For a quick scarf:
1 ball of Lion Brand Fancy Fur (the kind with nubs) (39 yards)
8 stitches on size 17 needles
Knit each row to end of yarn, weave in the ends.
This is just the right size to tuck into a coat collar or to wind around to make a sort of collar.
For a quick collar (a bit like a cowl in a mobius shape):
1 ball of Lion Brand Fancy Fur (the kind with nubs) (39 yards)
12 stitches on size 17 needles
Knit each row.
When you get to the last row, twist the scarf once to make it a mobius shape, then knit through each last stitch as you bind off into the top part of the stitch at the beginning end. Weave in the ends. (This effectively stitches the ends together without having to sew.)
The quartz that I bought is drilled like briolettes, top drilled, not center drilled, so that changed the whole project. Therefore, what I started out to do is not what I ended up doing. I should have paid more attention when I bought them, or the store should have pointed it out, knowing how I intended to use them. OTOH, if they had, I wouldn’t have done the project I did. So it’s a toss up.
On the whole, I don’t like briolettes. They are hard to work with, unless you want the only style they are pretty much used in, and that’s not a style I generally wear. These fooled me because they are flatter, not so round. If they had been round, I would have known they were briolettes.
I ended up making a lariat with a briolette at each end. I can use the S clasp freely anywhere along the piece to make it any length I’d like, but the S is not attached. And I made earrings with a briolette on the end of each. With some left over beads I made a normal briolette necklace that when worn with the lariat looks as though it is part of the lariat, but it is not. And with the very most left over beads, I made a small piece with a briolette in the center, hung from thin leather cord. That’s fun. And considering that I took apart a necklace that I hadn’t worn in years to get to some of the beads, I will wear these, in some combination, a lot more often.
When beading, it is the beads that dictate the finished project. I have to wait until they speak to me. I might still try to make the original project, but only if I can get the right components. I’m not in a hurry. I’m surprised I beaded at all, it’s been so long.
I’m really pleased with the way the lariat and earrings turned out. I’m not sorry I bought all the rutilated quartz pieces. That way I was sure to have enough, since the store is not convenient to get back to, if I had wanted a few more. I think I have 5 left. If I had had less, I would have made only the lariat and earrings.
I must be on a creative kick. I made a couple of knitted collars this past week. Knitting is more relaxing than beading, because there is less thought put into coming up with a pattern. Once I decide on a pattern for beading, it is relaxing too. Sort of, anyway! Either one I can do in the midst of family life.
Do you like to bead? or knit? Now’s the time to knit up a few scarves. The weather will be turning cold for most of you.
A book is a garden you can hold in your hand,
An orchard you can take on your lap.
A book is a companion who sleeps
Only when you are asleep,
And speaks only when you wish him to.
A book is a tree that lives long
And bears delicious and abundant fruit
That is easy to pick and perfectly ripe
At all times of the year.
A book obeys you by night and by day,
Abroad and at home;
It has no need of sleep
And does not grow weary from sitting up.
–Al-Jahiz (Abu Uthman Amr ibn Bahral-Jahiz, known to his friends as al-Jahiz, was born in Basra in 776 and was the leading literary and intellectual figure of his age.)
I like that when reading a book, we can commune with the author no matter what time frame they lived in. People we’d have no chance to sit down or talk with, are as close as our thoughts when reading the words they have written.
Another thing I like about books, outside of the fact that I like to read and have broad interests, is that they can be put down and later picked back up again — that’s an important thing in a busy life. Invariably if I try to watch TV, I am interrupted by someone or the phone. I might as well not try to watch TV unless it is recorded so that I can treat it like a book.
Plus reading a book is one of the few things that gets a little bit more done each time, like knitting or embroidery, unlike the chores of life that are never ending. You can actually see progress in reading a book as you get further into it, similar to seeing an embroidery begin to take shape.
I have, however, in recent years given myself permission not to finish a book if it doesn’t strike me in one way or another. Because I read fast, I could skim to finish — but when time is at a premium, I’d rather move on to another book or another project. It’s the rare book that I read every word at a pace that is savoring it.
I like the tactile nature of books, holding them in my hands. I’m not really into using wooden stands to help me hold a book, though it might be nice if a book is particularly heavy. And I like the way most books smell — a combination of paper and ink.
I store and read parts of books on my PDA (quotes and such) and at one time had the Bible downloaded into my Palm. I have yet to read an entire ebook, except I have read a friend’s manuscript on the computer. I did not print it out.
I have listened to a couple of audio books which were very well done. The Harry Potter audio books are excellent. The reader voices every character differently. Another I read (and heard) took place in England. The reader had an English accent, so it had a different feel than reading it to myself with my own voice which is not English, but American. I get impatient listening to a book because I can read it so much faster, but it is a good pastime in the car on long or repetitive rides.
I thought this video was quite funny. Introducing the book (with subtitles.) This is a skit showing how a monk might have learned to read a book when he was used only to a scroll. Not too far off from introducing a computer or an ebook. We gotta learn how to do it!
I enjoy beading now, better than any of the other crafts I’ve done or am doing. I sort of rotate with some knitting at the moment, but beading is my fun-creative-thing.
Like any craft (except for knitting or cross stitch or needlepoint where you buy by projects) there is a certain level of investment before it begins to pay off. The more beads, the more interesting, the more creative.
But you can’t accumulate beads unless you can find them. So, I simply buy some beads whenever they strike my fancy, whether I know what I’m going to do with them or not. And sometimes people give me old beads…or you find them in flea markets, etc.
Then I wait for the muse to hit, or not, or for them to speak to me.
I generally limit myself to one strand of whatever it is, and out of that, with adding other beads, I can usually get a necklace, bracelet, and earrings. Or some combination. Leftovers, go into the bead mix.
I’ve had people stop me on the street or in the mall and ask if I sell them. Not so far.
A local woman (now a friend) who owns a store makes beautiful beaded jewelry. She works with both seed beads and larger semi-precious stones and beads. With her leftovers she makes more beautiful jewelry by simply running a needle through the seed beads and smaller beads and doing multiple strands, very ecclectic.
I put my beading away sometime before Christmas, because I felt I wouldn’t have time, and I wanted a neater look with so much going on. The only way really to bead is to look very scattered so you can see colors, etc. so the muse will find you. Mine tend to be in ziplocks, which isn’t as ideal. My friend’s are all out on a table or on hanging rods. I want to do something like this, if I can figure out how to make it look like a changing display. Then it wouldn’t look so messy, even though it would be messy.
She has a very distinct style, and it is fun to see what she does and how she does it.
After doing next to nothing with beading since before Christmas, taking a hiatus of sorts, having organized it all away, I finally got the gumption to begin again. The muse didn’t hit, but I took a couple of things to my friends and used her creativity and bead mix, and we did it together. I knew she’d accomplish what I was hoping for.
Then I was bitten by the bug again.
I had bought some seed beads months ago, seeing another project in a bead store, but it seemed more like a chore than fun, so I felt burdened by it. But this week, I finally decided to make them up into the project I had bought them for so they wouldn’t be hanging over my head any longer.
First, I had to try to learn Peyote stitch. Try is the operative word. It took a couple of tries. I laughingly say, it might be the only time I do it. (It is a two-stitch pattern that is laying up sort of like a basket weave.) The pattern shows doing a whole bunch of beads on top of the basic bracelet, but I only want the bracelet, which I saw while the project was in process at the bead store where I bought the same color beads. My idea is that I might also be able to design it, so it can be worn as a collar. I want to be able to attach different pins to one side of it through silver rings (using a locking mechanism with it, between the rings, so the pin won’t fall off.) When I want to wear it plain, I’ll just flip it over, and the rings won’t show.
That’s the plan. I think it will work. I like to design…I won’t know until I actually get to that point if it will work or not. Stay tuned.
Meantime I’ve put some time into it. The good thing is that it is mindless, in that there is no pattern per se. I think all the skills learned with knitting ski sweaters and doing cross stitch and needlepoint (following designs) could easily be transferred to seed beads. And ee gads, I might even try it. On the next project.
I kinda, sorta, maybe, think I like doing it, if I’m not into fast, but just into repetitive. Of course, adding a design takes it out of repetitive. And there are a lot of designs available.
Repetitive can be very relaxing. Plus I don’t fall asleep. Which can be a problem when I’m reading…
When I bead to make up a design, the time is in deciding the design, which I generally cannot duplicate. Just doing repetitive is a nice way to bead without any big effort of thought.
I wish someone could tell me why it is that whenever I make a concerted effort to get more organized, I can’t find what I’m looking for.
I’ve said more than once, that if I would just nail it to the wall, I would save a lot of time looking for things.
The trouble is, I’m not a minimalist. I wish I were. I admire folks who are. (Likely I’ve told you.)
Instead, I’m creative, like to do various crafts…and stuff multiplies, ya know. And I have three daughters who are creative, one of whom is majoring in college in art…so I have plenty of artwork around, which I dearly love, and the stuff that artwork is made from. (And that might be why she is interested in it, outside of native talent — because it has always been valued.)
About the time I toss something or give it away, I find I need it.
Just because I highly doubt I’ll ever do cross stitch again, that’s no reason to give away my floss. One of my girls is making good use of it in friendship bracelets.
I gave away a lot of yarn recently, and I feel lighter because of it. (Up until about a year ago, I thought I’d likely never knit again either. Then I found some beautiful yarns and patterns to go with it…and before you know it, I’m back in the game.) The same daughter who makes the bracelets also likes to knit when she feels like it. She’s about the same age I was, when I learned.
And just because I’m not wearing a scent at the moment, it doesn’t mean I won’t wear it in spring or next year…and if I move them around, I have to look for what I’m looking for.
But, if I ever come back, I’m going to learn to be a minimalist. Except for perfumes… and…and… and… LOL! No, honest, I mean it!
Plus it doesn’t help that we haven’t moved in years, so there has been no culling.
These are intriquing to me. I’ve never seen them in person or used them, but they appeal to my aesthetic nature. I don’t know how practical they are. They might be aesthetically pleasing, but annoying to use.
If you’ve ever seen or used them, let me know. One of the sites even has circular needles.
