Polymer Clay Necklace

These beads were designed by Hari, and strung by Aoife. Here she is modeling them!!!

Because of the Coat Buttons.....

This is all because I was going to make coat buttons for my pink/mauve coat. My son's girlfriend Hari, who has NEVER worked with polymer clay before, asked if she could play with the clay too, as I was getting out the supplies for the day. So, here are some of her resulting beads!!! Amazing. Then my granddaughter, 13, made some beads too, and we just strung them on some clear elastic and they are wonderful.

(The buttons will be in the next post.)

Starting My Coat Project

I purchased three beautiful skeins of thick and thin merino/mohair yarn at Stitches East last weekend with the idea of making a swing jacket similar to the one my friend Shafer made. Her jacket used multiple strands of yarns to create a very large gauge - like 7 stitches / 4 inches on #13 needles. The pattern comes from Sally Melville, and is called 'Not My Mother's Jacket'. According to the pattern, each yarn in the strand needs to be 540 yds, but of course, I only have 480 yards of the lovely thick and thin purple. Sigh. So I had to put on my thinking cap.

I have a lot of yarn, on cones, and otherwise, from my long-ago weaving days so I pulled some out, and found some wonderful mohair, and wool yarn, both of which have enough yardage. I also found a wonderful skein of bulky weight plum merino wool, that I had originally bought for felting. It is 320 yards. Again, not enough for the entire project. And I really didn't want the jacket to look like I ran out of yarn!!!!

I also found a huge amount of 2-ply knitting worsted in a beige heathery tone, and so I swatched quite a lot and came up with the idea of knitting just one row with a strand containing the thick and thin, and one row with a strand containing the bulky plum weight yarn, and since I was knitting on circulars, but flat, I just push the work to the other end of the needles when necessary. So by knitting alternate rows, I have effectively cut in half the yardage needed for each yarn!! Pat myself on the back....

Then I had to deal with the beige yarn, so I played with koolaid and that worked beautifully! I used 8 packages with a glug of white vinegar for 2 four ounce skeins of the wool, which was soaked first. I brought the 6 quart pot to a boil and turned it off. I notice that the reddish part of the dye got absorbed quite quickly, leaving the water very blue, but soon that was absorbed as well. I really needed a larger pot for 2 skeins, but since I don't have one, the wool was quite blotchy. But it came out great that way. Sort of reddish-purple, and light blue-gray areas. You can see that yarn in the third picture above.

I am using 3 yarns for each multiple strand, as you can see above. I am hoping to have enough yarn but I'm worried. Stay tuned.....

Black Topaz Spiral Knitted Bracelet

These bangle/bracelets were from a kit I purchased at Stitches East in Baltimore last week, and they turned out really well. They are knit on #0000 dpns with 3 stitches and 2 beads per row and were simple, if fiddly, to make. I originally intended to make a necklace but I was too worried about a tiger-strip effect and made 3 bracelets instead. They are very comfortable to wear, fit tightly when on my wrist, roll on and off easily and have no closures to make things difficult.

Acorn and Oak Leaf Socks

Those of you who know me can probably figure out why I chose this motif - ACORNS!!! I'm nuts about them. So when I came across this chart I knew I had to knit socks. The chart is one of the afghan squares from a booklet called The Great American Afghan, by XRX books, and it was loads of fun to knit. I used a now discontinued yarn, Peter Pan St. Ives sock yarn, which I absolutely love and am saddened that it is no longer available.

Lace Beanie and Wristwarmers

From 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders comes this cotton beanie and wristwarmers for my granddaughter's birthday. I used Lion Brand cotton ease since she is averse to wool, and I'm happy how it came out.

Ivory Lace Scarf

It's been quite a while since I have written anything to my blog, and you can blame it all on Ravelry. It's pretty gloomy and rainy here today, and I am betwixt and between projects so here goes.

This is the most glorious yarn imaginable: Handmaiden Mini Maiden, a merino and silk blend and handpainted with the most subtle of colors. And the touch around one's neck is fabulous. The pattern is from Monika Steinbauer and can be found on Ravelry, as a free pattern. Thanks Monika.

I am most pleased with this scarf.

Bead Scallop Necklaces

These are truly addictive, and are very quick and easy to boot. I wish there were some more choices of color of the Paton's Grace cotton, but I am pleased at these for now. They will be great gifts, and look wonderful when worn. I forgot to model one for your pleasure. Sigh. The pattern is from 101 Designer One-Skein Projects.

Iris Beaded Lace Scarf

This is the glorious beaded, silk scarf called Iris from Sunflower Designs . Susan is a genius at combing lace, beads, and handpainted yarn. You MUST see her website, but be forewarned that it is very dangerous to your wallet! I am using Sea Silk in the Mermaid color from Handmaiden Yarns and now I understand the buzz about this yarn. I am enjoying every single stitch of this beauty. The colors are hard to capture of course, but they are fabulous.

American Doll Sweater and Cap

This is a birthday present for a special girl's American Doll. I sewed on a few beads on the black plain yoke of the sweater for some sparkle. The sweater has a placket with buttons on it on the back shoulder, in order to fit over the doll's head.

Beaded Wrist Warmers for Mom

A birthday present for my mom...... They are knit entirely of garter stitch with the beads knitted in on the wrong side. All the beads were strung prior to knitting.

Dream Twister Socks

Hot off the needles are these wonderful, interesting socks called "Dream Twister" by Mona Schmidt. If you are a member of ravelry, then you can also download the free pattern. It is gorgeous!! Thank you Mona! I used Zitron Trekking Pro Natura yarn but I am not crazy about it since it's quite thin and splitty. But I love the socks.

Acorn Beaded Necklace

I bought this great acorn bead on etsy or ebay, and design ideas have been swirling around in my head ever since. The main necklace is crocheted and has taken forever to finish, but it looks quite nice, and the acorn pendant part was finished up today. It hangs from an even-count peyote bail. It was made to fit over my head for strength, and for ease in wearing.

Baby Sweater in Red

This is the cutest thing imaginable. It is an Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern for a baby sweater, and is knit with less than 2 small skeins of merino sock yarn. I had the buttons and they are a perfect match! The only bad thing about this baby sweater, is that it is not superwash, so I will have to be careful who gets it.

Lacy Silk Top in Teal

This silk noil top is knit in a traditional feather and fan pattern. The yarn is hand-dyed in teal by Blue Heron Fibers, and was purchased at Frivolous Fibers in St. Michael's, MD. The pattern was provided when I bought the yarn.

New Cell Phone Sock

My grandaughter is getting her first cell phone today, so when I showed up at her house wearing my houndstooth cell phone sock around my neck, and she commented on it, I gave it to her. So now I had to make another one, since I use it so much around the boat.

This one was embellished with reverse single crochet around the top and tab, using a single strand of sock yarn. The natural/gray yarn is a heavier wool sock yarn, and I used my handy-dandy mechanical i-cord maker to make the cord. My previous cell sock had a buttonhole to close it all up, but it was a pain to open it up quickly when the phone was ringing, so I opted for a simple cord to wrap around the button once, sort of like one of those envelopes.

I like it.

Knitted Bead Stew Bracelets

These are very quick, easy, and satisfying to knit. Each one can be finished in an evening. My only complaint about them is that they are somewhat scratchy to wear due to the thread. But other than that I love them. They are a kit from earthfaire.com

Rose Swallowtail Shawl

Many, many people have been knitting this beautiful piece of lace over the last few months, and I had to follow suit. The yarn is Zephyr lace-weight wool/silk in cassis, another word for rose pink. The last picture shows it blocking on the floor and still damp as you can see. It turned out really nicely and has a single bead at each point. The nupps add so much to this shawl and the only modifications I made were to go up to larger needles as the ends approached so that the points would be well defined. I used size 7 for the last lily of the valley repeat and used a 10 for the last two rows.