But, 'silver lining' and all that - managed to get quite a bit more done on my ripple blanket, with the bonus of the already-crocheted rows keeping me warm as I worked on it!
The main drama over our holiday and when we got back is that unfortunately, Mr Fox paid a visit to our garden and took 6 of the 7 chickens, in the middle of the day! The 7th, 'Bloomers' (she's a Light Sussex hen, looking like this, with lots of voluminous white feathers round the top of her legs, so my crab-like brain immediately thought she looked like she was wearing a big pair of lace trimmed Victorian undermentionables, and named her Bloomers) survived by virtue of the fact that she was getting very broody before we went on holiday so we put her in a separate penned-in area with a nest box.
On a much happier note, Bloomers has since hatched 5 chicks, of various breeds/crosses (when we saw how broody she was, yet how few eggs of her own she was sitting on, we grabbed a few of the other hen's eggs and put them in her nest). They're 2-and-a-bit weeks old now and growing fast. I'm resisting the urge to attach myself too much just yet, but they seem to be doing very well. Haven't managed to get photos yet because the British summer is...well...not very sunny right now... (biting my tongue big-time there!) but will try and get some snaps soon while the chicks are still doing cute things like sitting on mum's back (cute to me, probably not so much to Bloomers...)
Have been busy with beads since getting back, have got a serious addiction to spiral herringbone right now! But have also been stringing, making some gemstone jewellery using beads from here - have only ordered from them a few times but each order has arrived seriously quickly and the beads lovely - a couple out of the last order were cracked near where they'd been drilled - one phone call later and all sorted and replacements included in with my latest order - so impressed with the customer service, which unfortunately in my experience is often 'ok' at best, but can also be completely absent! These guys will be getting my business again for sure.
Along with the herringbone weaving and stringing, when I was 're-organising' (!) I found a few rivolis I bought a while back and decided to try beading a bezel on them but trying to make a necklace as well as the earrings I usually use them in. Pretty happy with how the set turned out (couldn't resist returning to form and making the matching earrings!) The rivolis are 14mm Swarovski in colour 'Vitrail Light' (to be honest, I couldn't capture the bright 'plain' colours of the yarn in my ripple blanket as they actually look, so I haven't got a hope-in-Helsinki of showing these lovely rivolis off as they really are! But they're a lovely mixture of a soft pink and pale sage green, different at every different angle)
Next on my to-bead list is an idea I've got for a necklace with several rivolis in different sizes...
Right, back to the beads now - along with the Vitrail Light rivolis I found a couple of dark purple ones, so I just need to decide whether to go the silver or gold route...I may be some time...
Marg xx
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