Some things are easy to explain ... others not so much

And today's post has two easy to explain projects, and one of the not so easy to explain projects. First up, the frog pond socks,

These grow, and in truth once one is working the foot of a top down sock progress is much much speedier. In this case the lace pattern is worked only on the top of the foot, so the sole stitches fly past in a blur of plain knitting. I suspect there is only an evening of knitting left in these, so my self I posed deadline to finish these before I finish my other sock project seems to have worked.

The other project is working up nicely, You turn by Vintage Purls, I've done with the heel and the gusset decreases. And I must say I'm kind of in love with the Sunray of decreases that form the heel cup. I've always liked Sunray darts and never even considered using or finding them in a sock heel ... But there you go. Note yarn is much more orange than it appears, but it was a dull day, and my camera seems to have taken the dullness to heart.

Now it is time to explain the project that is harder to explain, a butterfly. A few weeks ago one of our final year students was exploring beading for her final collection. She had beaded dresses last semester but the beads were tiny, and spaced wide apart within deep pleating in satin and organza. The end result was pretty close up but lost at any reasonable distance, this time around we all encouraged her to use larger more dramatic beads, and I was asked if I would share my tambour tools. I was happy to but felt I needed a wee practice, so spend a few hours that weekend practicing, before taking a table hoop, student hook and showing her the basics. That wee practice sparked a desire to become more proficient, and I again dug out my books and looked around online. Long story short I realized that doodling away with a tambour hook and a variety of threads wasn't the kind of deliberate practice that would I prove my work - in short I needed a project that provided focus. Butterfly's are a traditional embroidery motif, allowing for a range of colours and stitches ... So a butterfly was chosen and started. This is the work from the back, the side that faces me as I work.

And from the front, there are hot pink sequins, fold bugle beads and gold beads, and shiny silver lined blue beads. The work started tamely enough with dark grey chai. Stitched outlines ... then quickly descended into bling, mor bling, and shiney glossy bling. I can't explain that at all, if you have followed this blog for any time you will recognize my colour palette runs to muted, and dull and matt.
I am at a loss to know how this happened, but is has, and it keeps happening, growing and glistening. Not only that but I feel a deep urge to invest in more sequins ... They are such fun to add to embroidery and I feel in ought be mastering the tambour hook. Once my butterfly is done, I might even be planning a frog, worked with a range of pearlescent and shiny green, olive, grey and other frog coloured sequins and beads ....I suspect i should be asking for help, an intervention, or preventative detention ... . But I don't care, I'm enjoying it and loving the bling, even if I don't know why or where it will end.
Take care - and what's your craft aside you can't explain.
Na Stella

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