Scissor Keepers

Once a week I help with a craft group in a retirement home. It's not easy to come up with projects that everyone can manage but are 'age appropriate', ie not childish. I love the thimble and scissor keeper I made in December but it's too fiddly and  time consuming to be a suitable project. A simpler version perhaps? After a bit of thought, I came up with a version made out of felt. The bright felt flowers should make scissors (or keys or a pen perhaps) easy to find.

A Couple More

The power has been on all day, so I ran the washing machine and vacuum cleaner this morning. It's still on, hooray, so I can show you the latest two bracelets. The one on the right was designed by Christa Kohlbauer of Perlenmix.at. I do like it, I think I might make a necklace to match. It is 9 beads in circumference, which is slightly bigger than the others I've made recently.  The other one is my second 'flag' bracelet, which is my own design.

Restocking

A shop called The Orange Elephant has taken some of my bracelets and necklaces to sell on consignment. I'm very excited about that. I'm making more things now so that I have some on hand. These are all bracelets with a circumference of 8 beads, which seems to be the most popular item.

My posting here is necessarily erratic because we have some very long power cuts. Yesterday the electricity was off from 6 am to 10 pm. It does mean that without the chance to do ironing, vacuuming and so on, I have plenty of time to crochet beaded rope!

Key Rings

A friend of mine suggested I make key rings. Mmm, good idea. After much thought and a bit of experimentation, ta da, key rings it is. I found that a beaded rope with a circumference of five beads works best to make a circle small enough for a key ring. I put the rope through a ring and then do the invisible join. The ones on the right are a stylised version of the Zimbabwe flag, in case you're wondering. I made a bracelet version too, with a circumference of 8 beads:

Going, going, gone

The mango tree outside the kitchen had become a bit overwhelming. Jack attacked it single handed and reduced it to a shadow of its former self. He had threatened to cut the tree down, so I suppose the severe 'trim' is one up on that. He picked a lot of mangoes before he started chopping, so I was able to make mango chutney:

The jars behind the chutney contain pickled onions.

Smaller

It may be more 'Janemacbeads' for a while than 'Janemactats'. I'm hoping to be able to sell some beadwork. My cousin bought some necklaces and bracelets recently, but said she'd have bought more bracelets if I had a smaller size. Good feedback. I've avoided making small bracelets because I have very small hands and didn't want to make bracelets that would fit only me! But if smaller bracelets are wanted, smaller bracelets I shall make.

Tie A (Slip) Knot In It

After a lot of toing and froing we are now resettled in our own house. I've been AWOL from here because I've had no access to the internet. At last fibre has been put in and we are reconnected to the world.

I decided I needed a pair of pot holders for my 'new' kitchen. I've made several pairs as gifts, but never made any for myself. I don't know if it's because I was working with 4-ply cotton instead of the double knit that I usually use, but the loop left at the end of each row, when swapping to the other colour, kept disappearing. I tried various strategies, such as putting the yarn ball inside the loop, and eventually hit on the best solution. Tie a slip knot in the loop:

The knot prevents the work from unraveling, but when the time comes to use that colour again, one tug removes it. Problem solved.