"Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit either." ~ Elizabeth Zimmerman

3/13/12

It Was a Beading Weekend

We had the most awesome weather last Friday. It was 61F degrees and sunshine pretty much all day. I spent 2 hours sitting out on the deck soaking up that sunshine and beading. It was wonderful!

The weekend weather, though, was quite disappointing. We got the warm predicted, but we also got rain, and more rain, and it was dark, and stormy, and gradually cooling off. So it was indoor weather. By Sunday evening we had new snow on the ground. At least I had Friday. That will carry me through the rest of winter.

One of the members of the Rathdrum Knitalong group loves Luis and wanted one so bad I decided, since I've been wanting to make him again, to make her one. She wanted purple.



I did not use crystals in the embellishment of this one. Instead, I used size 8 purple iris seed beads. I actually like it better than with crystals, which kind of surprises me. Again, the pattern is available here: Luis

I have joined an internet gift swap on a knitting forum. I made a set of stitch markers for it.



Just some lamp-work beads with sterling silver and crystals I had in the stash. I didn't go out and buy anything for them.

Internet swaps are a gamble. They can be a lot of fun. They can also be a horrible experience. I've been very reluctant to join another internet swap ever since the big debacle over 2 years ago. I was participating in a Yahoo bead swap group. It went well for awhile, but the last swap was a disaster. The way it worked was all of us in the group would send our swap items to the swap mom, Pamela Welborn, and she would then mix everything up and distribute the items back. We supplied the postage and the envelopes for it. I really enjoyed the swap.

The last swap was to be a beaded bead swap. I made four sets of really lovely ones and sent them in by the due date in September 2009. We all did, but Pamy never distributed them back out to us. Whenever any of us would ask about it, she would get angry and kick the asker out of the group. Eventually she kicked me out. I'd offered to help her with the shipping since she seemed to not be getting it done.

The group no longer exists now. It's been deleted from Yahoo. I've maintained contact with a couple of my fellow swapper's and she never sent the beads out. As far as I know, she still has those beaded beads, assuming she didn't make jewelry out of all of them and sell it. She totally ripped the group off and betrayed our trust. I will never do that kind of swap again, where everything is sent to one place then distributed. I also will never do business with her. She is not an honest person. I also wish there was something I could do to get her to make things right.

The swap I'm doing now is partners, and I've been paired with a very trustworthy person, so I think I'll be okay with it. It's to include a skein of yarn and small goodies. I gathered the items yesterday and they are now all wrapped in a package and ready to go. I will take it to the post office this afternoon, after Rathdrum Knitalong. I will let you know how it goes.

It is raining/snowing and blowing today. It's pretty much gonna be like this all week with temps rattling between freezing and not freezing. Actually, I think what we've got here is a week of 5 minute weather based on how the morning has gone so far. That is a sure sign that spring is coming.

Live long and prosper. \\//

2 comments:

  1. I have to say, I like this Luis better as well! these beads seem to allow one to see more of the details of the stitching, and as a beadweaver, I like that.

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  2. OMG! LJ, this is another amazing seahorse. I love Luis II. I love these colors, that hint of red just makes him shine. I want one too, but don't think I'll ever get good enough to make one!
    Your experience with that swap was awful. I've only ever done the Bead Soup swap and that was great! Have been going through yarn -- selling most of it in a whole house sale in April. Geez, I have soooo much!

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