The Bead Spot

Six or seven years ago, my mom, who does beadwork, too, commented that the size 11 Delica seed beads I like to use were way too small for her to see. She works mostly in seed beads, too, but she sticks with size 10s as much as possible. It made no sense to me that one size would make that big of a difference. But now I get it. The last time I did a marathon of seed beading, I realized that I couldn't see the beads well enough to work if I had my glasses on. It seems my distance vision has gotten bad enough that my glasses are too strong to see tiny items (such as words on a page or seed beads in an earring) very well at all. Because I like to watch TV while I do beadwork, I chose shows that I could mostly listen to. I wore my glasses, but pushed them up on top of my head while I stitched beads together, then dropped them back down on my nose if I thought I needed to watch something on the TV screen. I hope my vision doesn't get much worse than it is now, but I'm ...

Last weekend, my husband, daughter and I visited a fall festival we had never been to before. We went there not expecting much, but left pleasantly surprised — and $50 or so poorer since we spent money we didn't plan on spending at arts-and-crafts vendor tables. The first thing that caught my eye was a deerskin amulet bag, which I really wanted but it cost more than I could pay (It was worth its price tag, though, just out of my price range). The same vendor also had beaded barrettes, which I've never bothered to make because, in my hair and my daughter's hair at least, barrettes tend to pop out easily. My daughter spotted a pair of pink ones with a feather pattern that she really liked. She likes all things pink. Since they were only $5 for the set, I bought them for her despite my reservations about how well they'd hold. Unlike other barrettes though, these were snug and didn't pop out. They stayed in her hair for the rest of the day. I think it has to do...