I really have to make a note to myself about how gloomy it is in January and February so that next year I can make sure I have a little stockpile of bead money to get me through, rather than being on the bead wagon. It’s surprising how the promise of a new bead or two can help reflect a little light through the gloom! ;)
While the nearly constant grey skies and the coldest winter that we’ve seen in a while have made it hard enough to muster the energy to do much, combined with the fact that I haven’t bought a bead since the start of the year and the likelihood that I won’t be buying anything for at least another month and it’s no surprise that I’ve been in the doldrums a bit lately. Two months really isn’t that long, but they certainly feel that way right now. Usually I get through dry spells by trading to get new (to me) beads or by creating new combinations, but I’ve streamlined my collection to the point where I don’t have many unwanted beads to trade with and I haven’t had much time or motivation to create new combinations. When I have had time and motivation, I’ve felt uninspired and just put all the beads back in the box rather quickly.
But last week I had a little ray of light. I received a bead as a gift (the striped bead, third glass from the left) and it made me think of Spring as soon as I saw it, and thinking of anything other than Winter right now is a bonus. Although I found it a bit hard to match at first with the purple glass over amber stripes, I’ve been plugging away at it, matching up one bead at a time, and today I finally have the start of a Spring bracelet (I think).
I still need at least one more green (although I might swap out the current green since that’s the braid that I’ve never been able to match) and the rest of the bracelet is still TBD, but at least it has given me a small boost at a time when I sorely needed it.