Time sure has flown, hasn’t it. Last I blogged it was the end of November. I’d petered out that last week or so of NaBloPoMo. I was holding my own for a bit there, but yeah. I’d probably have better luck with a sweater. 
But the holiday time has come and gone and there was crafting and the emergence of a new, obsession, to use a better word. Nails!
I’d gone to a holiday swap dinner and learned about a monthly nail subscription from Julep. I really like the polishes I got from it; nice and thick, smooth texture and nearly opaque on the first coat! Not sure I’ll purchase every month but I’ll definitely be participating again. I like nail polish because it’s a way to pretty myself up without makeup. I don’t work outside the home, so I have very little need to keep up foundation and lipstick and all that jazz, so nails are the next best thing!
Between polish changes I’ve been crafting.
Handspun Falkland from ShadyFibers
Size 5.0mm Tunisian crochet hook(H)
Remember when I picked up tunisian crochet back in 2012? Well, it resurfaces every so often and this time it was in the form of a cowl. Strangely enough, it was too narrow to be comfortable so I cinched off the top and now it’s a hat! Perfect! It has a nice, easily memorized stitch pattern, and I’ll probably try it again and get it right the next time!
And here’s my first two FO’s of the new year:
ArtYarns “Reality”, which I received in the holiday swap
Size 4.5mm and 6.5mm needles
Misti Alpaca “Qolla”, also received in the holiday swap
Size 4.0mm needles
I’m currently working on a tunisian crochet shawl called Venus. I’m almost done, but here’s a sneak peek:
It’s turning out fairly large unblocked because I’m using a sport weight yarn instead of lace, but it won’t grow that much more because it’s a microfiber yarn.
That’s it for this post, TTFN!
Is that the Venus shawl by Aoibhe Ni? I have the pattern, but I need to learn how to do Tunisian crochet first. I keep getting sidetracked by my knitting!
Yes, it is the very same shawl. Once you learn the basics of tunisian it’s very simple. A friend who’s been doing it a while now, got me into it and she was doing hers with a tunisian knit. I’m just using the simple stitch, the first thing I learned. it works!
Time to get going, then- I love Aoibhe’s designs, don’t you?
I haven’t actually been paying a lot of attention to her other stuff but the few shawls I’ve seen are beautiful.
She does great mitts and other goodies too, for quick projects in between.