My mom has been a knitter all my life and always produced beautiful pieces with flattering shapes, interesting tailored details and intricate stitch patterns. Choosing luxurious yarns and tiny needles, her pieces were never the frumpy acrylic horrors that some associate with hand knit items. Obviously, now that knitting is trendy, none of us thinks that way, but years ago, it was much more rare to see knitting that was also art, and I was always in awe of her pieces.

Now that I share her passion (addiction? money sucking black hole?) we have a tendency to spend much of our time together, when we are on the same coast, at bookstores and yarn shops. A couple weeks ago, when I was in NH, I picked up this book while with her:

You can click on the book to see the details of it at Amazon.

It's a book about knitting and crocheting with beads and I'm absolutely inspired. I haven't been shy in saying so and my mom, who has recently taken up wire and pliers jewelry making sent me a box full of luscious beads that are just perfect for knitting. The holes easily accommodate 2 thicknesses of worsted weight yarn.

So what does any red blooded knitter, with tons of other important things to do, do when she receives a box of beads for knitting? Why, she drops everything and starts swatching, of course. You knew I would say that, though, didn't you?


Obviously, the pictures don't do any of this justice. The yarn is a lovely silk and cotton mix in a dusty purple and the beads are a milky pink shade with a high luster. Even as my time to leave for work looms near, the swatch beckons me.
"Come play with us, Marnie, forever, and ever, and ever"

But, one huge bag of lovely pony beads wasn't all I got:

There was an equally large bag of jade colored pony beads, some gorgeous glass beads in shades of brown and yellow, a huge bag of some beads that I think she called "crow beads" but whatever they are they are simply lovely. Here's a close-up of them:

I wish the lighting at this hour were better so you could see more detail, but I think you get the idea.

Oh, and there were also two bags of glass fishy beads which are simply darling. I think they'd be great hanging from the end of a hem on a scarf or top, or used as buttons. I'll try to get pictures up soon, but the 405 calls and I must be a responsible adult and head to work.