FO: Where Bohemian meets Egyptian goddess

I have friend who really likes the jewelry that I have made in the past and shares with me an eclectic sort of personality.

I know that she loves wearing sparkles in whatever outfit she wears, so for her birthday I decided to make her a very "Bohemian meets Egyptian" looking necklace that makes you feel like a goddess.

Hopefully she has a  cute outfit to match.

Now, here's what the necklace looked like before I made it more Bohemian by adding the ribbon. I'm torn on whether I helped it, or hindered it's look. I will tell her that I can simply take off the ribbon from the metal jumper if she likes the original look more. My husband likes this version better. Bah!

My inspiration for this ensemble was these flower beads with the attached clear bead under it. I attached the metal spikes at the base because I think that it really gives the earring that extra punch that it needed as dangling earrings. It reminds me of shooting stars. The earring itself is plated in gold. If it's your birthday, I'll go the extra mile and not go all El Cheapo on you with value-pack gold-colored earrings.

Next, I decided to glue on Swarovski crystals on the flower portions of the bracelet to give her the sparkle that I know she would want. I absolutely love this next photo. It looks like a crown!

 I hope she loves it, and it's not too over the top.

 More jewelry posts coming next, and an update on my "Pumpkin Ale" Sweater.

WIP: gettin' on my Pumpkin Ale (again)

Oh, no! It's that time of year again! School starts, the weather shifts (more or less) and this blog starts droning on and on about the perks and tastes of fall! Ah!

Whether you are a veteran of this blog, or a newcomer, one thing's for certain: you'll notice that nothing gets my hiney more in gear for knitting than the fall. I've had Ysolda's "Pumpkin Ale" sweater on hold since the end of the new year until I realized that YIKES, it's nearly fall and this sweater is still in it's infancy.

Let's get real, though. Really real.
Do you know that feeling? The one where you had a pattern really organized, making hand-written charts next to the instructions and slashes to clearly tell you where you were in the pattern...just in case you took an absence? Then, after that "supposed" absence you realized that, oh, here's the cool project I started a year ago and then BOOM...where the heck is that pattern?!?

Yeah, came across that today. What a totally deflating feeling. Grr!
I searched high and low for this coveted marked-up pattern to no luck.

So the problem wasn't the pattern itself. I could go onto my Ravelry account and print off a new one (this is why you should buy your non-book patterns via Ravlery). I needed that special pattern that I marked on. Do you think that this sleep-deprived mom of two can remember where she was (especially when the designer dictates to do "X-amount of of rows in pattern" after every instruction), let alone know what size she started the pattern on?

Well, one thing's for certain. I wasn't about to frog the thing. I'm far too invested in this miniscule 12 or something-inch project. No, I was just going to have to Nacy Drew the mystery until solved.

It took a while to figure out the best way to find my exact row. I tried to go by decreases, but that wasn't a great idea. It was dang-hard to figure out where those were. They blended in too well. Pesky things, they. That, or I'm blind.

No, it finally dawned on me that I could use the mini-cables to light my way. I could clearly see how many they were, then see how I was in the middle of the next mini-cable, and figure out from the beginning of the instructions that there were 6 rows before the first mini-cable. That came out to 64 rows completed. Mystery solved.
I think. Maybe I should check my math.

I'm still wishy washy on the size, but I figure that I can alter it if need-be since I'm only on the back. That, and I lost some weight since last year. :)

But where the heck is that frickin' pattern???

WIP: Afghan Border Control

 Hey All,
I'm still here. Sorry for the absence. It's been a crazy-busy summer, filled with reunions, illnesses and back-breaking landscaping in the front and back. However, I am picking up this afghan at the end of our long days and working on the border, bit by bit.

 It's a mesh-like lace pattern that suits the afghan well as the lacy waves spills out beyond the afghan body ripples.

Our property underwent a major change. We had a few dead trees-one being a very large Ash-and some dead shrubbery, and we basically removed most of the front's landscaping and redid it with new plants and some paver stones. I'm still trudging through the 5 yards of mulch that I bought for the front and back. This project took us 5 times as long because we had no idea that there was a foot of rocks embedded in clay soil everywhere that we wanted to plant or dig for the pavers. What a nightmare!!! However, even though the plants are not mature yet (it will grow tall and bushy), you can see that potential for next year's growth below. The Purple Fountain Grass (there's 5 of them) and Russian Sage should get pretty large in the future:

I've also started landscaping in the shady area in the backyard that couldn't grow grass. I can finally see the light to the end of this landscaping tunnel.