Fits Like A

Glove, duh.

OK, it's a little awkward taking a picture of your own hand, so this looks a little crooked, but check out the cable that splits and travels into the middle and ring fingers. Here's a picture without that distorting hand:

Of course it's not taken quite head-on, but still you can see that the diamond shape is squarely on the back of the wrist, and the cable diverges neatly and symmetrically into the ring and middle fingers. 

I love gloves, they're perfect for when you need instant gratification and you have too little yarn for anything else but. I don't waste time on socks are too thick to fit inside my shoes or not thick or sturdy enough to be house socks, so I should remember that those in-between yarn weights will make excellent gloves.

My new boyfriend (as my friends refer to him), the lampworker with whom I'm hoping to develop a working relationship (working, people, WORKING), gave me a super-cool cabochon to play with. It's pretty much clear with amber cloudiness and creamy dots when set against a light background, but when you set it over black, blue tones spring out at you, which prompted me to spend a little time detailing its rear, which I would normally leave open.

It's pretty in its own right, and lends just enough interest to the front:

Actually, if I'd photographed it absolutely 100% head on (there's a slight angle), you'd be able to see the actual beading pattern a bit better, but it does emphasise the fabulous colouration of the glass inside the cab and gives it some Murk Factor, which is related to the Sludge Factor, which in my world is a Good Thing.

My usual inclination when combining colours is a monochromatic palette - not that I don't like contrasts and complimentary colours, I do, but it's not where I go when I'm picking up tubes or hanks of beads. For this one though, because I needed the blue iris charlottes (and yes, these are actually charlottes - Czech size 13 with a single facet - not true-cuts in a different size which many call charlottes but which are not technically charlottes) for the netted backing, since the Door To Contrasts has been opened, I guess I'll have to step all the way through and use a full range of blues, ambers and golds. I really want golden pearls to pick up the dots in the cab (I think they're poked from the back), but meanwhile I'm working on this also:

Isn't the bead incredible? It's by Harold Cooney, and I actually have one of my own too.

This bead is genius, absolutely gorgeous (and the photo is pretty true). It's a hollow, flame-worked bead with a slightly concave back so that it lays beautifully, satin-etched and ever so slightly translucent. I bought it at Bead Fest Philadelphia 2006, where I was teaching, at a booth with a trio of cute young guys (Andrew Brown, Harold Cooney, and someone else whose name I didn't get but was probably Bryan Kitson). I bought from two of them, and if ever I see the third one, and I have a job, I'm buying one of his cold-worked beads as they are also stunning, but at the time I was already freaking out about how much I was spending on TWO BEADS. They're both absolutely worth it though. I wish I could find a link to more of Harold's work, but I couldn't. Google might like you better than it likes me though.