Baycation Crocheted Necklace

We are in Gloucester Point VA, just across the York River from Yorktown, and there is THE NICEST LITTLE BEAD SHOP you could imagine, right on the marina grounds. I have been there multiple times already! It's called Tada Artisan's Boutique, and Tammy is the owner. Lovely.

So I made the necklace from 26 gauge copper wire and stringing the beads and simply chaining the individual strands.

The oyster shell is from an island off the Little Choptank River and makes a great prop.

Magic Carpet Socks

My friend Perri gave me a kit for these socks from Sanguine Gryphon. (Thanks, Perri.) I just finished them up and they are very fancy and imaginative. The beads and leaf beads add a lot of bling to them.

I started out with size 1 needles over 80 stitches but was not getting gauge, so I switched to 0's. They are quite tight on my feet but still wearable, so maybe I should have used the 1's, at least on the leg sections.

They really are reminiscent of an oriental rug, aren't they?

Finally Another Post

I have been busy with a multitude of projects, and I'm just starting to finish some up. This shawl is from the Evenstar KAL on ravelry, and designed by Susan Pandorf who is one amazing designer. I have knit one of her designs before: the Iris Scarf.

This one uses about 1100 yards of fine cashmere lace yarn, in black, and is heavily beaded around the edge with some iris colored topaz 8/0 seed beads. I have so far failed at taking a true color picture of those beads. Sigh. But it is a lovely piece and blocked out about 60" in diameter.

Tubular Peyote Cuff

This bracelet was started in a class by Amy Katz and uses the tubular peyote technique. I almost went blind making it though, and I doubt if I will be doing such fine beadwork anytime soon, although I really like it. There is much more sparkle than shows in my picture because of all the Swarovski crystals on the bead ends.

Wearin' of the Green Treasure Woven Bracelet

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, coming up soon, I created this green bracelet. The beads are lots of different colors of green, with a few rose colored ones thrown in for some interest. I'm happy with how it turned out!

Silver Charm Bracelet

I took a class with Sally Stevens at Stars Beads on Saturday to learn how to make this charm bracelet. Her daughter made the lampwork beads which hang from it. Connie Fox was pretty much the original designer of it, but Sally had a few extra tricks up her sleeve. The bracelet has been tumbled for a couple of hours to bring out the shine of the silver, but that very shininess which I wanted to see has created havoc with picture-taking! I've been working on photographing it for a couple of days and actually thought something was wrong with my camera. Finally figured it out after requesting help from the resident photographer, Frank. The shininess caused the camera to think it was much brighter light than it was and the resultant shots came out dark. After changing the background several times, I put it in the lightbox on black construction paper and that was the solution!!

Enchanted Shawl Completed

This is quite a large and heavy shawl and it feels wonderful when on my shoulders. It stays put because of the heft. You can't see it in this small photo, but there are a lot of amethyst colored AB beads which add bling and weight to it. (You can double-click the photo and you will see a much larger picture and the beads are visible.) The pattern is Enchanted Wood and was knit along with many other knitters as part of a KAL on ravelry. The yarn is The Unique Sheep gradiance fingering wool/tencel in 6 skeins each dyed a little bit differently to have a gradual transition. There will be another KAL starting in May with another mystery stole.

Romanov Silver Bracelet

This lovely delicate bracelet is comprised of 20 gauge romanov units interspersed with 16 gauge rings. They crystals are 6 mm and are connected to the larger rings with 18 gauge wire. I made the magnetic clasp, and it is oh, so easy to put on and take off.

Evenstar Circular Stole Knit-A-Long (KAL)

I just joined dozens of other lace knitters who are all going to knit a mystery stole designed by Susan Pandorf, a very talented designer. I previously knit one of her designs (the iris scarf) and know that she does beautiful work.

This KAL starts February 12 so you still have time to join, order yarn, and swatch. The group is on ravelry, of course, and it is called Evenstar Mystery Shawl KAL. I am choosing yarn from my stash - 2000 yds of black cashmere and here is the swatch. Gorgeous, yes??

Lampwork and Links Bracelet

18 gauge brass rings hand cut with a jeweler's saw and handmade lampwork beads.

PS, my sawing technique is improving!! Nothing like practice, practice, practice to perfect a new skill!

Gold and Silver Empressa Bracelet

Copper Bracelet with Romanov Charm

I decided to try something a little different for the plain bracelet. I wanted to explore the Romanov component and I want to try a weight near the clasp so it wouldn't rotate on my wrist. I love it and it doesn't rotate. Voila.

Byzantine with Large Rings

Here's yet another bracelet with rings I sawed by hand. It is composed of 18 gauge copper and 16 gauge brass rings.

Jasper Rosary Bracelet

These are my very first saw-cut rings and while it was pretty difficult to do, I like the result, and I think that practice will most definitely help. The beads are 8mm green jasper, and I think they are just lovely with the copper, which will get a patina soon and look better.

Chain Maille Bracelet with Bead

Just finished this one today. The bead is a handmade lampwork bead, which is slightly flattened, and sits very nicely on a wrist. The magnetic clasp is VERY STRONG!!! It is incredibly easy to put on. It was handmade by Scott David Plumlee and I purchased it and the rings for the bracelet from his website . I highly recommend him!

Double-Link Charm Bracelet

This charm bracelet is fabricated from 18 gauge brass in a simple double-link weave. I'm trying out a counter-balancing technique to keep the clasp from rotating to the top of my wrist.

Tri-Color Inifinity Bracelet with Beads

This is another gorgeous design from davidchain.com and has copper, bronze, and sterling rings with onyx bead accents. It has a lot of life to it when worn.

Once again, I have more chain maille bracelets to show. The top picture is a brass and glass donut bicycle chain bracelet fabricated of 18 gauge brass. The second picture displays three 18 gauge brass byzantine and glass donut bracelets, and the last picture is a bracelet in two-tone sterling and gold-filled rings called status link bracelet designed by Sue Ripsch and bought as a kit from her website jewelrybysueonline.com. With the exception of the status link bracelet, I coiled and cut all the rings by hand and forged the clasps. I'm getting a better result with practice, but unless I decide to spend a lot of money and buy a jump ring cutting system, they will always be a tad bit rough looking.

Copper Scroll Link Bracelet

This design is fabricated from 18 gauge raw copper. I made 56 scroll links, each from 1 1/2" wire, and fit them all together with dozens of 5mm ID jump rings from the same gauge. I LOVE IT!!

More Chain Maille

I've been on a roll this week, after making the first chain maille bracelet a week ago. These three bracelets, one bronze, and the other two sterling, were made in a few hours each. The bronze chain was a kit from davidchain.com, who I can not recommend highly enough. He's a fabulous designer and teacher as well as supplier of his kits. I made the rings myself for the wedding knot bracelet (seen on the black background, on the bottom right) and it's a little rough but I'm still learning. I'm obsessed now.

Brass Rosary Bracelet

I'm sort of obsessed with chain maille construction right now, and here's another piece I just finished up. I made all the jump rings, 18gauge brass, 3.5mm ID, using an aluminum knitting needle (size 4). I have a huge supply of mandrel sizes soooo handy. The second picture shows the first bracelet for comparison which uses 18gauge silver with 4.5mm ID. This one is a bit more delicate.

I apologize for the pictures in the last few posts. I am so unable to wait for the right lighting conditions!!!

Beaded Byzantine Bracelet and Earrings

I'm home from yet another class from Star's Beads and this time I made a Byzantine bracelet and earrings from 18 gauge sterling silver jump rings. It was great fun and the bracelet wears beautifully. A glass donut ring was used in place of double jump rings for this particular variation!

Sterling Pin with Beads

This shawl pin is 16 gauge sterling silver with some interesting sterling beads and a lovely olive green lampwork bead. It was alarmingly easy to make, but I did run into a little trouble with the point of the pin snagging while inserting it. I finally tracked down some 0000 steel wool which made all the difference in the world. I had great difficulties trying to capture the true color of the bead and was unable to do so

Tidepool Multnomah Shawl in Handspun

Once again, I have made a garter stitch shawl out of my handspun. This one is finished in a traditional feather and fan edging and can be made to any dimensions. This pattern, called Multnomah, can be found on ravelry. The varied colors of this yarn are perfect for garter stitch.

Midnight La La Scarf

This piece is handspun merino wool which is extremely soft, almost like cashmere. The coloring is so much like faded denim jeans which I wear almost every day, that I HAD to make myself a little neck scarf. I have been enamored of garter stitch lately so it pleases me in many ways.

Kumihimo Necklace with Peyote Bead Focal

This project was a real pain in the neck, and I won't be doing it again. I love the kumihimo part, which was done with #15 seed beads on a fine beading thread. It took a very long time to do, however, and there are a couple of spots where there was no bead. The embroidered peyote bead wasn't fun however. But in a while, I may feel a lot better about the necklace than I do now!

Alpaca Elina Shawl with Pearly Bead Embellishment

It seems that I spend most of my time trolling Ravelry for information and inspiration and that means that my blog has been neglected. So since I feel guilty, here's another post.

This piece was knit right after my purple Dianna stole. Made from soft gray Plymouth Yarn Baby Alpaca Lace and some pearly white beads toward the edge for accent. The alpaca causes it to have incredible drape, and I've found that I reach for this a lot.

Shawl Pins for Dianna

These were done with 18 gauge wire, but I would have preferred 16 - they are slightly flimsy so I had to work-harden the heck out them with my hammer. The spiral pin in gold has some of the stole beads wrapped around it. I may work on this one some more, since I'm not totally pleased with it. But at least Dianna will stay put.

Deep Purple Dianna Lace Stole

Here are pictures of my latest project, a knitted rectangular stole done in the entrelac technique. I had never tried this technique before, and wanted to see how it worked, so when the pattern was published in Ravelry, I was very interested. It is the lovely Dianna shawl by Jane Araujo, or MaweLucky on ravelry and the link is here: You must be a member of ravelry to see it, but if you're not, it's free to join, and please do!!

I modified the triangular shape to make it rectangular, and added a knitted-on lace edging from Victorian Lace Today. I am THRILLED beyond belief at how it turned out. There are some beads on the stem of the leaves too, although you may not be able to see them well. I used Blue Heron Mercerized Cotton in blueberry.