A few months ago, I started a pair of fingerless gloves for my husband, ones with fingers just missing the tips.  The pattern that I started with worked out well enough, but something about it didn't groove with how my brain works.  The first glove turned out fine, a bit tight, but fine.  The second I started last week (yes, that long inbetween!), and I just couldn't get it right.

So I went hunting for another pattern.  I ended up taking a vintage pattern (knit flat) with ornate cabled cuffs and womens sizing and using that.  Knitted in the round, without the cuffs, with entirely different sizing.  It worked out quite well, so I'm working on the second now.

It seems like, as I've gotten more confident in my spatial skills and pattern drafting, that I've been more and more unable to use patterns as they are.  There are always a few tweaks that I want to make, and I almost always end up creating something that's entirely different, except in concept.  I've never changed a glove into a hat or anything that obscure. :)

I'd really like to return to the days where I could pick up a pattern and work from it.  It was relaxing and...well, nice.  Don't get me wrong, I love the problem solving, design process, and creation of something that's juuust right, but it'd be nice to try something new with the thinking cap off, again, and use someone else's knowledge and talent.  I won't claim to have any mad design skills, but the busy body in me just can't leave a pattern alone!

This week has been a fraught of computer and networking issues, so I'm terribly behind on getting this feature ready.  This week's artisan is baublezptoa! 

A self-proclaimed ex-hippie, Carmen began her jewelry career right after high school when she found her local bead shop.  She strung for friends and family, but soon found herself drawn away when the local bead shop closed and school and work picked up in intensity.  Her talent laid low while she maneuvered herself through the corporate world, but it came into full bloom when she began searching for a new way of life.

Since she made that break from 'the real world', she's acquired more and more skills and explored her artistic abilities and talents in many different areas.  One of her more recent accomplishments was to gain her certification in Precious Metal Clay.  The below piece uses PMC as a base for two lovely peridot cubic zirconias.

Carmen's certification in PMC allows her to share her knowledge and skills with others.  I'm a pretty bad teacher and have a weird learning style, so I have a great deal of respect for anyone who's able to communicate with others and allow them to explore new things.  That said, she prefers to stay in the studio and design, sculpt, and tweak her pieces.  

The piece below really caught my eye.  The glitz of the cabochon is unbeatable and snazzy, and you can see how much care she puts into her pieces in the detailing around the sides and top.

Another part of her life is her animals.  She has a beautiful fur family, and I really enjoyed looking through her galleries.  Currently, baublezptoa is donating 30% of sales to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.  Pet lovers will also love the paw print medallion at the top of the page.  Everyone will love at least one of the drool-worthy, fine-art pendants!  Absolutely gorgeous.

You can find baublezptoa's shop on etsy, as well.  She has a website here, and a blog where you can read about her crafts and other artist features.

It's funny, I always think I've updated 'just the other day', and I'm always surprised to see it's been 4, 5, 10, however many days since I last posted.  Time flies when you're having fun, I guess!  So, as an effort to combat that, I'm going to start doing a few entries a week from preplanned series.  I started the Dirty Little Secrets entries last week, and I'm going to try and keep that up and also add a weekly goals entry.  

So, for this week's goals:

• Add this week's DLS entry.
• Plan for next week's DLS.
• Finish my first listing for a pair of Simply Luxury Cashmere socks
• Modify my sock bands for my Simple Luxury line (a line about ninjas just doesn't seem appropriate...)
• Start and finish a pair of Simple Luxury Alpaca socks to replace the ones that sold this weekend.
• Start redoing the 'shop' area on my website.

That all sounds doable, but we'll see how well I do!  I'm almost half way finished with the SL Cash socks, so I'm pretty sure I'll at least achieve that.