Beadwrangler News

Happy Holidays

from

The Beadwrangler

Beadwrangler Goals: To share bead and fiber information with as many viewers as possible and make Beadwrangler's the best bead and fiber information website on the Internet.

Grunt and Max are part of Inside The Beadwrangler, so if you are a new visitor and need a little history on Grunt and Max, check here. This page is about Beadwrangler current activities: thoughts, perspectives, conferences and classes the Beadwrangler is teaching/attending, updates on new Beadwrangler kits and books and what the Beadwrangler and Webmaster are doing. Stuff about Grunt and Max are at the end of this page.

Note: Be sure and check all the Insider Reports since there is bead crochet and beading on pages that are not necessarily listed under their subject name. Beading is not always just in Inside Beads and Bead Crochet is not always just in Inside Crochet. In addition there are many areas of beads and fiber included and discussed using various techniques in the various Insider reports.

Photo: Basic bead crochet rope instructions are in all Beadwrangler bead crochet rope kits; amulet bag is based on instructions in my Hands on Bead Crochet book and can be made from what your learned in the Romancing the Bag and Marrakech Bag kits.

Hi everyone! I am just beginning to catch up with myself. After attending the national Crochet Guild of America Conference, then returning and having a case of muscle spasms that swept me off my feet for a few days, then my niece became ill and we had a trip and many hour wait at a hospital Emergency Room, updating websites, completing new projects for the free workshops and working on my first crochet book of a series, I started to run down. Yes, my niece is ok, a thyroid problem that has been fixed with medication. I knew I could not run down in the middle of website updates, so a trip to the grocery store was in order. A little heated Silk (soymilk) Coffee Soylatte, a Zebra (white and dk chocolate) and some frozen yogurt got me up and running again.

I have some wonderful goodies for you in the free workshops, both beading and bead crochet. I even have one crochet project that you can do even without a crochet hook. You just use your fingers. So be sure and check out the free workshops including those listed as bead crochet. I have some new tips & techniques for you plus a new story, The Cloven Hoofed Creature.

I have a gemstone chip crocheted necklace project in Carol WilCox Wells' newest book, The Art & Elegance of Bead Weaving. I also have two bead crochet projects in Lisa Vann's (Van Herick) book, Fiber-Wire Beads & Jewelry; bead crocheted beads and how to make them into ropes are included in Lisa's book. You will find reviews of both books in my book reviews.

It was a pleasure working with both Carol and Lisa and I appreciated my work being accepted in their publications.

I have been collaborating with Lea Zinke (glassmaker) with beadwork using her glass beads. It has been great fun brain storming and seeing what we can create when working together. I will put some images of our work up once the beadwork is finished. One of these projects was primarily beading and seem to take forever to finish, however, the results are great.

Crochet Book Series. I am also working on the items for my books. In some cases I need more than a few examples of the same items in various color combinations. Other items I will only be able to make a few as they take longer. My testers will help me in making more of these items that take longer to finish. Get ready to have some fun when I have the first book of this series finished. I am including beading, stitchery and other techniques in some of the projects for exciting beadwork diversity.

I will not be finishing the loom book I originally began due to permanent back damage. Can I bead? You bet! Can I crochet? oh yes! Can I knit? For sure! Can I do pin weaving and stitchery plus other crafts? Yes, I beadjest you not! In fact, eventually I can also use small bead looms, but not the multiple shaft looms or Mirrix looms as the movements required to set up and weave aggravate my back injury. I will finish a bead loom weaving book sometime in the future but it will be using primarily small looms with a big change to my original text.

I will also be completing some new kits next year. The prototypes are all finished and waiting for me to complete instructions and then hand over to the WebWizard to do his magic with formatting and creating illustrations.

In my "spare" time I will finish some projects I have been working on just for fun and also head out for some bead and fiber hunts with my Tampa Bay Renegades (beadwork pals).

I try and answer all my email daily except when I am out of town or feeling crumb-bum sick. I receive at least 200 emails per day, so please bare with me if you have not received an answer. I do answer my email and if you have not received a reply within about 2 1/2 weeks, please send it again and indicate it is your second request. The first might have gotten lost in cyber space. If my email builds up more in the future, it may take longer to answer, but I will eventually get to it. Easy questions, I answer right away. If the request requires me looking up information, it may be longer for me to get around to responding.

Sometimes I receive an email with nice words about my websites or with a technical question and the email return address is not correct so I can not respond back. This means the email address you are entering or have keyed in your computer is not typed correctly so no one can email you back when they hit the "reply" button. If you have a new email address or if the cyber world is new to you, please check and make sure you are sending out the correct address so you will receive my replies. I feel really bad after spending a lengthy time to email information, a salutation or to respond to an order you placed only for your email to come back indicating there is no such email address. Imagine how frustrating it is for someone to email me over and over indicating they have not received their bead order, when they did not fill in their shopper form with their correct email address and I can't return an email to them. That person thinks I am just ignoring them. Bummer!

Heirloom Tassels, a bead crochet kit, is ready for you to enjoy. The kit includes size 8/0 and 11/0 beads that will be combined to make your own heirloom tassel. You can also make a rope to wear the tassel. You will want to make more tassels as gifts for key chains and as decorations to hang on trees or on a freestanding frame. You can use smaller beads and thin thread to make miniature tassels and you can also make the tassels using all 11/0 beads in addition to combining 8/0 and 11/0 beads. There are also patterns for bead crocheted beads that can be incorporated into the rope or bead strung between other beads and using SoftFlex wire. You can create a tassel doll by adding a covered wooden bead or other type bead. My favorite design for earrings is included to make matching earrings to go with the tassel.

Floral Treasure kit is a great kit with lots more designs to make than just one project. The florals are just amazing and delightful. Is there a story to go with this kit? Would I beadjest you? Of course there is a story, just wait and see. It has to do with treasure hunts and a special kind of guy. I can't wait to make more flowers and guess what, you will also find out how you can add designer beads to your bouquet. I also like making these florals in different size beads such as 14/0 in addition to 11/0 beads and add different shaped small beads too. So once you have the booklet and make a project with the kit beads, you can buy more beads or use your own for additional projects.

The Sedona Collection, bead crocheted ropes, is my latest group of kits. The Sedona Chic, Ridge and Lariat are up. The Sedona Lace is now up. They are all very soft sensuous ropes and easy to make. Take a look at what lovely items you can make. The Sedona Lariat is a lariat but you can also make necklaces and add designer beads using the instructions I provide. You can get an overview of the entire Sedona Collection at the beadcrochet.com Gallery.

All of my kits are described in detail at 7 Echoes - my online shop. For photos and more information about any of these kits, use the links listed at the end of this section.

Currently in kits, I have The Taco Chip Surprise available in 7 color choices. I finally finished the project for the leftover chips. It is a taco chip key chain in the Workshop Section. Due to the difficulty of finding tiny gemstone chips, when these kits are gone, I will not be restocking them. Argggghhh. You will also find an easy beading project, Button Ears and the Pecos Crochet Ropes project.

My bead crochet Shimmy Shan Doll kits are very easy to make. If you know how to chain, slip stitch and single crochet, you've got it made. Crocheters tell me this looks like a difficult project and are so surprised that it was very easy to make the doll with just basic crochet stitches and beads.

My Vine Wave kit is a combination of peyote stitch and other beading techniques. This is very easy beading. New beaders tell me they have learned peyote stitch from this kit.

The Shadra Necklace is very easy beading and makes a gorgeous opulent necklace and earrings. People who make this necklace tell me it looks so complex but is super easy to make even if you have never beaded before.

The Royal Gem is a little bead crochet project that I include in the Bead Spinner Package. I was inspired to design it in honor of Linda Breyer, an extraordinary beader also known as Morticia on the Internet. You can read all about it at my 7echoes site. It is so sensual and squishy, it is difficult to put down. I have created several Beadwrangler ropes that I am just wild about. I have come up with so many variations, many can be crocheted in larger size beads. You can see large color images of bead crochet examples for all my Beadwrangler Seed Bead Mixes at 7 Echoes. I have mixed up two new and will soon have them in blooming color for you to see. One will have an apricot/peach look and the other will be blues that work with blue jeans and denims. Soon as I have them in stock, I will put them up for you to see. What fun!

Here is a quick way to visit my kit pages at my online shop - 7 Echoes. I want to keep Bead and Fiber Junction a strictly informational website, so my books and kits have been moved to 7 Echoes. I also have seed beads, needles, thread, wire, supplies and tools there so check it out when you get a chance. There is a link to 7 Echoes on the Navigation Bar.

Beadwrangler Kits
Beading Kits
Rayna's Vine Wave		Shadra Necklace		Floral Treasures
Bead Crochet Kits
Taco Chip Surprise	Romancing the Bag		Shiloh Lariat		Shimmy Shan Doll
Sedona Chic	Sedona Ridge		Sedona Lariat		Sedona Lace
Shiloh Ropes An Introduction to Bead Crochet	Marrakech Bag coming in 2002		The Royal Gem coming in 2002		Heirloom Tassels

Beadwrangler Workshops
Learn basic bead and fiber techniques in your own home with a personal workshop with the Beadwrangler

Learn Bead Crochet from Scratch!

Looking for more information about bead crochet? Visit my - beadcrochet dot com
You will find animated bead crochet lessons, free workshops, information pages and more.

The WebWizard is working multiple tasks to make our websites even better. I am always in awe of how orderly and logical he works. His work area is so clean and everything in the correct place. Then you look at my work area, it looks like a tornado came through with bead and fiber stuff stacked on top of each other with no beginning or end. I'm the only one who knows what is what. 2W completely cleaned out the storage area and work space for our 7echoes sales and now we can easily get to all the supplies to get orders out faster. I could not believe he did it all in just a few days. He switched all the cabinets of beads that are tubed to a different order. It has taken me some time to get used to it, as it is set up for right-hand (left-brain) people, not left-hand (right-brain) people like me. I keep wanting to go in the opposite direction, up and down the bead drawers and across to the next cabinet. Eventually I will get it, I think! We do have fun together in this bead business!

2W appreciates you notifying him of any link on our site that you find does not work. We try to keep all our links up to date. On our site: If there was a page you could not get onto or problem, please indicate which page and the specific problem you were experiencing. We have over a 1000 pages to keep up with and thousands of visitors daily. I can't ask 2W to go through our whole website to find a problem and not give him specifics, he would knock me into a month of Sundays! Your help is appreciated. Also, keep in mind, we do not keep track of the thousands of links hosted by sites linked to us. You will need to contact the site hosting those links for problems relating to them.

Get your own autographed copy by sending $14.95 + $3.50 shipping and handing in the USA, or +$5 outside the USA, to Lyden Enterprises, 228 N. Sun Court, Tampa, FL 33613 or toll free credit card orders 888-235-0375. Outside the USA and Canada the toll free does not work; call 1-813-269-9257. You can also order the book online right here at Beadwrangler's. Just click here. If you love peyote, I know you will love bead crochet. It is amazing, the decreasing and increasing just comes natural to those already beading using peyote stitches. Crochet is so versatile and fun, once you learn you will be hooked! If you think crochet is old fashioned, then you haven't seen what is happening with crochet today or Grandma's new awesome bead and fiber works. I am already getting feedback from crocheters and beaders that my book is wonderful and it is easy to follow the directions! I have received several emails from people who never crocheted before and told me they learned to crochet with my instructions and illustrations. This makes me bounce off the walls with happiness. Click here to see photos of the projects in the book

My crochet book is being used at universities and fashion institutes as an instructional tool. I can not tell you how pleased I am that this is happening. One of my goals is to bring to people new ideas using old techniques and the many new possibilities available because of new materials and tools available today. Crochet is becoming hot, hot, hot as more designers start creating fashions and accessories that have the same classy look as knitting patterns, so learn now and be ready to have a great time!

The Web Wizard and I thank you for your support in financially keeping our websites up. Web Hosts allot a "byte" amount monthly for downloading by visitors. If the byte amount is exceeded in a month, the website owner is billed for it. With 1000+ pages and thousands of visitors daily, we routinely exceed our website host's very generous monthly allocation. We are now getting over 1 million hits per day, lots of people downloading. But don't worry. We want you to continue clicking through the pages on our site; please enjoy. Our best book sales have been through our website. Your book and kit purchases keep our site up. Thanks so much for your support. You can continue to support us by telling your friends and bead and fiber store owners about my books, kits and our site. Inside The Beadwrangler is the only page you will see requests for support of our site.

Many thanks to those of you who have been purchasing our books, kits and beading supplies. You are keeping our sites up and running.

When you surf nonprofit sites, such as crochet and weaver guilds, please remember they are supported by advertisers. The advertisers often cover any cost incurred from viewer clicking onto the web pages. If you visit them regularly, please check out their advertisers' pages. You can also help support the organization by becoming a member. We want these sites to stay up with all the wonderful patterns and articles of interest.

We appreciate offers from viewers to contribute articles for our site. Contributing articles allows me the time to update the site more frequently. We need contributing writers for lampwork, lapidary, polymer, needle and fiber work, wirework and other related subjects. Along with your article, we will include a link to your website and your email address. Help us to make this the best bead and fiber information center on the Internet. Email me if you are interested in contributing. Many thanks to our contributing writers.

Wow! What a crazy few months! The crochet conference seemed to be over before we all new it. Seeing all my friends every year at this annual event is always a treat.

Once I was back home, I had some yucko muscle spasms and had to go for physical therapy. Grunt decided, in the middle of the night, I needed a back rub and poured a container of Aloe Vera all over my back, and the bed and on my head while I was asleep. I was "Aloe'd!" What a mess.

"Oh sure, you were really worried about me." I might think that was so, except earlier that morning I had words with Grunt about him trying to drink my Silk Soymilk. How did he manage to get the container out of the refrigerator? He lives in a small teapot on my desk and is not very big. Needless to say, the Silk dropped on the floor and spilled everywhere, giving me another clean up job.

"Oh, so you were actually looking for my zebra cookies to give me one while I was feeling so bad. Of course, why didn't I realize that." So thoughtful don't you know.

I noticed he snuck a piece of cookie behind him when he headed back for his teapot, little rascal.

When we got back, we had to check on our local wildlife around the house. We have a frog that has a nest on our backdoor light. He really gets aggravated when I open and close the back door too many times to take out the wash. He thinks that is his private domain. He also does not like the back door light to go on as it makes his nest above it too hot.

Wasps are getting ready to hatch underneath the back door light. They do it every year. They do not bother us if we do not bother them.

The mesquito community is beginning to disappear so I will not have to put on a warm up suit each time I take Max out for a last squirt at night.

I walk through our little community every evening I can and know all the neighbors by sight. We always exchange greetings. One of them gave me two plants, a jade plant and an aloe vera plant. I have never been great with plants other than enjoying those that grow naturally with little care required. Each plant is in a pot and apparently does not need much water, just a spritzer when they get dry, but I do check them daily to make sure they are growing and look healthy. Soon I will have to repot them or plant them in the ground. Decisions, decisions.

We also had a Max emergency. He had a cyst on his tail that I barely noticed, even though I comb him every night. Finally I began to see a little hair missing and a little swelling. I got him to the vet and he had surgery to remove the cyst and skin around it. We took him back and forth to rewrap his tail over and over in hopes it could be saved. Finally his tail had to be removed. So Max is now without a tail and does not know what to do. He was so used to balancing himself with his tail included that now he is having to learn to balance himself all over again. At least he is healthy and his appetite has never gone down, for treats that is. Soon he will be back to his old self.

We have a squirrel in our area that has no tail, it is missing. I have always wondered if one of the big turtles bit it off since squirrels run across phone lines and sometimes drop into the creek. Maybe Max will identify with that squirrel and think it is a relative. Right now Max's ego is hurting, but knowing his happy nature, he will soon be strutting his stuff again. I wonder if he will identify with the squirrel in our area that has a missing tail not to mention the cat with no tail that struts around smoozing for food.

As for me, my ancestors lost their tails a long time ago. I am having fun creating new designs in beads and fiber. I am planning to find some special treats for the holidays for Grunt and Max. They both love Thanksgiving when they can overstuff themselves and then sleep all day.