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!

Dream Again is a perfect name for this week's artist.  Looking through her shop, I was struck by the boldness and forward beauty of some pieces, the organic simplicity of others, and the intricacy of most.  Her etsy shop is really a stunning gallery and sampling of her work.

She's been a lover of feminine, pretty things since she was a child, spoiled as the first girl to her mother.  It wasn't a far leap from loving to creating; and, at the age of 20, she picked up her first jewelry supplies and that was all it took.

Above is one of the bold pieces I admire.  The fish and dragonfly motif are elegant, yet very feminine, and the alternating symmetry of the chain adds a lot of interest, for me.

An important part of creating is constantly learning, and this self-taught artist strives to expand her knowledge.  You can read on her blog about her journey into creating beautiful chainmaille pieces.  I really like to read stories about people exploring new avenues of creation and the process they go through, and I really admire the persistence and enthusiasm that Dream Again has for learning.  Below is a lovely example of her chainmaille.

I'm a huge sucker for pearls, so I have to share this last piece with you.  It's a delicate, yet stately bracelet, made up of irregular, fresh-water pearls.  The pale pink pearls are attached to a silver-plated, looped chain, if you need more pop than those gorgeous pearls give you!