Pendants and Pins

One of the very best things about having a dog is that it forces you out into the world to catch some great views. Tonight's after-tea walk coincided with the hugest moon in the most amazing deep orange, just rising over the horizon. It just made me catch my breath and stare in awe. With the changing of the season also comes a shift in the stars we can see above us. The Great Plough was in fine view tonight, along with Sagittarius and Scorpio. Later in the evening, Orion starts to shift into the night sky, and in a few weeks, Mars becomes more obvious. M and I often spend the evening walk holding hands and staring upwards at the stars. You don't get a great view here, there are too many street lights obscuring the starlight, but if you walk up to Rabbit Field, you get a better view up there.

I'm nearly finished stash swap crafting, I made a set of embossed Celtic stationary for IntrepidYarn.

Also a couple of pendants and some crochet stitch markers. These will make up part of the 'supply' aspect of the swap with the hook holder, maybe a hook, a pattern and some yarn.

The heart pendant is one that I made from resin and those bargain ice tray moulds that I got over the summer. I strung some complimentary beads too. She likes all things Boho and Shabby Chic, so I hope it fits the bill! The domino pendant is a gorgeous shimmery Celtic design one, with a twisty wire bail. I'm going to pop that on some thong.

And these are my pendants that I've been working on. Stainless steel is a bitch to work with, let me tell you! In the end, the sawing was the easiest part. Bending those suckers was tough, even M struggled! In the end, I pinched one end in my vice and pushed the long bit over and away from me. Then I clamped it in my mole grips and tightened it up. Even though I put masking tape on my mole grips, the teeth bit a little and left marks in the metal, so I'm trying to polish them out with some wet and dry. After that I guess I have to get the craft drill out to buff them up to a high polish. Then I will be attaching some Swarovski crystals as decorative accents. I always like to have something new for Christmas for my stall.

Whatdaya think? Like 'em? They still need a little work and I have a few more to do, but I like them so far. I've just ordered 150 crystals from Hong Kong on eBay for much less than my local Hobbycraft wanted for 10! Hope they get here soon. I've already got some thong for them.

And I started Knitty's Flora last night. I made one for Karan a while ago and I promised myself one. I just LOVE the colour combo, all dusky colours, they really suit the flowery nature of the pattern. I'm hoping there'll be enough yarn left for a matching Flora hat! Something else to upload to Ravelry *lol* I'm nearly up to my Flikr limit too. I may have to delete a few things cause I can't afford to upgrade to a pro account at the moment.

I've also started on one or two things for the Stocking Swap. I have quite a few ideas bumping around in my head. Last night was the usual insomnia caused by craft swapping brainstorms *lol* Hopefully I'll get a little more sleep tonight.