The Necklace

The zigzag necklace is done. With this kind of pattern, you get two-in-one. So if you want a stripey necklace, turn it over:

Zigzags

I've been crocheting  patterns with zigzags. The bottom one has zigzags on the other side as well, though the top one has stripes:

Both of them are designed to overcome the natural bias of beaded crochet rope. To do that, they shift the pattern to the right, which means that the threaded bead sequence starts in a different place on the chart for each repeat. I've found that with such patterns, it's helpful to keep a space between each bead sequence so that I can start from the bottom of the chart each time. It helps me keep my place on the chart. This will probably be gibberish to tatters, but it might be helpful to someone!

The top rope is now long enough for a bracelet, but I've decided it will look good as a necklace, so I'm going to go on with it.

Origami Market Bag

My friend Debbie showed me how to make this ingenious bag, but you can also find online tutorials, such as this one. Debbie and I have been making plain bags that our craft group members will decorate. Yesterday I decided to use my scraps of shweshwe material to make one to put a gift in, rather than use paper gift wrap.

I joined pieces of shweshwe to make a rectangle, with length three times the width, and sewed it to a lining, which hid all the seams:

Then comes the fun bit, the folding:

Triangles at the end, one up and one down, and then one more fold to turn it into a bag:

The points at the top are overlapped and covered with a fabric tube to form a handle, and voila, a very simple shopping bag. You can box the corners, but I decided not to.

Measuring

With a pattern like this one, I can count the number of repeats to make a bracelet or a necklace. I write myself a note on the pattern so that I don't have to go through the same thought process over and over. But with a very short pattern repeat, it's not practical to count repeats. I came up with another way of measuring - comparing the string of beads with the length of my beading tray:

A key ring decoration, with a circumference of 5 beads, requires one and a half trays; a 6 bead bracelet two and a half trays and an 8 bead bracelet three and a half trays. It's not terribly exact, of course, but it gives me some idea.

Variations

The top bracelet is 8 beads in circumference, the one on the right is 6, while the key rings are 5. I tried earnestly to recreate the scattered pattern for the key rings, but gave up eventually and settled for stripes instead of spots. Five beads in circumference doesn't give much scope! Still, I'm happy with the result.

A Set

The lady at the Orange Elephant shop suggested I make sets - matching necklace and bracelet. So here's a set. A set of lego? As muskaan said, the blocks and bright colours make you think of lego.

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.