Bad, Bad Blogger & A Long Post to make up for it

Its been a long time (again) since I posted but you will be happy to know that I will make up for it with some pictures! Before I post them though the reason I havent been blogging is because both my kids have been sick. My son had the Coxackie Virus and my daughter had Pneumonia again. She came home the other day with a 104 fever and said she couldnt breathe. Her camp took her to a Bluefish game and it was raining on and off all day. Instead of calling the game off and taking these kids back to the camp, they kept them sitting out in the rain! She was saturated when she came home and I couldnt figure out why.
My husband took her to the emergency room that night and confirmed what we thought. When she is better we have to take her to a pulmonologist to see if she needs daily medications to ward off getting pneumonia.

I also had my 1st visit to a dentist in almost 3 years! WOW! Yes, there were more pressing medical issues going on so I put the teeth on hold. I thought that I was in for a big surprise but the dental hygenist said my teeth had very little plaque on them and my gums didnt look to bad either. I was told by my old (jerk) dentist that I had serious periodontal disease and that I needed a gum transplant and all that jazz. Personally, I think he was money hungry and so did my husband. When it was time for me to see the dentist he told me that I had very nice teeth and that he couldnt believe just by looking at my teeth that it was so long since I had seen a dentist. I was more than happy when leaving the office!

I have been busy making jewelry and here are some of the fruits of my labors. This is a wire wrapped ring with a Swarovski crystal heart in the center.


This is a polymer clay necklace that I bought on Etsy from an awesome clay artist called ArtsyClay. She has a blog at:
http://artsyclay.blogspot.com/
I fell in love with this the 1st time I saw it because it reminds me of my dearly departed cat Dom and I. I have received several compliments on it since purchasing it last week. I am thinking about comissioning her to do my 3 doxies on a pendant.


A butterfly (unknown species) on my favorite blooming plant on my deck:


My Basil plant (my favorite herb)


Rosemary & Dill


A lone Tomato


The cement stone marker I made for Dom's grave.


Sunflowers that my husband bought me the other day.


The Old Man howling for a Snausage (LOL)


This is my first foray into the land of polymer clay. I made the shells, beads on the side of the turtle, the turtle itself and the small tan bead on the top. I made this for my daugher so I used a flexible wire so she can pull it over her head and not worry about clasps


Swarovski Filagree Bracelet and Earings.


Millifiori Cross Pendant and Wire wrapped marble necklace I made for my daugher.


Necklace,bracelet & earings I designed and made. I ablsolutely love this combination of beads, Swarovski crystals and colors. I especially love the fact that the silver beads are little lady bugs and the blue beads are leaves so they go together very well. I loved these beads so much I bought them in a beautiful turquoise green with matching crystals.


A close up of the Earings


Today I ventured out to my LYS, Knitting Central, to check out and see if they had any more Panda Cotton. They had received a sample pack of 10 skeins that quickly sold out and I wanted some but was to late! Cynthia was trying to order more but the company that makes it (Crystal Palace) wont allow her to buy it in small quantities. They want her to purchase 70 skeins! For a small yarn shop thats crazy. I want to know who in these big companies makes these rules? They probably figure that you can get it online if you really wanted but there is one thing you cant do online and thats feel the yarn. Dont get me wrong, I love to give business to the indie dyers that sell only online but I also love going to Knitting Central and giving them my business. I just hope these online stores dont hurt the small yarn shops in the future. So if you shop online and buy yarn go and spend some money at your LYS also. I bought some Koigu and a couple of books. Pictures will be in the next post so I can keep you all in suspense. They are beautiful bright summer colors and I am not sure yet what I want to make or I should say what sock pattern I want to make out of them. I wanted to make the Knitty anklet pattern with the Panda Cotton but seeing thats not going to happen any time soon I was contemplating using the Koigu but also thinking of using Cascade Fixation due to the fact its more of a summer/early fall sock and I dont want it to be to hot. Well, I think I need to finish some WIP's that are hanging out here first and as you can see from my posts there hasnt been a FO in a long time. As a friend reminded me, the summer time is for going out and having fun and there will be plenty of time in the colder months to knit so dont worry about it! I'm not worried about it but I certainly wish I got the new Harry Potter book on audio so I can do more than one thing at a time!

Good news is that the Starry Night Shawl class in pushed back another month until 9/19 so I have another reprieve from the hexagon knitting which I wasnt much into after the 4th one anyway. I want to reach out and slap all these people that finish things so fast! SLAP! Slow down and enjoy the PROCESS of knitting. The procrastinator I am will wait until the last minute to knit my hexagons. Oh well.

Edited to add:
If anyone reading is interested in purchasing any jewelry made by me or if they would like me to make something in a certain color or stone they like, please, by all means, let me know. I have been asked by several people who have seen me wearing my jewelry if there was a place they could buy it. Sadly, right now I dont have an Etsy shop but it is something that I am thinking about setting up in the future.