It's a win-win

For the past three years, my husband has traveled quite a bit to some fairly remote places, as well as some fairly tourist-y type places. Glacier National Park area, area 51 territory, mountainous areas, the desert. I can't say too much about his job (ex's current wife made threats to attempt getting him fired from his job as a manager with a major railroad before he retired from there) other than he's a consultant with a major corporation based in Europe, and occasionally rides the rails. Anyway, there are times when he has downtime while he's waiting for the railroad to give the machine operators some track time to do the work they are supposed to do. It's during these down times that he puts his newly discovered hobby to practice and hones his rock hounding skills. Let me tell you, he's become very good at it, and has found some beautiful specimens to bring home and polish. There are agates from Wyoming, moss agates from Montana, rock candy from New Mexico, rose quartz from Arizona, just to name but a few. He even has some of the guys that work for the railroad helping him find his treasures, which cracks me up. Polishing them has several steps to it and requires a tumbler, but he loves doing it and then seeing the results after the hard edges and the rough spots from erosion have been taken off.

 

 

I knew that eventually, I would like to learn wire wrapping to make jewelry with some of these beautiful pieces. So yesterday, I spent quite a bit of time searching around on the internet for different ideas and tutorials. I'm pretty sure I'm ready to try this technique now! I'm so excited, that I will probably go buy my wire tomorrow!! I've got several relatives that have already put their dibs on certain stones. I've got news for one of them though...the rose quartz is MINE, all MINE!!! What's really fun is my darling man can tell you exactly where he found each one of these, and because my sister and brother-in-law gave him a rock and mineral book last Christmas, he is able to identify almost all of them. We think he might have even found some small pieces of jade, but can't be certain of that yet.

My rose quartz in the middle

 

I love listening to him tell me all about them and where they came from. I love that he has added another interest to his list and includes me. And now, I can complete the process by showing him how much his efforts mean to me and turn them into pieces of wearable art. Isn't the internet wonderful?!!! We'll see how they turn out....

 

Last night was knit night with the gals I knit with every Wednesday. We have such a great time...if you live in the area and would like to join us sometime, feel free to contact me either here or on Ravelry (I'm KnitNurd there), or you can check out our group called Fiber Friends for details. While I was there, I finished the fingerless mitts for my sister's birthday next month. WHAT?!?! I know!!! Finished a month ahead of schedule...yip yip hooray!! One of the gals offered to take pictures for me to put on my project page, which was really nice. It's hard to do that by yourself when one hand is holding the camera. I'm so pleased with them...I've used the Cafe au Lait pattern twice before this, and love it!! And depending on how well my wire wrapped gems turn out, she might also receive a lovely new piece of jewelry.

 

 

 

The yarn for my brother's scarf arrived today, so now I can cast on for that. I failed to get a picture of it, but really, it's not like it's a spectacular handpaint or something. It's Berroco Vintage DK, which is a blend of 50% acrylic, 40% wool, and 10% nylon, and solid colors. I think this is a good fit for my brother since it's machine washable. Each skein is a generous 288 yards, and it's really quite soft. He will be pleased, I'm sure!

 

Our new carpet is scheduled to be installed next week, and I can hardly wait to put our room together! In the next few days, I will be shopping for new accessories, as well as a birthday present for my little grandson. Every day, he tells me how many more days till his birthday. He's so cute and growing so fast!!! We are having a birthday party for him next week, and he has asked for a new pair of rollerblades, but he's having a hard time deciding between that and Ninja Turtle "stuff". Grandma and papa might just have to spoil him with both!! :)