Our Trip to Spain

Canadian winters are notorious for being long and cold...and this year's has been no different.

We decided to get away over March Break and sunny Spain sounded perfect!

We rented a little countryside cottage southwest of Antequera and it was a little piece of paradise...

Warm, sunny days...great food, hiking, all in this gorgeous setting! ...now I must learn more Spanish!

Clear sky breaking through the storm clouds...new earrings

We've had a lot of ups and downs with our weather this winter. Dull, gray days and freezing drizzle.
Finally the brilliant blue sky will break through the clouds and the temperature will plummet.

I certainly prefer the sunny weather even if I have to bundle up. I can't wait for Spring to arrive.

I made these lampwork beads with this thought in mind...

Blue opal on a gray background...with a bit of white showing through.

Accented with Swarovski Aquamarine crystals and sterling silver earwires.

Available for purchase on my website.

17 Equations That Changed The World...A Knitted Tale

Here's a progress pic for my #doubleknitcowl. 

As a #mathnerd this pattern called to me and it’s been a fun knit! Here's the reverse...

It's a pattern called "17 Equations Mobius Scarf" by Erica B.

Of course I am reading the book too!😁

➕➖➗✖️#ravelry#wollmeise #handknitting #handdyedyarn#lovemath 

FYI I dyed the light pink yarn with avocado pits!🥑

The original yarn was undyed...who knew that green avocado pits would yield a beautiful dusty rose dye? I didn't add any mordant and so far it seems to be colourfast.

Pretty Necklaces for Throat Cancer Survivors

As a jewelery designer and dentist who's primary focus is Head & Neck Cancer patients, I recognize that there is a need for people who have had a laryngectomy, or who have a tracheostomy stoma, to be able to have a decorative covering for their stoma.

These vintage filigree stampings are available in a variety of shapes and styles, all measuring between 1 1/8" and 2 1/8" in diameter. This is the selection that I currently have in stock.

As these are custom made necklaces, I can use chain, beading, or organza ribbons to accent the filigree focal piece. Simply choose your filigree stamping then choose which colour ribbon you would like to go with it. 

Detachable and interchangeable ribbons allow for cleaning and variety. They make a thoughtful gift too.

Please feel free to contact me to discuss options, sizing, or for more clarification.

Dreaming of Summer

Here in Southern Canada we are still firmly in the grips of winter. Lots of snow, wind, and frequent bouts of freezing rain.

As you can see there's still lots of opportunity for fun with family during the winter!

However, sometimes one's thoughts do turn in anticipation to those hot summer days. When that happens I head down to the torch...it's warm!

I tried to conjure up a pair of beads that evoked hot summer days...coral red and transparent blue...with just a bit of white.

I love this blue opalino glass...it develops tiny bubbles in the flame!

I then added some Swarovski crystals and sterling silver accents to make a pretty pair of summer earrings. If you would like a pair please visit my website...

Are you dreaming of summer yet?

My First Double Width Cloth

I have such a large stash of yarn (yes, this picture is not a yarn store...just mine) that it will take me a couple of lifetimes to get through it all!

Weaving is a great way to use up stash...and I'm making my first "yardage" out of Wollmeise Lace-Garn.

This setup allows me to weave cloth which is double the width you see above. There is a fold on the left side and two layers on the right side.

I have ~29" woven so far. It will wind up being a serape poncho with fringed ends. Making sure that the bottom layer has no errors has been the biggest challenge so far...the yarn is a bit sticky and on my 4-shaft loom it's difficult to get a clean shed when it's an unbalanced draft.

A Tale of Two Loves...More Time Please!

Well, I have been away from this blog for far too long! As you all know, life moves in fast forward as one gets older, and that is definitely been the case with me!

Trying to slow it down at work, I have been working 4 days one week and 3 days the next, and LOVING it!! It gives me more time for hobbies, and of course I've taken more on.

I am always so torn between lampwork beadmaking and jewellery design. Here's an example:

I'm trying to use up some of my glass stash (could take several lifetimes!) so I made these scrollwork beads with a Lauscha Lavender glass that I only have a couple of rods left.

Torn between listing them for sale to other jewellery designers and making them into earrings for sale to jewellery customers I decided on the latter.

Oh the vagaries of photography and lighting! The bottom photo is more accurate on my monitor...more of a blue-lavender than a pink-lavender. The Swarovski crystals are Tanzanite, and they have .925 sterling silver earwires.

Available on my website for $15.

New Boro Beads....It's Been A While

Borosilicate glass, aka boro, is so different to work with compared to "soft" glass, or soda glass.  Most glass beads are made with glass from manufacturers like Effetre (Italian), Lauscha (German), or Bullseye (American).

Borosilicate, or Pyrex, glass, was developed by Corning and is the glass that "Corningware" used to be made from...it can go from cold (refrigerator) to hot (oven) without cracking.

Coloured borosilicate glass yields beautiful, ethereal hues and is a very different palette when compared to soda glass, where most of the time WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get).

Here are some new boro beads I have listed in my Etsy shop:

 Deep & Hazy Blue

 Dark Amber Purple & Hazy Violet

 After Midnight

Deep Purple & Hazy Blue

Boro beads are wonderful design elements in jewellery...here's a bracelet using shades of violet with copper.

Violet & Copper Bracelet

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!

Sunshine on a Clear Day...Handspun Yarn

I've just finished plying my new handspun yarn...I plied the single novelty yarn that I made on my blending board with a Saffron merino top. It's about 111 yards.

I have it measured and tied up, now to set the twist, let it dry and find a pattern that will show it off.

My New Fiber Blending Board & Inspiration From Art

I received my new fiber blending board last week and finally had some time yesterday to experiment with it.  For those of you who may not know a blending board is a piece of carding cloth with many, many "teeth" and it's used to blend different colours and fibres to make rolags which can then be spun into yarn.

I took my inspiration for my colour palette from a wonderful print that I recently purchased from Danny Phillips on Etsy...this picture just makes me smile!

So I went through my stash of fibre and came up with some wool roving, silk throwsters, and a novelty yarn that would match.

Below are a few pictures of how the blending board works and the yarn I'm spinning from the rolags.

...stay tuned....

Button, Button, Who's Got The Button??

Well, with my new fibre addiction I decided to start making glass lampwork buttons again.  I've made them over the years, but I have so many beautiful colours of roving and yarn now I just had to see what I could come up with to coordinate with them.

So I started making buttons to match...

 Brown, Copper, and Beige Handmade Lampwork Glass Button

 Spring Garden Handmade Lampwork Glass Button

Brilliant Blue Lagoon Handmade Lampwork Glass Button

I can see this being a great addition to a sweater or a neckwarmer...more to come!

Discovering the Joy of Fibre

I've done a bit of needlefelting over the past couple of years, mostly round beads to incorporate into jewellery, and so I've accumulated a stash of small balls of brightly coloured roving (combed sheep's wool).

Just before Christmas I purchased a drop spindle to try spinning some of this roving into yarn.  My family and I went on a fabulous trip to Peru over the holidays and the Andean women are expert spinners and weavers.  I was hooked! I bought a whole lot of alpaca fleece to comb and spin into yarn.

 This is one of the Peruvian women in our hotel, with her lamb...that's milk in the Coke bottle.

 This is a display of some of the plants and insects that the natural dyes are made from.

I also purchased some natural Corriedale roving from an Etsy friend, Uli of KnittersNook, and spun my first roving into a chunky yarn single.  Using the Andean method I plied it back onto the spindle..woohoo!!

Well, excited as I was, this little bit only measured 16 yards...not enough for knitting anything yet. So....spin, spin, spin.
I bought some acid dyes from Dharma Trading Company and dyed my natural yarn to a rich brick red.

Finally, I knit a simple hat using a free pattern from Ravelry, crocheted a scalloped edge around the brim, made a chainstitch flower and a matching handmade lampwork glass button, and voila! ....my first, handspun, handyed project was complete.