It snowed last night- finally. We have heard warnings of it for what seems like months now so it was actually nice to see it appear. Fortunately, where I am at least, we got just enough to look lovely, spread joy and a winter blanket over the dismal greyness of everything and then stop before it got too scary or disrupted our lives too much- the perfect amount.

I mostly stayed in today and beaded, beaded and beaded. I'm really enjoying working on this St Petersburg chain lariat. It seems to have really keyed into my current craving for something I can hold and gain comfort from. As it drapes over my fingers, and flows through my hands, I'm reminded just how tactile beads and beadwork can be and how important the sense of touch is.

The piece itself brings back many memories. It's hard to believe that when I started teaching (back in 2004-gulp) A day of St Petersburg chain was one of the classes I offered. I loved the stitch and had devised so many variations on it and ways to bead it to give you slightly different results, change direction, make 3D pieces etc. I always remember that the class only half covered what I had worked out and I would send everyone home with their brains full and their hands clutching booklets with all I knew about the stitch. I'll have to reprise those instructions and reignite my love for the stitch.

More photo experiments- these are not so good as I have managed to lose the vital piece of equipment which connects my camera to the tripod hence lots of slightly shaky photos.

This project will appear in a future issue of Beads & Beyond magazine so keep an eye out for it.