Another one bites the dust

Resolution, that is. Ahh, well. I can't even use the excuse that nothing's been going on; it's just not true. I've been diving again, for the first time in years! Cool, huh? My first drysuit dive, in fact. :) Very cool, as it happens - positively freezing. And it was very sludgy, too. We saw lots of the Gildenburgh Brickfish and it suddenly went dark when our Illustrious Leader went into the clay bottom knees first. Still, it was better than my last Gildy dive, as my regs didn't malfunction. Yay! Dive holiday this autumn, methinks...

The neverending skirt stretched. I think I must have used stretchy interfacing on the waistband. :( So now, in addition to making it less see-through, I have to cope with the fact that it wants to fall off my hips entirely. Bah. On the upside, I've found more of the same fabric here in Cambridge. This is quite a surprise, as I bought the original lot in an odds-and-ends shop in Stokesley, up North. So now, I can replace or otherwise sort out the waistband, and as an added bonus, the fabric also comes in white. So I've bought enough to make a white tiered skirt (with a sensible number of tiers this time, thanks) and a slimmer white skirt, so hopefully any two out of the three worn together should protect my decency. Hopefully. ;)

The kit for my corset has arrived! A parcel containing a ridiculously small amount of fabric, various strips of metal and an assortment of tapes, laces and eyelets arrived on Saturday morning, brought up to the flat by James's Mum and sister, who turned up at an hour usually considered ungodly for visiting people on a Saturday morning. (We knew they were going to do it though, so it's all allowed - great to see you, guys!). I'm scared of the corset kit, though. I had a very nasty cold a week or two ago, and I'm not 100% recovered yet, so I don't dare touch it until I can think straight.

Since the last update, I've made very little progress on the list of projects, partly due to the cold (heaving fabric around doesn't sound like fun when you're already exhausted) and partly because we've re-arranged the office, and my sewing machines aren't currently plugged in. Oh, and partly because I was on holiday with my family for a week, which was lovely. Wow, that seems like a long time ago now, though...

In fact, I've been doing more maille than sewing; I've finished a dancing belt I've been plotting for most of a year (whilst on holiday), made up some of the 'proper' rings I bought into bracelets and made some very dainty little silver-and-pearl bracelets to boot. Not to mention having come up with a variant on one of last years designs that seems inexplicably popular, given that it's not exactly made of the most exquisite materials; coated wire and glass beads. But it's black and red and faceted, so I guess it's buying in to the Moulin Rouge fashion. So I bought more of the red glass beads and will make up a couple of sets. ;) The 'proper' rings are made explicitly for making chainmaille and were bought from a specialist vendor who shall remain nameless in America. Despite the fact that the small sizes are supposed to be saw-cut and aren't, they are a dream to work with compared to the jewellery jump rings I've otherwise been using. For a start, they're actually round! I don't have to spend vast quantities of time bending them back into a circle where the ends meet before using them... This is an enormous benefit. On the other hand, the vendor in question is so *slow* to deliver the goods that I seriously doubt I'll be buying from him again. Wire, maybe, if he has it in stock and can ship in a couple of days. But it's taken literally months for my orders to get through, both times that I've ordered from him. Not my idea of prompt, even allowing for the fact that he makes rings to order, and no good if I need to make stuff up to order for *my* customers. So I'll need to start making my own rings, too. Hmm. Could be fun...