Knitting Dragonflies

I had this pattern and wanted to make it for quite some time. After much dithering about the yarn to use. I choose some of my hand spun super wash merino.  And picked out some beads. At first I thought I was going to leave the beads out, then I thought, seriously, take a chance and I decided to use them! I had a hard time finding a color of bead to use that looked good. I  started the pattern, and frogged it once then went crazy and decided to use a variety of colors of beads to pick up with two predominate colors in my handspun. The method I chose to use for knitting with beads was the traditional way, string them all on and slip them down when needed. It worked ok, with this amount of beads (108 beads), but if I was using more, I would attempt the crochet method, (see links below) The pattern calls for the beads to be applied in 5 rows in a twisted rib pattern, I was pleased that it was easier than I anticipated. I found several good blog posts on knitting with beads.

I’ve always wanted to try some toe up socks. I found this wonderful, step by step tutorial from Silver on Toe up socks . You can knit a basic sock or design your own socks. What drew me to this tutorial was how in-depth it is.A video' and step by step diagrams, I thought “yes I can do this”. Each page is a separate step in the sock, broken down into little bits that make it clear and concise. Very detailed! So I’m off to find my sock yarn and needles. I had bought some Trekking XXL sock yarn a long time ago in color 135 Circus, it is a self patterning yarn. I took my instructions and yarn to work and actually cast on at lunch, while talking! It was that easy, I got several rows done, and was then off. Here I’m at home checking out the progress, Penny is not impressed with it. She would rather be running in the yard.   The tutorial recommends to watch a one sock on two circular video on You Tube, once I did that, I understood the concept, and didn’t have any problems. It

I have recently been captivated by watercolors. This is the last thing I thought I would ever try! But, upon reading Theresa’s blog Blueberries, Art and Life , I was sucked into the world of watercolors. (I’m getting a little looser with my brush) I’m amazed at how the colors blend and run, creating a  lightness that is theirs alone. For a reasonable price you can get a basic set of brushes, paint and paper, and get hooked. I found a website that has info on watercolors, Handprint.com by Bruce MacEvoy. Of course, like knitting, water color painting comes with a language all of it’s own. I like this site, lots of tutorials, there is a big learning curve in learning the strokes and how to be loose and free with them. I also tend to want to fill in every speck of the page with color. Unlike knitting there is no frogging! It is fun to search for watercolors on You Tube and watch some artists paint. Below is an example of “wet on wet” from Anders Andersson   So I p