Beading progress

I'm done with one of the four sides and I'm really pleased with how the mat is looking over all. It's a really cloudy day today so lighting is lousy - sorry for the poor photograph. It's hard to capture the sparkle of the tiny beads in any light, especially with such subtle color variations. Back to the grindstone. I need to get this finished by Sunday, so there are many hours of staring at a tiny needle and coaxing itty bitty beads out of containers still ahead of me. Wish me luck!

Secret project revealed

Remember this? My sister was so wistful and sad that she wouldn't be getting any beaded love that I had to do something. I'm already making a shawl for her wedding, so a wrap wouldn't work. Tried to think of something she could use, something that wouldn't get stuck in a box and looked at possibly once a year. I thought and thought, and then the idea came. My sister loves pictures and scrap booking and is very sentimental in general. Why not make a beaded mat for a picture frame? The beading would stay under glass, so no dusting (I cringed at the thought of a beaded frame that would gather dust and dirt constantly), and it would be something she could enjoy every day. Perfect! With a bit of help from her good at being sneaky fiance I got the future wedding picture size and off I went. I'm in the middle of insane beading at the moment that has to be finished by Friday afternoon (her shower is this Sunday and I'm flying out to California for the weekend), so hopefully more details soon. In the meantime, a few pictures to tide everyone over.

Bees!

With all the talk lately of declining and disappearing bee colonies, I've been keeping a watchful eye on my yard to see if I could find any. Despite many flowers, I hadn't seen any bees....until today. We have a huge Spanish lavender plant out in front that evidently is bee heaven when the flowers are in bloom. I counted at least a dozen bees flying busily from purple flower to purple flower. Such a lovely sight. I'll have to plant more Spanish lavender out back. Wonder if I can get cuttings to grow?

Wee bit of knitting

I haven't been knitting much at all in the past few weeks. This puts me behind schedule on my sister's shawl, but there's not much to be done about it. My hands have been shaking recently and it's just hard to do things that take a lot of fine motor skill, so gardening has been getting a lot more attention. No worries - I went to a Neurologist last Friday and hopefully will be getting some answers and in the meantime the shaking is getting a bit better, so all is well. Here is the center and just a bit of the first edging for my *almost* Cobweb Crepe Shawl. I picked up stitches all the way around and am using two long circular needles to continue on in the round. Keeping track of where I am in all of this is surprisingly hard to do so I copied the chart and am marking off each row as I go along. It's starting to look lace-like - see? Hard to see much of anything without blocking, but it's coming along.

Doing thing differently

I've been doing a lot of gardening lately. Took this picture after realizing that perhaps I use slightly different tools for the job. The basket of seeds is pretty self explanatory. The paper to the right is a garden plan drawn on grid paper so I know where everything should go. The L square is handy when measuring out square foot increments. I'm using biointensive gardening methods since I have such a small garden plot (8 x 8 feet, plus the smaller raised beds by the house). Planting involved tracing out each square foot, then filling each with whatever each block was supposed to have in it. I did a good bit of reading on companion planting so there's a stab at having plant "friends" close together (corn and pole beans, lettuce in the shade of cucumbers, etc.). I'm also trying to entice as many bees and beneficial insects as possible, so there are a goodly number of flowers, onions and garlic planted in and around the edges of the plot.

The hippity hop? Well, it makes a really nice seat, much better than a step stool or chair. Comfy, easy to lug around, and the rounded bottom doesn't poke holes in the ground.

I'm sure these aren't standard gardening tools, but I like them!

Weekend gardening

So much clearing, weeding, cultivating, amending, and planting this weekend. Dan is my new hero, the man with the pickaxe and a shovel ever-ready to haul rocks and dirt. Managed to clear out and 8 by 8 foot garden plot out in back and add in compost and peat moss to lighten up the soil a bit. I had already planted some peas there - added sugar snap peas, pole beans, and "Rocky" cucumbers (wee, bite sized seedless wonders) along the back fence as well. No other planting in the big clearing yet, since that got finished towards the end of the day and I was completely beat by then.

I did get tomatoes in: one Pik Red, one Oregon Spring, and two Brandywine. Planted some calendula out in front of them, and some butterfly mix to the side. My square foot garden plots from last year are all filled out now with basil, parsley (which is huge and taking over the right side there), oregano, thyme, cilantro, arugula, corn salad, butterhead lettuce, baby lettuce mix, green onions, radishes (plain and "Easter Egg" mix), teeny baby carrots, and some bush beans. Doesn't look like much yet, but give it a month and there'll be a lot of green.

We also pulled out a ton of stuff out in front of the house. Red lava rocks...oh, how I hate the stuff. It's everywhere, including down into the clay soil. Lovely. We filled bucket after bucket with rocks, then amended the soil a bit. Dan pried out the brick edging strips along the curb (they just made one more spot weeds could hide), then I planted a bunch of sweet alyssum and hostas. Also tossed out some "bee and butterfly" mix in the open area where our bush used to be - we'll plant something else there soon, but for now filler will have to do.

It was so nice to finally be able to plant and really get working on the yards. This is one of the things I have been looking forward to the most since hurting my ankle - getting out and gardening.

Once a month baking

Did a bit of easy baking today. Needed something to take along with us to Game Club - a local Asperger's support group event that happens once a month. The boys really look forward to going, and I don't blame them! Board games, video games, card games, snacks and pizza, and a showing of a new DVD on a big screen complete with popcorn are all great, but having a group of other kids who are all at a similar social skills level is even better. Most kids with Asperger's have a difficult time making friends due to problems picking up on social cues, added to the fact that many of these kids do a lot of things that seem a bit odd as well. So a night like this means pretty much guaranteed success, which is huge. Parents get to hang out and talk and generally get a very well deserved break, so everyone wins. Each family brings a snack (hence the baking) and a $5 donation that helps go towards games and upkeep. Well worth it.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
makes 24 - 36 bars

These may look like just another ho-hum cookie bar recipe, but give them a try - they're quite addictive. You can play with it quite a bit, too - add other extras, leave some of mine out, it's all good. The whole wheat flour is mainly there so I can delude myself into thinking that these are marginally healthful, so feel free to leave it out and use all regular flour instead.

1/2 cup melted butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour (or use all regular flour, or 1/2 cup whole wheat and 1 cup all purpose)
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup coconut, unsweetened
1/3 cup quick oats
1/3 cup chopped walnuts or other nuts
1/2 cup chocolate chips

1 Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 9 x 13 inch pan. If the pan is glass or Pyrex, turn the oven heat down to 300.
2 Mix butter, sugar and eggs together well. Add salt, flours and baking powder and stir until thoroughly mixed. Add coconut, oats, and nuts and mix to distribute evenly. Spread over the bottom of buttered pan (the batter is really thick). Sprinkle chocolate chips over the top. Bake for around 25 - 30 minutes, or until dry on top and almost firm to the touch. Let cool until chocolate chips are solid again, then cut into small squares.

Milestone

Ryan lost his first tooth today. I think he's officially the oldest kid in his school to lose a tooth at a few months past eight, but he's alway run on his own personal timetable. I can't get over how different he looks! The tooth is in an envelope inside his favorite jacket, which he lost today, so the Tooth Fairy is waiting a day for him to search (which coincidentally gives us time to find a dollar coin to pop under his pillow tomorrow night). I've already showed him how to slip a straw into the gap, but I haven't showed him how to squirt water through. Some things are better figured out on your own.

Happy Easter

I'm a bit in between on celebrating anything religious today - still figuring out where I am and what I believe. But today feels like Spring and renewal and life, and that I'm happy to celebrate to the hilt, regardless of anything else on top of it. Today the boys woke up to Easter baskets filled with colored foam sheets, water balloons, bubbles, glow in the dark bracelets, pinwheels, ceremonial chocolate bunnies (must bite off the ears first), and tiny wooden birdhouses. We all had pancakes with berries and yogurt for breakfast, then spent the morning baking a humongous beehive bread. We all had fun rolling out strips of dough, twisting them together, then wrapping them around a pyrex bowl to bake. The boys attacked the loaf less than a moment after I took this picture, and I don't blame them! It was delicious. It was a beautiful, sunny day today - perfect for watching the boys run through the breeze laughing and chasing each other. They had their fair share of fighting today as well, but I savored those perfect moments of sunshine, flowers, and innocence.

I got several requests for the Beehive Bread recipe, so here 'tis. The bread is sweet and rich with just a touch of lemon and goes really well with just a dab of sweet butter.

Beehive Bread
adapted from "Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads"

5 1/2 to 6 cups bread flour (I used unbleached all purpose flour)
1 package dry yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk, warmed
1 Tb grated lemon peel
5 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 egg, beaten, mixed with 1 tsp milk

1 baking sheet
ovenproof glass or metal mixing bowl - 9" wide by 4" deep

Mix 2 cups flour, yeast, salt and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the milk and lemon peel. Beat until mixture is smooth. Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing after each is added. Stir in the butter.

Add flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough can be lifted from the bowl easily (you may have flour remaining).

Knead the dough about 10 minutes, until it is smooth and elastic. Cover top of bowl with plastic wrap or a damp cloth and let dough rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Take dough out of the bowl and knead for 2-3 minutes. Put back in the bowl, cover, and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Shaping - the fun part!

Turn bowl over and cover with aluminum foil, pressing down to smooth the surface. Rub generously with butter and place on top of a baking dish without sides.

Take the dough out of the refrigerator. It'll be cold and pretty hard, so work it with your hands for a little while to get it moving well again. Roll dough into a thick snake and cut into 20 pieces. Roll each piece into ropes about 18 - 20 inches long and about 3/8" thick with narrowed ends. Take two ropes, pinch the ends together, and twist them together.

Wrap each twist around the bowl, starting from the bottom rim. As you add another twist, pinch the ends and overlap them a little to blend them in. Keep wrapping until you run out of dough. You might not get all the way to the top, which still looks great. If you need to have a solid bottom start from the center top and spiral around from there and down.

Cover with a cloth and let rise for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Carefully brush the bread all over with the egg mixture. Bake until golden brown all over, 25-30 minutes. You may need to turn the bread around once to get all sides evenly golden. Put the bowl on a cooling rack and let cool.

When the bread is at room temperature you can either leave it on the bowl (I did), take out the bowl and crumple up some foil to hold up the center, or flip the bread over to use as a basket. If you want a basket you may want to bake it flipped side up for another 5 minutes or so to firm up the inside edges a little.

Place bread in a conspicuous location and bask, then tear off a bit to enjoy.

Spring has sprung

Pink Bleeding Hearts, out in our front yard:

White Bleeding Hearts:

Wild fringed Bleeding Hearts, which have taken over a large patch out in front:

Blooming tree:

I love this time of year :-)

...and cast off!

On Friday I hobbled into the doctor's office, more than ready to get this blasted cast off my foot. Out came the big, scary saw. You know, the one that doesn't cut skin but looks lethal. That one. After a lot of careful cutting my doctor admits why she's extra cautious with this thing: it used to be a bone saw. Images from assorted horror movies are at this point dancing through my head. Then, halleluia, no more cast. On went the ol' walking boot, and off I went into the sunset. Walking still hurts a bit so I'm taking things very easy, but I'm a lot more mobile now so life is good.

Speaking of good things, look what I got in the mail today. Yarn! I won Lorette's knitting tip contest (random drawing, but still!) yesterday. Got the yarn today. That lady is lightning fast. The Opal Lollipop 1009 will most likely end up as socks for the boys - they both loved all the colors. Now the Cherry Tree Hill Glitter Alpaca is just beautiful. It's full of purples, deep greens, and a bit of bright pink here and there shot through with tiny winks of shine all over. So soft and light. Haven't a clue what I'll do with it, but I think knitting it up will be my reward for finishing up my sister's wedding shawl. Thanks again, Lorette!
Also finished up Ryan's socks, made from the yarn I dyed over at Abundant Yarn. He loves them and will not take them off. I'm taking this as a good sign.

Spring Break

Haven't posted in a bit, mainly because there hasn't been a lot going on here other than finding creative things to do on one leg. This gets old, oh, within about the first 10 minutes of starting out on crutches. The ankle seems to be mending well, and thankfully the cast comes off tomorrow. I'm counting the minutes until that doctor's appointment - not only will I be freed from crutches and the itch way down where you can't scratch it cast, but I'll be able to drive! Oh, glorious day indeed. There's nothing like being stuck at home and put at the mercy of others for a ride. Brings me right back to fifteen, right at the cusp of being independent and just tasting freedom.

This is day four of Spring Break, and I'm proud to say that both the boys are alive. Oh, and I appear to also be sane. This is quite a feat, one accomplished so far by signing Arden up for drama camp (two hour rehearsals each day, rides from my mother in law), craft projects galore, many taped episodes of Mythbusters and Dirty Jobs, and the baking of many, many cookies. And a healthy supply of Mike's Hard Lemonade. It's medicinal.

Last night, I was able to have a Spring Break of my own. My mother in law dropped me off at Abundant Yarn, where I promptly sat down with a bag o knitting to wait for Ann and Kay of Mason Dixon fame. I worked on the not quite Cobweb Crepe Shawl since the center is really just a great big dishcloth knit on very fine yarn. Also brought my *almost* (really, honest!) finished Perfect Sweater. We all sat and waited and talked, and in the process I met two of the nicest knitters: Meghan (no blog yet, but I'm working on her) and Janna (brand new blog - go take a peek!). We had a great time talking and admiring each other's knitting, and I hope to see both of them again sometime soon.

Eventually Ann and Kay arrived and they were just as real and funny and sweet in person as their writing would suggest. We got to see glorious blankets, dishcloths, and my personal favorite, the wee baby Blu Jeans. So incredibly cute and so soft in Rowan Denim. As everyone was waiting in line, I sent up a basket of sugar cookies to properly fortify signers and signees alike. I waited until things thinned out a bit, then made my way up to the table. Ann gave me the warmest hug when she figured out who the heck I was. I laid out the Perfect Sweater, mentioned being chicken to finish the buttonholes, and got invited to the SlogAlong - which I will be joining. We all talked for a while (again, did I mention how nice Ann and Kay are? They're both just plain good people), then set off for dinner. Had some amazing pizza at Ken's Artisan Pizza, talked and talked and talked. Finally got everyone's name! Aside from the wonder twin powers of Ann and Kay there were Larissa of Stitch Marker, Jessica of Rose-Kim Knits, Sarah of Cafe Mama and Sarah of Zeitgeist. I got home after ten (Sarah took pity and gave me a ride - thanks again so much!). Felt like summer break back in high school, between bumming a ride, hanging out and talking at a pizza place, and the whole summer camp feeling of meeting people from far away.

Not a bad Spring Break at all.

Cast on

Ah, this feels so much better than the walking boot!* So slim, so soft, so light. The doctor adjusted my crutches so they should be much easier to walk on, too. This sucker will stay on for two weeks, at which point we find out if I can bear weight using the walking boot. In the meantime, no driving and no walking on this foot since the cast could break. To add to the general fun of things, the boys have Friday off and Spring break next week....so I will be at home, on crutches, with two wound up little ones. Ought to be entertaining, to say the least. I'm stocking up on craft supplies, movies, and alcohol (the latter is for me).

It's a bit cold, so I think I'll make a wee toe sock in Spring-ish colors. The cast needs some color, right?

*Which I can be seen here. I must get more attractive footwear.

It's broken

Woke up yesterday morning and realized that a week after falling my ankle and foot were still really swollen and bruised and noted that the pain didn't seem to be getting any better. Called my doctor's office, who recommended x-rays. So off to the local Urgent Care I went. Got three lovely pictures of my ankle bones, waited, then talked with a very nice Nurse Practitioner. Result? I have a "distal fibula fracture". In English, that means the outer bone on my ankle is broken. I was ordered to get right off that foot completely and use my crutches, which I'm now doing amidst much grumbling since my other foot isn't quite 100%, either. Ow. Tomorrow I'll get it casted and hopefully be back on my feet, at least somewhat. At least we have a very comfortable couch.

Still off my feet, for the most part

My ankle is still very swollen and there's one huge bruise from my toes to several inches up my ankle (which actually looks rather like the yarn over there). If the skin there were yarn, it'd be one lovely sock. I'm thinking of it as temporary body art. I can walk on the ankle a little bit, though I look like a drunken sailor trying to use it at all. But I'm finally able to drive just a wee bit and I *can* get to the bathroom without crutches, so life is good. Looks like a really bad sprain that I'm babying by having it propped up most of the time.

Last night, as a celebration of my newly regained driving ability, I went to a dye and sock knitting class over at Abundant Yarn and Dyeworks. I already dyed my yarn a few weeks back with indigo (nasty smelling stuff, but really fun to use) and other natural colorants, so tonight was just knitting. They were having a fiber festival, so the first thing my instructor said was, "do you want to walk around a bit and see all of the yarn?" Walk? No, not really so much. So she sent me over to find a table to sit at while we knitted. When I got over to the cafe tables, a grin spread over my face.We sat, knitting and talking, while soaking our feet in one of these for an hour and a half. Now that's my idea of heaven...or Footopia. Ahhhh....need one of these at home.

Oh, and tonight I'm leaving Dan and the boys to fend for themselves while I go galivanting off to dinner with a friend visiting from out of town. We're going to go here because they have a gluten free menu. Well, and also because the food there is delicious. Expensive, but delicious!

I get it

Yesterday was a big day - no more bed rest, but more importantly I had the all clear to drive. Hooray! Sadly, I seemed to have caught whatever bug Arden and Dan got earlier this week, so I was tired and headache-y and miserable and remained on the couch for the most part. Last night Ryan decided he'd really like a new pair of socks, too, please, so I went upstairs to grab my tape measure so I could cast on. Got to the bottom step of the stairs and somehow inexplicably tripped and fell. Hard. Both feet twisted underneath me and a few choice words came out of my mouth that honestly could not be controlled at that moment. The boys looked on, agape, as Dan raced to get two bags of ice and place them on my ankles.

After the tears stopped and things were throbbing slightly less, I started laughing hysterically. Dan looked at me, puzzled, until I threw my arms up to the sky and said, "OK! I get it! I'll rest, dammit." Subtle, very subtle. But then, sometimes I apparantly need a 2 x 4 to the head to slow down. Thankfully I kept the crutches, brace, and walking boot from when I pulled the tendon in the other ankle, so I'm using those for the time being. May take a trip to Urgent Care later today if I need to - waiting to see on that. But first and foremost, I'll be sitting on the couch with my feet up, feeling very silly.

And laughing just a little bit.

I hate Daylight Saving Time

The concept of hours and minutes and days is pretty artificial to start with, I'll admit. But once we all agreed for the most part on what time it was, why mess with that twice a year? It's hard enough to get to bed at a reasonable hour without suddenly moving things up an hour. Grrr. But you know what I like even less? When someone decides, "hey, let's make the switch a few weeks early this year, just for the fun of it." Double grrrr.

I did finish Arden's socks and am feeling pretty decent today, so I can't complain much. But I'm still going to do so.

Hanging out on the couch, knitting

Haven't been doing much else this week. Had some surgery on Tuesday (let's just say female issues and leave it at that) and I've been on bed rest since. Normally I can't stand not doing things, so I planned ahead by getting a good book to read, plenty of taped shows on TV, and some knitting to do. Arden picked out this bright Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Dusk and decided he really, really wanted a pair of socks that he could wear with sneakers. No problem. I cast on Tuesday morning and stopped only when the anesthesiologist came in. "Let me finish this row" was I think the last thing I said before getting the happy juice and everything going all hazy. I've been sleeping and reading much more than I would have planned - really wiped out physically, but I still managed to finish one sock and am down to the heel on the second, which should be done tomorrow.

I'm healing up decently well, but sitting is less than comfortable right now. So more knitting and TV watching and lots of water and rest for the next few days. Once I finish the socks I'm on to start my sister's (not quite) Cobweb Crepe Shawl for real, since she gave the all clear on the Zephyr. Can't wait to get going!

Tiny knitting

So what else have I been up to? Lots of eensy tiny knitting. I laid out all the shawl patterns I could find for my sister, and finally she ended up choosing the Cobweb Crepe Shawl from Sharon Miller, found in her Heirloom Knitting book. For some reason this doesn't seem to be a very popular pattern, or at least I haven't found much mention of it online. Not sure if that's because it calls for cobweb weight yarn or because it isn't quite as ornate as many of her other patterns. Anyway, I started knitting a wee swatch in the border pattern right away, simply to practice a bit. The picots are a bit fiddly, but it isn't bad to knit up at all. Then I ordered some cobweb weight wool over at KPixie. This stuff was sooo incredibly fine and soft! I started knitting a small diagonal square and then picked up just two corners to work out how to start the wide border.

At this point I was blown away with how ethereal and soft the yarn was. And with how easily it broke. I also noticed that the yarn was awfully deep beige/yellow, which normally wouldn't be any problem but wouldn't go well with my sister's diamond white wedding dress. You know, the whole reason for knitting the thing in the first place. I called my sister, explained that I was worried about the color and gee, while we're at it, is this the kind of yarn you want since I have to order something else anyway? She decided a heavier, stronger yarn would be perfect. I sent off the cobweb swatch anyway, just so she could see how things would look with the pattern. Oh, and made the world's smallest ball of yarn for Arden who loves all things teensy :-) Meanwhile, I searched high and low for actual white laceweight yarn. Just about impossible to find, I'm guessing because bleach would be too damaging on fibers that fine?

In the end, I bought a cone of Jaggerspun Zephyr 2/18 laceweight in white. Once it arrived I saw that it's actually off-white as well, but I think this will end up being perfect. I'll have to play with the size of the center section so the wrap doesn't end up too big, but it should be doable. And the Zephyr knits up so nicely! The silk really gives it strength, too - enough that I can't break the yarn by hand without a lot of work. I started knitting a much larger swatch (so large that Dan assumed I was knitting the actual shawl) so I could try out picking up the border on all sides and working on circulars. Not bad at all. I'll place the stitches on a holder for now and use it to practice working the border later. Now if I could only think of something useful to do with it later! Might need to make up a pillow or something.

Still not sure if this off-white will get the all clear from my sister. I sent another swatch off and am waiting to hear back from her. She's not extremely picky, but this is the wedding she's been dreaming of for thirty-five years, so I'd like to give her something that makes her feel like a princess if I can. And having a bunch of Zephyr lying around can't be a bad thing, can it?

By the way, would anyone like 2000 yards of Shetland cobweb weight yarn? I only used a tiny bit, and it's so incredibly soft and airy.

Pictures

All right, I promised lots of pictures. Here's a good start. Back in December, my sister called to ask if I would be willing to make up a wrap for a friend of hers who was getting married in February. I answered back with a bunch of questions: what kind of thing did this friend want? How much was she planning on spending? What did the wedding dress look like? Most importantly, was she very picky? I had nightmares of a bride in California unhappy with every tiny thing I did and the nightmares that could possibly ensue. My sister assured me that her friend was very laid back and would be incredibly happy with anything I made.

I talked to the friend and tried to narrow things down a little bit. She sent me pictures of her dress (seen here) and said she wanted something satin-ish with beading that hit around the waist. Off to the fabric store for swatches, since I couldn't really tell exactly what color the dress was via the link or her pictures. I found some likely candidates and sent them off so she could pick something that would work well. Meanwhile, I tried to see what the beading looked like on the dress so I could echo it somewhat. My sister came to the rescue here when she visited in January - we found the exact dress at a store, so I got a good look at it. Yay! That helped a lot when I went to design the pattern.

I wanted something that would coordinate with the dress and look similar in the detailing, so I took the vines and leaves pattern and started drawing. I used graph paper so the end result would be symmetrical and penciled in vines and drawing the individual beads until I liked the overall design. Then I stitched the sides of the wrap together and placed the pattern under one layer of fabric, tracing the lines with an air erase pen. I machine stitched over the lines with a silver thread veeeery slowly, since the thread snags and breaks very easily. I learned to use larger stitches and re-thread pretty often.

Then I started beading. Here's where I should mention that I've never done this kind of work before. I have sewn larger beads onto fabric and I've done cross stitch and needlepoint and all kinds of find hand sewing, but this was all new to me. When I went to the bead store I had no idea what the different beads were called or what to use to sew them on - all I knew was what was on the dress. The nice lady at the bead store walked me through finding the right kinds of tiny beeds (seed beads?), I learned that the crystal beads I wanted were "fire polished", and found out that freshwater pearls are actually not that expensive (good, because they really made the wrap). When I told her what I was attempting, she paused, then very carefully said "...well, that's quite ambitious" thinking, I'm sure, something more along the lines of "that woman is insane."

The beading took a long time and was very exacting. The needles used for beads this fine are unbelievably tiny - so small, the eye of the needle is barely large enough to fit the insanely narrow beading thread through. After a while I got the hang of threading the needles and got into a groove of following the silver stitching with a narrow line of tiny beads, then adding a lone pearl in the center of each leaf. The pearls got double stitched as they are a bit heavy. I beaded and beaded and beaded, dipping my needle into a wee bowl of tiny silvery bits to gather up more as I went, until my distance eyesight would get a bit blurry. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Finally I was done (cue angel's voices here) and stitched up the ends of the wrap, then hand stitched the remaining opening. I ever so carefully ironed it, packed it in tissue, and sent it off, hoping the bride to be would like it.

My sister went to the wedding and told me her friend loved the wrap. Evidently people kept coming up and commenting on it, and several people asked if my sister was going to get a wrap like it for *her* upcoming wedding. Well, no. I am making an heirloom lace shawl, which is just as cool and is exactly what my sister asked for (more on that later). But I noted a bit of regret in my sister's voice when she told me this, so I have something special planned as a bridal shower gift. More on that later, too.