Working On Keyrings

 

I have an order for a key ring with beads. I thought I'd make a few, they're always saleable. The one on the right looks better in person than it does in the photo, I think because some of the beads are shiny. 

Done At Last

 

I've been working rather intermittently on the half-finger gloves, mainly because other deadlines were more urgent. But the time to deliver the gloves is fast approaching, so I thought I'd better get on with it. The pattern is Tipsy, by AndreSueKnits. They look a bit strange when unoccupied, but fit well when you put them on! 

I've been having difficulty commenting on some blogs in the last few days. I just get a message that an error has occurred. This morning I tried writing on the laptop instead of the iPad and it worked fine, so there you go, the problem must be something to do with the iPad. 

Monkeys

 

I'm going to a market on Saturday. Not my usual one, that's on the 7th. I have some puppets in my basket, but there weren't any monkeys, so I thought I'd better rustle some up. Monkeys are definitely the most popular puppets. 

Flowers

 

A friend gave me some beads recently to make her a bracelet with. I thought now would be a good time, since all my bead crochet supplies are out. When I looked at the beads, it turned out they're tiny, size 11 where I usually use size 8. I have used that size for crochet before, so it wasn't a great problem, but I thought I'd better choose a simple pattern. I used Flowers, by SnowMirna. First of all I crocheted a sample, as per the pattern:

Mmm, a bit skinny for a bracelet. The pattern is easily adapted, I just used 5 lilac beads on each row instead of 3. I had to do 30 repeats of the pattern instead of the 24 I usually do. The bracelet is not smoothly round, I think that may be because I used different sized beads. But I like the way the daisies stand out, and I don't think the odd kink will be noticeable when the bracelet is worn.

I played thread chicken with my Olympus thread:

One reason I end up with cardboard rolls with tiny amounts of thread on them is that I like to be sure there's enough for a project when I start. I decided to risk it, though it would have been a nuisance if I'd had to rethread beads! 

Delivered

 

I finished crocheting the necklace. Yesterday I delivered it to the gift shop, along with the bracelets and a few necklaces from stock. The gift shop is next door to the coffee shop where we hold the knit and natter on Fridays, so I went to show the ladies the beadwork before I went to the gift shop. Maria was very excited, says that's just the craft she's been looking for. She's going to go to the bead shop today and get supplies. I'm happy to help her if I can, though all the information needed is on the internet. 

Working On A Necklace

 

I hope to finish the necklace today. It's difficult to keep track of where the patterns come from, especially once I've printed them out. Thanks to the designers! Not many of them put their names on the patterns.

Two More

 

Thanks for all the encouraging comments on the previous post. I am gradually getting back into beaded crochet and speeding up. I made a mistake on the left hand one in threading the beads. It was tempting to leave it because it was just two beads transposed, but it's amazing how the eye picks that up, especially on such a simple pattern. I had to cut the thread and rejoin, but that's not difficult, so it was best to sort it out.