) plus double pneumonia. She' responding to treatment and will be moved to a hospice when she's stable enough to be moved. What's really bothering me is that she mentioned to DH last year wanting to die rather than be treated for a broken hip again. I can't believe none of the 3 siblings is calling for a consult to be sure MIL is getting enough medicine, stimulation in her environment, activities,or whatever.

On the knitting front (you think I've have time for knitting with all this going on?) I am nearly done with the 1st sock, that would be the Baby's Breath sock, for D#1. Did I remember to photograph it when I had the camera out? Of course not.



OK, now feast your eyes on this creation I made for my assistant's mother on the occasion of her 80th birthday. I do have to change the earrings to a non-pierced style;the clips are on order as I write. The lovely center bead set was created by Gina De Stevens of GMD Lampwork. She makes such lovely floral beads (and others too but her floral ones are my favorites).

Reality Sets In

Well it's a very good thing we celebrated before the package came for D#2 from Hopkins. I am in shock, sticker shock. We're expected to fork over something like 1/3 of take-home pay for college. Seriously. DH will call the financial aid office (again, they apparently started their winter break early, as in when the letters went out!) and I've been selling off my jewelry on eBay. I used to collect vintage costume jewelry, especially if it needed a repair that I could do easily (restring, set a rhinestone). I've hauled out my repair stuff to make sure everything looks good, and on a lark I listed some of the jewelry I made. And sold them! Along with the costume jewelry, which is selling pretty well for a down kind of year.
So I've opened a shop on Etsy to sell the jewelry I make. You can take a peek here. Up top is a pair of watermelon tourmaline earrings in sterling I made a while back that's in the shop. If you visit and decide to buy something, mention that you are a blog visitor, I'll give you free shipping in the US and discounted shipping elsewhere (cost of shipping elsewhere minus cost of US shipping = your cost).

I think one thing has been completed for my new office. Wonder how much they'll get done while I'm away. Yes, I am going away, supposed to be vacation in Los Angeles for my nephew's bar-mitzvah celebration, but I've been asked to speak at the City of Hope Hospital for Cancer Research, since I'll be in the neighborhood (30 miles as opposed to 3000 miles). I guess that makes it a working vacation. I haven't been to LA in over 3 years, should be exciting to see the changes, visit old and new spots (we know we're going to Malibu one day (weather permitting) and the Mojave Desert for a few days). Hopefully I'll return on the 17th to an office I can move into, then my cramping shoulders will finally feel better and I'll be able to knit again.

Do you schmap? I didn't, had never heard of schmaps until the schmaps folks asked if they could use one of my photos of Tucson in my Flickr album. Glad they asked for permission and attribution. Now, if they ever need someone to go someplace to take photos, I'll be quite happy to do that!

Still Too Tense To Knit

So instead during yesterday's snowstorm, I finally finished this necklace that's been on the beading board for a bit. That's a lot of B's in one sentence, I just realized. Anyway, the 3 center beads were handmade by Gina DeStevens of GMD Lampwork, the glowing peach beads are vintage moonglow Lucite beads from my online friend Cindy at Ozzybeads, and the crystals are Swarovski from various sources. The metal is Bali vermeil. I'm please with it. Wore it today, it matches a pair of Liz Palacios earring I picked up on sale back in August.

They are starting something on my office. Maybe when my shoulders and neck no loner ache from sitting at the wrong height I'll be more inclined to knit. Maybe I'll pick up needles later tonight. We'll see.

Happy Chanukah to all! Enjoy the latkes. Me, I can't wait!

VA Training, Part II

Also known as knitting at taxpayers' expense. Well, I had to spend the past 2 days at the VA sitting through the remaining part of orientation. Which consisted of 10 out of 18 mandatory training sessions, most of which have nothing whatsoever to do with my job (or the jobs of most attendees). So I wouldn't be too antsy (and in the spirit of the VA), I brought along hats for the Ships Project, now that mailing of wool things will begin again in September. See the hat I completed above? It's made of Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed, a yummy blend of wool and cashmere and silk. The baby cable rib biased though, that never happened when I made this hat before with other yarns. I have another ball of it; I'll do something different and see.
Now see the trio below?

The sock I worked on a little yesterday when I finished the hat (worked from the gusset dec start to where it is now). Both hats were only casted on (first 2 rows worked in the flat), then the rest was done today at the VA. I am not kidding! Had I not run out of wool, I would have finished 1 of them. That is how I spent 8 1/2 hours today in stultifying ennui relieved only by my knitting. The details: the hat in the middle is the Blueberry Waffle hat (yes, it is based on the famous sock pattern), and it is being made of merino wool, Zegna Baruffa Maratona. The hat on the right will use up the remaining Plymouth Galway I have in stash; it is the Zig and Zag hat.
And now for a little jewelry treat, another Dutch spiral necklace:

The purple and gold flower beads are vintage Lucite; I've been waiting for the right project to incorporate them. They really aren't that pink but closer to the heliotrope color of the main set of beads. Really. I'm going to make a special clasp for this; ordered the special accessory for it. Check back to see it and tell me what you think.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

I finished the necklace! See the neat sparkly beads along the sides? Those are vintage Lucite beads I found at Ozzy Beads. I love to mix vintage with new beads when I make these things. Check out the beaded toggle- I had a bunch of sterling circle parts left from some project, so I took some sterling wire, and beaded it up, with a loop in the center and loops at the ends. Got the idea from reading how to make woven beaded toggles. But when I wove some beads into a toggle, it was too fat to fit. Necessity truly is the mother of invention.

On a new knitting note, I started a hat for the Ships Project out of luscious SilkRoad Aran Tweed wool/cashmere/silk yarn by Jo Sharp that I got from a fellow KR member for a song. Nothing but the best for our troops doing the hard stuff.

Beadazzled

Returned to my other avocation, making beaded jewelry, the other day. The WIP above is the beginning of a necklace in a stitch called the Dutch spiral. I'll stop when it's about 9"long, then string sterling Bali and other interesting beads up the sides to the clasp. These look best, to me, when they are about 18" long. I'm getting some new handmade lampwork beads in and have new ideas. Can't wait to try them out.
I've posted a few of my other creations below; these are for sale and the details are given in my Stash Flickr album (link is on the left). I'll be posting more pictures in the coming days. I've made some sets, cell phone charms, ID lanyards, and more. I made a lot of these pieces 2 years ago to raise funds for victims of Hurricane Katrina (raised nearly $1000 on eBay selling mainly ID lanyards, raised a few hundred more through some special jewelry auctions). After putting it away for 2 years, the beading bug is back!