Ring Around the Rosaries

Yesterday I finished two of the remaining 4 rosaries I have to make. Hopefully I will finish one more this afternoon. I worked on my yarn necklace last night. I am using Art Yarns Beaded Pearl & Sequins yarn in color 193S that I bought at J.J.'s Knitting Knook in Stuart's Draft (just outside of Waynesboro, VA) last fall. I made a friend of mine a necklace and bracelet set out of this yarn, but hers was made out of crochet chains. Mine is an I-cord. I plan on hanging one of those lampworked glass focal drops on it. I have already made a bracelet from this yarn, but think a group of 2 or 3 different width "bangles" might look better. Time permitting, today I would like to cast on for that baby sweater. I am using a yarn that came in one of those Annie's Attic Knitting Club kits that was originally for a baby sack. It is a very pretty soft mint color. The sweater pattern I chose is a baby kimono from the Lion Brand Yarn free patterns website. I have already done my test swatch, and as usual have had to go down one needle size. I knit very loosely. I was told this is because I knit Continental style instead of American style. Or maybe it is just because I find knitting to be very relaxing? LOL

So many possibilities, so little time!

Story of my life, so it seems! I have so many hobbies that I love to work on that when I finally do get time to work on something, it takes me so long to decide what to do that I sometimes just get frustrated and end up doing very little of anything. Besides knitting, I love to crochet, bead, needlepoint and read, and I have ongoing projects in each of those categories. Not to mention life is getting a little more stressful, and time is getting a lot tighter lately. Lots going on right now, and most of it is not great. But life goes in cycles, and this too shall pass. It occurs to me that this is exactly the time that I most need to rely on my hobbies to get me through. I can't even count how many times in the past that my hobbies, knitting especially, got me through some really bad times -- times that I'm not sure I would have made it through without the calming powers of knitting. My latest finished product this week is not a knitted one, but rather a beaded one. It is a rosary I made for a friend of mine at work, or rather for her daughter who is about to go through Confirmation. It is made out of moonstone beads. The picture really doesn't do the beads justice. They are so pretty - they appear to be glowing when they are in strong natural light. I have 4 more rosaries to make, 3 of which are over halfway completed. The rosary pictured is the fourth one I have made. The first was for my niece Megan's Confirmation a year ago, that one was made with rose quartz beads. The second one was made of hematite beads for Megan's boyfriend Jordan and the third was for my sister and made out of garnet colored Czech fire polished glass "Preciosa" beads. Those were Christmas presents. I haven't abandoned knitting! My current project is a knitted I-cord necklace made from silk yarn with sequins and beads. About to be cast on the needles is a baby sweater for a friend at work. Her little girl is due in July. I also can't wait to cast on for some Go Knit bracelet kits I bought right before Christmas, one in the Flamingo colorway and the other in Carribbean.