I promised

I promised you after a week of light blogging to be in full swing today and then a migraine arrived in the middle of the night.....and pretty much wiped out my day. I plan to keep it low key, perhaps knitting in the sunshine on the veranda. I have the baby cardigan, as well as some new hot pink mohair with fanciful little bits of ribbon yarn knit in. A really mindless knit, which is nice to pick up when mindless is in order like today.

I do still have some Beading by the Bay to report, although I am photoless on this one, we did have an impromptu ring design contest, spurred on by one of Lark's generous book gifts, A Ring a Day.



The challenge in this book was begun through social media, with a large number of artists signing on to make one ring a day for 365 days. Lark picked up on the theme and published many of the fanciful creations that resulted.

On day one, the group from Rachel's class consisting of a lot of our 'local girls' (folks that live nearby and have been customers of the Beading Frenzy and students of my classes for a loooong time) came up with the idea of making a ring from found materials.

The finished rings were displayed for each of the luncheon tables, and Sherry was our capable judge. Anne's dinner ring was made from the previous evenings dinner receipt, while Fae used her knitting skills to knit up an i-cord ring. Most beautiful was awarded to Susan who twist tied her Chinese medicine doll to her finger and named her Lolita. Kathy made a Bozo engagement ring from a metallic red fluffy ball and Dumbo's rings from a giant plastic peanut. Much fun and creativity abounded.

The next day the Seattle group and adopted Michiganion decided not to be outdone and developed their own challenge. Liz started with tying the ribbon from her kit, my signature polka dot around her finger. She added some crystal, of course, tied it around her finger and named it 'Don't forget to register for BBTB 2013'

Julz used some crystal from her Swarovski dessert reception stash to make 'I'm not leaving my heart in San Francisco'

Constance, who won most dainty, used her empty fire line spool to make her ring 'reeled into crystals' and it spins, Beads in Motion anyone?

Linda made two rings, one of which she gifted to me using the BBTB m&m's from her gift bag, she made 'Marcia Madness, Most Marvelous Women' Pretty clever.



I loved the spirit of the impromptu challenge and the added fun to what is already a truly fun and memorable event.

Oh, and in case you haven't heard......next years teachers? Marcia DeCoster, Huib Petersen and Sabine Lippert!