South West Trading Company is offering my humble little Christmas Tree ornament as a free pattern. Of course, I'm barley writing about it now, but since I do not have very many people visiting this blog anyway, there is a good chance that whoever is reading this already got an email from me anyway. :-) :-)

This little tree is made of SWTC's Inspiration yarn. It is the most yummy yarn that you can work with! I made a couple projects for the company with this yarn and just got hooked. This yarn has Alpaca in it - which should already explain a lot, and I guess is a bit fancy for an ornament, but you know what? Even if I hadn't designed it for SWTC, I would have spent the money on this yarn anyway - I'm worth it, and so if my family. Why not have an ornament that you can cuddle for a bit before hanging it on the tree? :-) :-) :-) This size 3 beads were an adventure and a half to get. I love working with this size since I stumbled on some from my former bead shop when we lived in CA. I found that it looked beautiful on the larger yarn and were perfect for that extra little accent that larger beads can give. Though I still love my smaller seed bead work, the larger beads do not take over the project like I tend to make my smaller bead project. :-) The smaller buggers tend to be like those wild parakeets in Australia - they hand around in these huge flocks and almost block out the sun when they're in flight. :-) Okay, so my beads do not block out the sun, but just like the parakeets, they're small and they like hanging out with LOTS of their buddies. :-) :-) :-)

So while in CA I was able to find size 3 seed beads pretty easily - and I'm sure Joanie will not mind the plug for her: Bead Asylum in Newark, CA. You can look her up in the yellow pages and get a map on how to get there. I was also able to find some at an awesome little shop that was suggested to me a couple months ago - Creative Destinations in Mesa, AZ. But the little beads that are pictured in my tree above were from All Strung Out in Cocoa Beach, FL. Three mini tubes were all that were used to create the little ornament above and the ladies that I worked with there are just the nicest ladies ever. You know, I've been to so many bead and yarn shops over the past years, and I have to tell you that I do not run into many shops that I don't like. :-) :-) Sure, there is one or two that I can totally blast in this blog, but I'm not that kind of person. My negative experience one time may be someones treasure chest bead/yarn shop and one bad experience should not influence anyone else's in my own humble opinion. Find your own treasure chest shop that you love to visit and hang out - I just gave you three potential shops so if you're lucky enough to be in the vicinity, go and check them out. :-) :-)

Okay, enough on that...

I'm working on some other little projects here that I hope to have completed and submitted by the beginning of the year. I'm not sure how or where they will be published, but I do know that they will get out there somehow. :-) :-) I've also submitted a few proposals for the Knit and Crochet show for this summer - who knows, if I'm lucky maybe I'll get back into teaching again. I'll keep you updated - the few that actually read this blog. :-) :-) :-)

Take care,
Pinka