Crocheting with Wire

Due to some questions and the amount of surprise I have been getting, I want to talk about crocheting with wire. In my opinion, it's no harder than crocheting with anything else. Since I crochet with fabric, yarn, tulle, plastic, wire, raffia and anything else I touch, I feel pretty confident about that!

First off: it is vital try different wire. Wire varies not only from the metal, but the color as well. I learned quickly that the higher the value, the thicker the wire. The thicker the wire, the harder it is to work with as it is not very malleable. Too thin and then the wire breaks at totally inappropriate intervals. Gold is fairly delicate, and copper seems to be quite resilient.

Gold wire necklace with blue seed beads. Very delicate & lovely.

 I don't worry much about shaping until the end. It is a very delicate process that requires a gentle hand.You can easily flatten a piece with flat pliers if you want to, though to pull up or apart, I prefer to use the round end of the hook.

Love colored wire!

 It's fun to experiment and see what works best for you. The most important aspect of wire work besides wire is your equipment. I use plastic hooks for many things, but not wire work. I prefer the smaller, metal hooks which are pretty easy to find and take some patience to get used to. You would also do well to take breaks when working on pieces like the one above. Those tiny hooks can cause some cramps....

See? Those are some pretty small hooks!

As with anything, you will want to have the fundamentals down before you dive into wire, so make sure you can make a loop, chain, etc. Then, just let your imagination go wild!

What is your favorite material to crochet with?

Unicorn hair, ramen and weekends

This past week was so busy! I learned Excel, did pilates twice and attended a yarn conference.
As far as pilates goes, I have lost 3 inches off my hips and not sure how much off my waist. It's quite visible to me though and the best part is I go once a week for an hour. Thus far that is 7 weeks very well spent!

Friday I started a new painting which I am quite happy with. I restarted the Willowing art and healing class, which was just what I needed to try and get some of the shading down that has been alluding me. I wanted to do something fun, so this is what I sketched out...

I had the chance to hit up Stitches West for the first time, which was made all the better by friends! Heather was kind enough to drive and then I got to hang out with her Elaine, Maia and Nathan, plus I fell in love with Purlesence Yarns, who helped me fall in love with Xcentricities Corsets, then I discovered Little Red Bicycle and fell further in love with Craftsy.

Some of this will be used for magic in the shop, woo!

I think my only really gripe is that I would have liked to see more crochet and what I did find was sort of hidden off in corners. No one was rude when I said I crocheted, but most of the products seemed very much geared towards knitters.

For dinner we went to Ramen Club where watching the ramen get made was part of the thrill of eating it. I have to say, Ramen Club is most certainly worth going out of your way for!! I rounded off my weekend with book club lead by Christina in which we discussed Four Kitchens. Four Kitchens makes me wish I had had the ability to stage as she did. It's been a good read so far and her talk of Noodle Town made me so hungry!

This week is more networking and the finally the SF Chocolate Salon an event I always look forward to. Hope you have had a busy week too, don't forget to share what you've been doing!

Life in the Details

Lately when I have been reading the Scoutie Girl blog I feel as though each post is speaking directly to me. Like this one Well Fed Artists and this one today Are you leaving enough space for your life in your work?

I am looking at my calender for the next few weeks and things are starting to pick up again. And truthfully, the past two weeks, my balance has been off. Way off. Since I love being busy, I need to be much more aware and keep myself check: no matter how much I have to do I need to make sure I am eating right and stopping when my body says stop.

Scarf action with ArtFibers fabulous Kanji, tussah silk and bamboo

Luckily every week before my coaching call, I have to journal about what I have done in the last week. This has been one of the most powerful tools anyone has ever shared with me. In my mind I am a slacker. In my journal it would appear that I do so much I can't even remember half of it! If you haven't tried this you might find it a really helpful trick.

I have been busy crocheting, too, but not too busy to get in some art....

Are you listening to yourself to make sure that your life is in line with your busy? What tricks do you use to make things easier?