Unexpected Hiatus

It's nice to be back online. I've been out of commission and suffering severe internet withdrawal since my ancient computer kicked it a couple weeks ago, refusing to even power on. But as luck and timing would have it, my brother recently acquired some new hardware and kindly passed on his old computer on to me when we convened at the parental home for turkey and a couple pies (while I still am biased toward my own pumpkin pie, I have to give him props for the chocolate pecan delight he concocted for the holiday foodfest). Despite my brother's upgrade, his old machine is still a good one, and a most definite upgrade for me. I am enjoying it thoroughly, so thanks, kiddo.

The other night over a few glasses of wine, Kelly and Jenna were trying to convince me that knitting with beads and wire is really not that difficult. I was rather skeptical, as I just could not visualize the technique despite reaching into the depths of my imagination. It wasn't so much working with wire that intimidated me as it was the idea of working beads into the knitting. Jenna insisted that it would make sense once I tried it; so, the following day I ventured out to procure some 26 guage jewelry wire.

Well, they were right! It really isn't that difficult, and I've been having a bit of fun with it. There's also the added incentive of the more or less instant gratification these votive holders produce given their quick knitting time (1 hour).

My first attempt was rather clumsy as I got acquainted with manipulating the wire and setting the beads, but I can't complain too much:




For Take 2, I put a little more thought into bead placement to get this:



I had a few problems keeping tension consistent, so that my finished holder isn't quite even with the surface which is why those beads up at the top refuse to sit right, but hopefully I'll soon get them to look more like these or these.

In other news, Hourglass is reaching the final stretch!