Brick stitch bracelet

This bracelet is from t he Diane Fitzgerald brick stitch book. I've started working my way through my book collection and this book is the first one up. I'm doing her amulet bag now. I had some problems understanding the bracelet instructions so I had to reread the book first. She uses terms like "stack" which are her own and also I felt at first a bit lost in the instructions but eventually it all made sense.

filigree bracelet set

My own creation using what I learned in bead class.

Ankle bracelet

Ankle bracelet and if it's too heavy, I can always make it a regular one.

I put together a lot of earrings yesterday from the silver I brought back from Bangkok on my trip out there. Also finished an earring in delica blue and gold (thanks to Tami for helping me with them) and the bracelet was just put together with some of my first bead purchases after I complained to Tami that I didn't know what to do with them. I used a gold chain and put the beads on eye pins. It was fun to make and even my sister likes it!

zigzag

This afghan by Linda Taylor can be found in Heirloom afghans to knit and crochet by Leinhauser and Weiss. What I like about it is that you begin with Tunisian stitch and since the pattern only calls for 15 stitches, it can be done with a regular length crochet hook. It's made in 6 long strips which are easily hooked together and for such a big afghan, there aren't that many ends to sew in either. A really good stashbuster for me. The brown is Tunisian and the others are a regular crochet pattern. I also hope to make more from this book which is better than most of them.

America

Thanks to Dixie Ackerman, I have made this lovely peyote stitched wavy flag. The one on the left uses size 9 beads and on the right Delicas.

vintage

Just finished this one for homework assignment. Kind of unusual. Anyone like it?

loomwork

I'm getting better now with the loom. This is my widest bracelet so far and I'm using size 8 Czech beads which I really like. To finish the warps, I'm using a big eye needle because the warps are a thick polyester yarn I bought in Cape Town and it splits. I'm weaving them in and out of the warp threads and doing one halfhitch knot and then cutting with a new scissars by Fiskar which is supposed to be good for Fireline but also good on this.
I do have something I could have applied over the warps and pasted on, but felt that sewing in is really the best way.

Dallas "Perkins"

This is from Yorkshire Fable and is by Sarah Dallas. The pattern came out in 2003 and that's when I bought the yarn too. So only 3 years to fo isn't bad. Rowan Yorkshire tweed dk is the yarn. I enjoyed knitting with it and I think it'll be great to wear also. Not too warm. I didn't know until the end if this one would fit. It was that big a problem. First of all I decided to knit the body in one piece so I'd have less ends to sew in. But I wasn't sure of my gauge because of the crochet added after the knitting. So I knit up an entire sleeve first and added the crochet to get the right gauge. I had to make changes then in the pattern as my gauge wasn't the pattern's. However unlike the fairisle vest below, the buttonhole section was great to do and I found nice buttons as well. However, I hope never to knit such a complicated sweater again. Just too much fiddling and uncertainty for me.

One of the big problems was the bottom section in a lacey stitch which is supposed to be sewn on at the end. I didn't do that which was a mistake because I got a nasty ridge between that and the rest of the sweater so I added a line of embroidery chain stitch to hide it. The crocheting at the end pulls out the gauge a lot so I was correct in making a sleeve first or else it never would have been finished. Whew!

Topping Yellowknife vest

I nearly finished this vest last year and finally just now found buttons and put them on. The big problem was the buttonhole section because the directions called for two layers in st st folded over so how do you do the buttonholes? I knew of the Neatby method and figured that would do but since I didn't have it I ended up figuring out my own technique. I have to say I got better as I went along!
The yarn is J&S and I think the pattern and colors are gorgeous. There were no mistakes. However if I were to redo it, I would definitely do a different buttonhole without the double layer.
I feel this fairisle vest is one of the loveliest I've ever made. You can find the kit at Wool and Wicker .

loomwork

Today was our Independence Day and Tami and I decided to bead together and it was lots of fun. Anyway, I have two looms so we ended up each making a bracelet from
"Bracelet bonanza" which is a very easy book for this. I used Czech size 8 beads I brought back from Capetown after Steven Long convinced me that Czech beads are excellent for their quality and colors and I am just delighted with the sparkle of these colors. However, I am not yet pleased with my technique. For this one, I ended up sewing in all the warps and used a big eye needle. But there are other ways to try.

I've been buying more books again. In knitting the big ones were the Janet Szabo Aran knitting book and the new Norah Gaughan which is quite geometric and math oriented. Both are definitely good additions to my growing collection. I keep looking at my poncho books because I see several ponchos or wraps that I want to make however most of them use winter yarns so there's going to be a long hiatus first.