Yarn and Fabric

I know I am not alone as a jewellery maker who also likes to dabble with other crafts.  I have enjoyed knitting on and off for a while now but recently my 'dabbling' with yarn has been taken to another level.  I blame fabulous podcasts by the likes of Amy and Tracey. 

If you are a knitter that frequents podcasts you most certainly will have heard of the fabulous Stephen West.  I was very lucky at Christmas because there was a copy of Westknits Best Knits waiting for me under the tree.  After much deliberation I decided to dive in and make the 'Doodler'

This is such a fabulous pattern.  I would consider myself to be an intermediate beginner.  This pattern was challenging enough without being too intimidating.  I find that if you take your time and break the instructions down into step by step parts you can't go too wrong.  There is a bit of everything here with colour changes that I hadn't done before, some cabling, short rows and i-cord which is also a new technique to me.

I had to get myself a willing volunteer to help me photograph the shawl in all its glory.

As you can see there is a lovely sunburst effect as the cable joins with the wave at the bottom.

Yarns used:
Mustard colour cable is Scrumptious Lace by Fyberspates

The variegated yarn in the main body is hand-dyed by UK indie dyer Amy Florence.  This is her Paradise base in the colourway Nougat.

The wave along the bottom is a Louisa Harding yarn called Amitola colour 107.

I will leave you with some more shots of my model wearing the Doodler. 

My current yarn project is a hap in Kate Davies book The Book of Haps more on that in another post.

BSBP Bead Hoarders Edition

I was sooo excited when Lori Anderson announced that she was organising another Bead Soup blog hop.  Just in case you don't know about the Bead Soup Cafe you can find out about previous hops if you visit Lori's blog as linked above.

The whole process has been like Christmas unfolding.  The suspense while you wait to be accepted, and then wait to be partnered up, the anticipation of a bead parcel falling through the letterbox....  Carefully unwrapping the package, the joy at the goodies inside.

I was partnered with Noemi Baena and my goodness did I get a package and a half.

This isn't a great photo but it gives an idea of the size and variety of the package.  I had everything here metal, ceramic, glass, enamelled, and some fabric beads from Peru.  Not to mention a lovely little pair of enamel studs that Noemi made!

The main bead from this collection was a beautiful lampwork glass barrel bead from Susan Kennedy.  It reminded me that often the beauty of glass is in simplicity, this is an etched bead with a drizzle of fine silver wire on one end.  As soon as I saw this bead I knew what I wanted to make.

I have a book called Bohemian Inspired Jewellery by Lorelei Eurto and Erin Siegel, it is one of my go to books when my mojo has gone walkabouts.  This is what I made

As you can see, the barrel bead is the focal bead.  I added some of my own lampwork beads and one of the metal beads from my package.

Next up is a piece that is a bit unusual for me both in terms of colour and style.  I don't tend to work with neutral tones, but it just so happened that I had a piece of silk similar to the one that I sent Noemi.  It has been languishing in my stash for quite some time waiting for the right moment.

I did some wire work on the pendant bead which I then embellished with some c-lon.  As you can see I used some of Czech beads and a metal component from the bead soup.

This next piece I used one of Noemi's enamel pieces and I added a key that was in the soup.

I also used some of the natural beads threaded onto Irish waxed linen cord and plaited.  Again, this is an unfamiliar colour pallette for me but I was pleased with the way it turned out.

After the necklaces I decided to make a bracelet.  The metal element of my soup contained some gorgeous chunky brass beads so I used one here.

Again I used some of the Czech glass beads from the soup and added some Liberty fabric from my stash.

I was so inspired by the ingredients in this soup that I also made some earrings for good measure

Here I have used some of Noemi's enamel pieces and some of the Czech glass beads with some of my handmade ear wires.

I loved these Peruvian beads, they just had to be earrings.  I still haven't decided whether to oxidise the bails on these.

I still have A LOT of ingredients left.  However, unlike edible soup ingredients, this soup is not going to spoil.

I hope I have done your bead soup justice Noemi, thank you so much for such a generous mix.

There are lots of very talented designers taking part in this blog hop so please take some time and visit some, or all, of them.  Just head over to Lori's blog for the whole list.