More Beads! More Beads!

But first, I finished knitting the Harf!
Now I just have to weave in the ends, decide about fringe, and find a way to block the thing.
Pictures to come.

Second, I received an e-mail over the weekend from the publicity rep at a publishing company saying they liked my recent article in Yarn Market News and would I like to receive copies of their knitting titles to review on my blog!
How cool is that?
And I said, "Hell yes, I want to review knitting books!"
Well, actually, I responded in a very positive, but professional matter to their proposal.
Conveniently, there is a big publishing show in New York City next Friday that Boss Man and I were going to attend anyway, so I arranged to stop by their booth. hehehe!

So, the Beads
You see, above, the results of my labor.
If you find yourself entranced by all the pretty, shiny things and decide to make your own homemade stitch markers, I urge you to save yourself the time, energy, and aggravation and just buy some of the ones other people make.
Ok, seriously, I urge you to get a lesson or find someone to show you how. Makes life tons easier.
I met the teacher at the store on Thursday and in no time at all she had me on the right track.
She said I didn't really need crimping tubes for stitch markers (which is good because mine are the wrong size for my new, thicker wire) and showed me how to wrap the wire instead.
She also said I might want to consider 24 gauge wire instead of the 20 gauge I've got, so I'm glad I bought a small coil this time.

Starting at the bottom of the picture, this row is on a US8 and is mainly the beads from my cousin's wedding, which started this whole adventure.
The last one in the row, with the leaf, is the one I managed to make earlier in the week. The teacher said it was a bit big and heavy, but it I had the right idea.

The middle row is on a US7, as you can see, they are smaller, and she showed me the correct way to get the leaf on there.

The top row is on a US2. Little bitty markers. I tend to use US2 and US1 for my sock knitting, so these will come in handy.

In addition to showing me how to wrap the wire around itself, she showed me how to make the loop either around a pair of pliers or a knitting needle. At the time, I was entranced by her beading specific tools and was convinced I needed to get a set.
But after I was driving home, I recovered from the effects of the shiny stuff and think I'll wait and see what happens before investing more money in this activity.

However, I'm still obsessed with the idea of getting Tiger's Eye to go with my Honey Pot yarn. The fancy bead store is somewhere in the town I work in, so should be an easy jaunt, but I should wait until I'm closer to working on that project. And I should take the yarn with me. I never remember colors properly.

Doe, a Deer
There was a deer in the backyard on Friday morning!
This is only the third deer sighting in the five years we've been in the house.
Hubby saw it out the upstairs window and called down to me.
I didn't see it out the back door, so I moved over the the sliding doors near the Franklin stove, and there is was by the bilco doors to the basement. (Which is what this strange picture is supposed to be illustrating.)
Our eyes met.
I could tell the deer was thinking, "Oh no!" because it froze and its ears twitched.
I quickly retreated, so as not to scare it or bring it to the puppies' attention.
I ran upstairs to get the camera, but the batteries were charging for the prom that night, so by the time I got back downstairs the deer was gone.
Hubby was tracking it through the house and saw it jump over the fence near the dogwood tree.
Then we were worried it would get hit in the road, so I ran to the front door and saw it get safely to the other side.
phew!