Fall Knitting and Some Beading Too

I do a lot of transporting of kids. Between taxiing the girls to school and Will to his job, I spend a bunch of time waiting around in the car. I always bring my knitting and ipad (and Darla dog) so I don't get bored, angry or lonely. I am still working through my stash and decided to get some winter socks knit up. This orangey red yarn is Zauberball, a German yarn. I am liking how the fiery ember colors emerge.

I also knit up a hat that is in the zig zaggy chevron style of Missoni. I love Missoni knits. I even got to take a tour of their Lake Como design studios when I was in college (it was to die for). When I heard that Target was going to have a limited edition Missoni promotion, I got very excited. Our local store in Traverse City only got in a few of the promised items. I took some photos of the shoes, bedsheets, shower curtains, neck pillows. They weren't as splashy as the original designs but it was nice to see an attempt at high fashion being marketed for middle America. Too bad that Target wasn't prepared for the hoards of customers wanting a piece of the zig zag action. Their online server broke.

Here's how the finished hat looks. It's going to my friend Maria, who won it off me in a game of Words with Friends. Maria is from my hometown in Long Island. Her mother was my girl scout leader and I remember taking these horrible roller skating lessons with her and her sister. Anyway, she now is in San Jose, Ca and I'm sending her the prize hat. Who knew she was a scrabble champ?!?

I haven't done this in a few years, but Katherine and I did some beading. It started when I kept seeing this sweet bracelet in some catalogs at ridiculously high prices. We dug out the bead bin. Doesn't everyone have a bead bin? And we picked out some of the strands that would be suitable for the Chan Luu look.

I chose bronze pearls and brown leather for a double wrap. It looks sort of Viking-ish and Thor, doesn't it?


Katherine chose metallic gold square beads and opted for a single wrap (check out her pink glitter nails!).

We got them done in a few days between homework and other stuff. I went out and bought more leather lacing and thread for a couple of more bracelets. Click on this link for some tutorials on how to make them. They're pretty easy. I think I need to try one in faceted garnets next. But I better finish my second sock first.