Bracelets

 

I think I should call the top one Diane! The keyrings I did in blues proved popular, so I thought I'd make a bracelet version. The beaded part of the keyring is 5 beads in circumference, the bracelet 8. How to make up the difference? I could make a bracelet of 6 circumference, but it's a bit skinny. I could add another colour. White? Gold? Brown? Eventually I hit on the idea of using one colour twice. Aha. These two bracelets add to my stock for Saturday's market. 

Another

 

This one reminds me of licorice all sorts! The designer is Christa Kohlbauer. I used the same colours as in the pattern. I thought it was an 8 circumference, but when I came to start crocheting, realised it is 9. It's a little stiff, I should have used a thinner thread. Still, I'm happy with it. 

Timing

 

I've been sewing bags again - the jeweler is expecting a surge in sales before Christmas. As before, I sewed the bags in two batches. I decided to see how much time each stage of the procedure took for 15 bags. It looks like this - 1 hour to cut and hem; 30 minutes to sew and neaten the seams; 30  minutes to cut threads, turn the bags and press them; just over an hour to thread the ribbons in. So if I have a spare half hour, I know it's enough to sew seams, but not enough to thread all the ribbons! 

Necklace

 

I sold two necklaces last week, ta-da. Now my stocks are really low, so I thought I'd make some more. The ones I sold were flowery ones, so I've made another flower one, albeit different to those. The designer is Miaya (Mariam). The circumference is 8 beads, my favourite for necklaces like this. 

Making Waves

 

Fingerless gloves are popular on my market stall, so I thought I'd knit some more, even though it's summer here. I used the pattern Nalu by Sparrowhawk, which I've used before. They fit me, but are quite small, so I thought I'd make another pair as well, in the bigger size:

More Bags

 

I'm working on another order for 30 jewelry bags. I made 15 yesterday. I decided when I was sewing masks that it's better to have a small batch completed than a large batch half done! So I'm working on the same principle now. I've made a start on the second 15, but I'm not sure I'll finish today because I need to do some preparation for tomorrow's craft group meeting. 

Ready To Go

 

At last I've finished the 20 tatted 'lavender bunches' for an order. I delivered 8 earlier, so here are another 12 packaged and ready to go. 

Friendship Bracelets

 

The craft group I run in a retirement home is one of a number of such groups. Usually we act independently, each developing our own projects for the week. But every now and then there's a project that all or most of the groups do. The friendship bracelet is one such project. I collected the loom and cut threads yesterday, so my preparation this week is minimal. I do however need to make a sample, and decide how we're going to finish the bracelets. 

Back To Tatting Lavender

 

I'm tatting lavender again after taking a week off to prepare for the market. The market was very quiet, there weren't many visitors, but I did sell enough to make it worthwhile going. Jam was my biggest seller I think. I didn't sell any tatted bookmarks, but I gave one  away to a lady who said she tried to learn to tat and gave up. The next market is the December/Christmas one, so hopefully it'll be better attended. 

Experimenting (once the sock was finished!)

 

I've been saving the second sock for when I wanted easy knitting. For instance, sitting in the car waiting for Jack to buy chicken food. But eventually I got fed up and just wanted the pair finished. I put some time in yesterday and got it done. That freed up my needles to try an experiment. 

I get regular Interweave newsletters, one about crochet and one about knitting. Recently there was a post on the knitting version about Ladderback Jacquard. The headline promised to explain it, but the article left me not much wiser, and in retrospect I realise that even the main picture doesn't show ladderback jacquard! However, it did arouse my curiosity and I googled it. Hmm, I'll have to give it a try. 

I used a tutorial from Knit Darling.  It has a video and a written explanation, which I found helpful - I could watch the video to understand and then just follow the written version as I tried it out. It's easier worked in the round, so I cast on a little tube of 30 stitches. It's a way of managing long floats at the back of the work. The interweave article mentioned that it could be used to knit a sort of intarsia in the round. I'm wondering if I can use it to knit motifs on socks. Hmmm. 

Variety

 

I listened to someone the other day saying that the problem with monthly markets is that the stalls have the same items each time. I'm not sure I entirely agree; I'd be disappointed if I went to the lady I usually buy cream from and found she had marigolds. But I thought I'd try to put something new on my stall on Saturday and tat some bookmarks. Of course I've left it rather late to carry out said plan, so I had to go with a very simple pattern. I'm busy preparing for tomorrow's craft group meeting, but even so I should have time to whip up a few more before Saturday. 

Trying New Patterns

 

I decided to make some beaded key rings for Saturday's market. I've found that a 5 circumference beaded crochet rope works best for key rings. I didn't have many 5 circumference patterns in my file, so I thought I'd look for some more. I browsed Pinterest and found quite a few. I downloaded a bunch, printed out four of them and used three. I like how they turned out. Many of the patterns I found are labelled DB-Beads, but that is just a software program for writing patterns, so doesn't help identify the designers. Thank you, whoever you are! I now have 8 key rings ready for market