Icy conditions

We're currently in the middle of a cold spell here; it hasn't snowed yet, but 5-10cm of snow is predicted today. Yesterday, one of my co-workers skidded on a patch of ice and had a tyre blow-out in the middle of a busy dual carriageway. He then got really stressed, not just because of the blow-out, but also because he was on his way to the garage to take the car for its annual MOT test - the certificate had just expired - and he was worried the police would arrive on the scene and that he would get into trouble for driving without a valid MOT. He then had to wait ages for the breakdown people to arrive as they were rather busy.

I do have a valid MOT certificate, but after hearing that story I don't fancy driving on icy roads, and accordingly we are staying at home today. At the moment we have got the crayons out, and my son's busy drawing all his favourite things: knights, horses, dragons, pirates and treasure maps.

Apparently this is two knights fighting with very long swords.

So, while he's doing that, I thouht I would show you a bracelet that was actually made by my friend A, who is a very skilled crafter (she does lots of textile work), when she was visiting me last year. I showed her how to do spiral rope stitch: she picked the white, silver and light-blue seed beads to resemble ice. Afterwards I added the flower bead and loop as a clasp.

 
The photos don't really do this bracelet justice. I think, in general, seed bead work is hard to photograph: it's so difficult to capture the three-dimensional form of the work and the way it transmits and reflects light. I also had problems with the auto-focus, which I think was focusing on the shadow rather than on the beads. Clearly I have some work to do on my photography lighting conditions.

It turned out, by the way, that my co-worker's car failed its MOT: something to do with faulty brakes ...