Just Samples Again

Most of the time I play with beads more or less as the mood strikes though of course there are always class instructions to be written and new teaching projects to dream of and upcoming classes that need a sample, but usually among the hard deadlines I manage to squeeze in some free beading time.

Not this weekend. The closest I came were a few sketches, some notes, and some wishing. 

I did get a third of a kumihimo necklace and about two inches of sock (Yay! Knitting!) done though, not to mention most of a day of spinning (and of course the attendant eating - as I like to say, we're an eating club that also spins). I'm being very careful with the knitting, no more than an hour at a time, and so far, the pain in my hands is at least no worse.

I finished the second earring of the pair and decided to make more dramatic ear wires.

 It took most of today, but I also competed this entire necklace, as I wanted to be mailing the class samples out on Monday or Tuesday so it just had to get done.

It's almost exactly the same as the one that I've appropriated, though some of the beads are a little different as I haven't been able to find the same colour again.

That's the only thing about Czech beads (which I otherwise love): colours come and go and don't have manufacturer colour numbers, so even if you think you see an online shop that describes the colour the way you've always thought of it, it may be not the same thing at all.

Don't get me wrong: there are always gorgeous colours to be had, it's just that you can't always refill those gorgeous colours, which means that if you're packing beads for kits then every kit is a limited edition and you keep on having to make more samples with the EXACT beads that will be in the kit. It's not ideal.