Poor Poor Neglected Blog

Being able to type fast doesn't help. My poor blog is feeling neglected. For good reason. The last post I made was to introduce my new series of bracelets... Knot, Ready for Prime Time.

Since that last post, I've actually managed to finish and list quite a few of the series in my Etsy shop. I also finished another version of one of my new designs, Morning Glory Vine. And published a couple of new peyote patterns (Camouflage and Queen Anne's Lace). I have two long bead crochet ropes finished, except for the ends. And I have a brand new peyote cuff design, Paisley.

So what happens? Where does the time go? Why don't I pay attention to my poor little blog?

As much as I hate to say it, I almost feel like I need to force myself to follow a schedule. ACK! The mere thought of a schedule for someone who left the corporate world behind (almost five years ago) makes me cringe. EVERYTHING had to be done by a schedule. Meetings, phone calls, goals, more meetings... everything. I've spent the past five years rebelling against schedules of any kind.

I'm going to blame the recent neglect on the extra activity here... my husband has an injured shoulder, so my workload around the house has increased a bit. We had company last weekend, and that meant rearranging lots and lots of boxes so they'd have a place to sleep (we're still living in a rental house, and the bulk of our stuff remains in boxes). Long overdue doctor appointments. Dentist appointments. A few custom orders (those are always nice). Still. I type more than 100 words a minute. There's just no reason for my not being able to update this blog.

For those of you who DO update your blogs with regularity...
HOW DO YOU DO IT???
Do you write a bunch of posts and schedule them to publish?
Do you have a daily/weekly schedule for blogging?
I'd love to know how you keep your blog up to date and still keep up with everything else.

Just so I don't finish this post without giving you something to look at, here's a sneak peak of my newest peyote cuff design, Paisley. It'll be in my Etsy shop tomorrow, and I'm working on getting the pattern ready to publish too. :-)

Knot, Ready for Prime Time

You know how sometimes you get a song stuck in your head? Well, that's been happening to me a lot lately. Not sure why, as we don't really listen to much music in the house (Pat and I have different tastes in music). Maybe they're coming from the TV shows we watch, as I know is the case with yesterday's stuck-in-my-head melody:

I hear tell you're doing well.
Good things have come to you.
I wish I had your happiness
and you had a do-wacka-do,
wacka-do wacka-do wacka-do.

Catchy, right? An old song by Roger Miller, who made some of the funniest and happiest songs there were back in the 50s. At least I think it was the 50s. I know my Mom had one of his albums and we used to listen to it a LOT and then sing his songs at the tops of our lungs when we were in the car. What fun.

So how does that song relate to the title of this blog post? Follow me here... I've been having these songs stuck in my head... and I've been beading away making some fun new little bracelets using ndebele ropes and magnetic clasps... and as I was making the bracelets I was trying to think of a name that would describe the series... and I wanted to have the word "knot" in the name... and "Not ready for prime time" was stuck in my head. I couldn't get past it. So there you go. Stuck in my head, and now "Knot, Ready for Prime Time" is the name of my new series of bracelets.


I have three of them listed in my Etsy shop so far (with a couple more waiting in the wings). They're such fun to make that I know there are going to be more of them. Anyone have any color suggestions for me? :-)

Also new in my Etsy shop is this bead crochet lariat called Madison Ave.


Matte black and matte silver beads (the silver ones are from one of my favorite Etsy sellers: Shannon, of beadsandbabble) in a diamond pattern (actually diamonds within diamonds). As I was trying to figure out treatment to give to the ends I had a sudden inspiration to use some of my friend Dee's lathe turned polymer clay beads. They're PERFECT!!! I've had these for months, and I even had them sitting on a shelf for awhile because each one is like a tiny sculpture. (By the way, if you want to see more of Dee's wonderful polymer clay creations, visit her Etsy shop, Malodora).

And now it's time for me to get back to work. Currently in progress (because I can never seem to focus on just ONE thing):
- a new version of my Morning Glory Vine cuff
- a new peyote pattern (just needs a bit more tweaking before I bead it)
- getting patterns ready to publish (Queen Anne's Lace, Royal Flourish, Camouflage, and Swoosh are top on the list because I've had requests for them all)
- figuring out how to finish that Lisa Peters bead and ndebele rope that I posted about a few weeks ago (!)

Sometimes multi-tasking gets the best of me. But then I can just sing a verse or two of Do Wacka-Do and everything seems okay. :-)