Tag: beads

Everything Is Not What It Seems

Leave a comment

You would think I would get better at estimating how long things take, considering I’ve been knitting for over ten years. Seriously, I should be better at this. But I have managed to mess up a straightforward triangular entrelac shawl several times, but I got a beaded one finished in a quarter of that time. You would think the beaded one would’ve been more difficult.

I’ve made so many of these, I went for something a little different on the picture. So here is Dinosaur modeling this one. It is a Starry Stole from Knitpicks, worked in Shadow yarn in the Midnight colorway with silver-lined, clear beads. As I have done on all the others, I added a third full repeat to make it more scarf-length.

I’m finally re-doing the christmas scarf, hopefully to be done with it soon. That one may turn into a bit of a tutorial. It sure has taught me quite a few things.

Valentine’s Gifts for the Kids 2015

Leave a comment

In the midst of the many other projects I have going on, I needed to make some quick valentines for the kids I babysit. I originally was trying to make a couple things, but in the end it was taking too long and I just went with the smallest, fastest ones I had.

The oldest boy had found a beaded bracelet in a shop that he liked, but his mom wasn’t about to spend over $50 for a bracelet for a kid. I thought that was a little insane as well, so I decided to go back to another craft I had abandoned a while before and make him one. But what I make for one, I have to make for all. Luckily this was around the time I was thinking of valentines anyway.

I made one for each, with their initial in the middle. That way there will be no fighting over whose was whose. I had originally planned out the pattern, but then ended up messing up early on and created the rest of the pattern as I went along. Once I had one finished, I used it as a template for the rest.

Then, because I decided to give up on the second thing I was making (which will now likely become Easter presents), I was ready to make the cards at 10:00 at night. And I had no red paper. And I had been to the craft store earlier that day to get crimper beads…Anyway, I made the colored paper again and cut out hearts. Then I cut the spots for the bracelets wrong and ended up having to tape the bracelets in place in the back. That is what I get for doing this at bedtime the night before I needed to give some of them.

Coastal Starry

Leave a comment

I made my first starry stole for one of my grandmothers for Christmas. I was hoping to have two done by Christmas time, but like most of my plans to make presents that didn’t pan out.

I bought the Oregon coast colorway of Knit Picks Shadow thinking it would be a much lighter,more neutral color from the picture on the website. I am actually very happy that it turned out darker than I expected. The color is similar to beach sand (hence the Oregon Coast name) with subtle rainbow-esque variations within the colors.

After making the first one, I decided that the rest of these (of which there will be four) should be a little longer than the pattern calls for. I did four repeats of the full chart rather than the three called for in the pattern. That gave it a bit extra length to be wrapped like a scarf:

or to actually be wrapped around the shoulders when worn as a shawl:

Unfortunately, this meant I needed more beads than I ended up with, due to quite a few beads that were unusable for the project. Either the holes were too small or they didn’t even have holes. Whatever the case, I had to improvise. Luckily, by doing both sides at once I was able to put the different beads directly in the center so they are all directly in the back and it won’t be noticeable. Though I did have some gold beads that made it less noticeable, anyway.

I really like the way it came out with the added length, so I am going to do that for the last two as well. Makes it easier to keep it on the shoulders.