Tag Archives: seed beads

My Lisa Hangover

Posted on by

4

It is Tuesday and I am still recovering from my 4-day weekend bead-binge with my college pal Lisa Beaudo, the designer behind Lisa’s Bead Closet and the blogger behind Japanese Beading Blues. Every year at about this time, she flies in from Houston to stay with me for 3 or 4 nights of beading frenzy and this year it was a short trip, only three nights, and we packed in the beading and the frenzying.

Lisa arrived on Thursday night at about 9 and on our way home from SFO we stopped in Berkeley and had a late dinner and drinks at Skates. It was a gorgeous night – the kind we folks in the Bay Area hope to be able to show out-of-towners – crystal clear night sky and the city shimmering across the water from our restaurant. One of the things I love about Lisa is no matter how long it’s been since we’ve seen each other, we just pick up where we left off, and this time was no different. We yacked away over French onion soup, artichoke cheese dip and chicken wings ( eating like we were young things again!).

Friday was bead-buying day. We headed down to Fremont to go to Kiowa Rose, a great bead shop in the historic Niles district. I love this bead store for its Victorian-chic esthetic and its excellent Czech glass strands but I only seem to get down there from our house, an hour away, when Lisa comes! So I tend to drop a bundle. This year was no different – lots of strands, brass chain and I a few tubes of the new Tila Beads from Miyuki. They let me take a few pics of samples I’d like to make.

But bad news – Kiowa Rose is up for sale! Owner Rosie and her husband are moving to Oregon. SOMEBODY PLEASE BUY THIS SHOP!!!! Lisa and I fantasized about it. We could live on the same street here in Pinole and take turns going down to the store –  3 days a week each. Then on the other three days we could each make jewelry! PROBLEM SOLVED.

Rachel met us at Kiowa Rose and we had an excellent lunch a few doors down at a place I think was called The Vine. We had great sandwiches and salads – tho someone must tell the woman in the gold cowboy bots that she must not clomp around on the wooden floors like a great elephant! Rachel and Lisa and I all went to University of Texas’s Drama Dept. together. Again, it was like no time had elapsed. Rachel, who is an actress, had us in stitches over a recent job she had – as a disruptive floozie at a rather staid 60th birthday party for an architect. Hysterical.

Then it was back to Berkeley and our wonderful Baubles and Beads. Somehow, I managed to spend more $ here. Sigh. Then we came home with a pizza, opened some great red wine and sat at the dining room table and beaded all night long.

Saturday was a BIG day. Saturday was the Bay Area Bead Extravaganza, which was happening at the Oakland Marriott, a few blocks away from Occupy Oakland. Two nights earlier a man was shot and killed at the encampment. Lisa was prepared for any disruption of BABE with a great slogan: DO NOT IMPEDE THE BEAD! DO NOT IMPEDE THE BEAD! The BART let us off right at the encampment and we took a look. Squalid is the word that comes to mind. OFF TO BABE.

Where, alas, I spent more $! Mostly, I bought chain. I am proud of the fact I bought no seed beads, as I have enough to start my own seed bead farm. I did buy some glass squares and blobs to do some decoupage-under-glass, one of my favorite things. Lisa bought some semi-precious coins to make some more earrings. We had our usual lunch at Ratto’s – yummylicious. We were there for about 4 hours and by the time we left I was dragging.

BUT NOT SO DRAGGING THAT I COULDN’T STAY UP LATE AGAIN BEADING. We were preparing for Sunday’s big event at our house – our second annual Jewelry Hoo-Hah! We invited about 50 people to my house to eat, drink Lisa’s famous Bloody Marys and pomegranate martinis, eat some yummy food and shop our jewelry.

Jen's Jewelry

I’ll tell you what was funny, tho. The party was to go from 12-4 so at 12 we break out the Bloody Marys. And then Lisa, Jen and I sat there until 1:40 before the first person showed up. What were we to do but drink MORE Bloody Marys until people got there. By the time the first person came – Sheri – we were feeling no pain.

My jewelry

 

It was a blast – about 25 or 30 of my knitting/beading friends came, each bearing something more delicious than the last – and they shopped out stuff only if they wanted to. In addition to my jewelry, which was spread out upstairs, Lisa had her most gorgeous things arranged around her bedroom, and my dog care professional Jen had her semi-precious strands upstairs, too. I also arranged  display of my husband Terry’s origami, which I beaded and turned into Christmas and Hannukah balls (I have never met an item that could not benefit from a little beading).

Some of Lisa's Baubles

And we just had a blast! My favorite part was walking into the living room and seeing every seat and even the floor filled with my friends knitting away, chatting, eating, drinking. The house was FULL of so much talent. I am a very lucky girl.

After the party, Lisa and Terry and I went out for some sushi at Miyuki. Yumm. Then, after crashing, we got up Monday and got Lisa all packed up and we headed off to Japantown, one of her must-stops. We hit the bookstore, the origami paper store, the china store and I did a lot of Christmas shopping. We had lunch at Suzu, the noodle house that makes their own delicious noodles, and then we shopped some more! I had her at the airport by 3 and was home by 4:30.

And then I crashed, baby. I mean seriously crashed. I was in bed early, tho I read and practiced my ukulele (yes, I am playing the ukulele now). And today I feel in need of a blood transfusion a la Keith Richards!

Lisa, I love you, but man you run me ragged! It was AWESOME and I can’t wait til next year!

 

 

The Summerflies Shawl

Posted on by

7

We are in for another week or more of rainstorms and grey skies here in Northern California. It’s been a bit of a long winter of that kind of weather – or so it seems to me right now. I have been livening up the winter by knitting a lot of Summerflies shawls designed by Holly and Ella Knits in some gorgeous colors – deep purple, dusty rose, a creamy ivory and now, a slow-moving rainbow stripe in shades of pink and purple.

I absolutely love this FREE pattern which you can get from Ravelry. I love it so much, I taught it as a knitalong at K2Tog this past month and a half. I had eight wonderful students, each one adventurous in her yarn choice and dedicated to her craft, and they came up with some beautiful versions of this versatile pattern. I am going to share some with you.

First off, I added beads to this lovely pattern, and so did the majority of the women in the class. If you are going to add

In madelinetosh "Pashmina," color "Mulled Wine"

beads, you need about 2 tubes of size 6 seed beads and tiny crochet hook – about a size 10 or 12. You place the beads on the stitch you want to adorn with the hook and then work it as described in the pattern. (If you want to make the same beaded pattern I did, I am afraid you will have to take the class, which we’ll offer again this summer).

One of the things I love most about this pattern is the shape – a gentle crescent moon that drapes well across my shoulders. I also like that the shawl has definite sections – the ridged eyelet section, the butterflies section, the knotted openwork section, etc. I wondered if I could provide my students with some alternative stitch patterns they could substitute for these sections without having to change the stitch count, thereby giving them more options for future shawls. They could mix and match! Use the original pattern’s butterflies section here and my suggested alternative there. Here are a few things I came up with . . . . with a huge thank you to Barbara Walker’s “Treasury.”

QUATREFOIL EYELET (substitute for First Butterfly section)

Swatch of Quatrefoil Eyelet

Continue as pattern describes through Row 22; complete all even rows as described in original pattern

Row 23: K3, yo, K6, *yo, ssk, K6;* repeat between * and * 3 more times, end last repeat K7, yo, K3 (47 sts)

Row 25: K3, yo, K5, *K2tog, yo, K1, yo, ssk, K3;* repeat between * and * 3 more times, end last repeat K7, yo, K3 (49 sts)

Row 27: K3, yo, K8, *yo, ssk, K6;* repeat between * and * 3 more times, end last repeat K9, yo, K3 (51 sts)

Continue rest of section as described in original pattern

QUATREFOIL EYELET for Second Butterfly Section

Continue as pattern describes through Row 46; complete all even rows as described in original pattern

Row 47: K3, yo, K9, *yo, ssk, K6;* repeat between * and * 11 more times, end last repeat K10, yo, K3 (117 sts)

Row 49: K3, yo, K8, *K2tog, yo, K1, yo, ssk, K3;* repeat between * and * 11 more times, end last repeat K10 instead of K3, yo, K3 (119 sts)

Row 51:  K3, yo, K11, *yo, ssk, K6;* repeat between * and * 11 more times, end last repeat K12, yo, K3 (121 sts)

Continue rest of section as described

in Snicklefritz sock yarn, color "Diesel Gnome"

ROSEBUD PATTERN (substitute for First Butterfly Section)

Work as pattern describes through Row 20; complete all even rows as described in original pattern

Row 21: K3, yo, K6, *k2tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k5* repeat between * and* twice more, end last repeat K6, yo, k3 (45 sts)

Row 23: K3, yo, K6, *k2tog, yo, K3, yo, ssk, K3;* repeat between * and * end last repeat K6, yo, K3 (47 sts)

Row 25: K3, yo, K8 *yo, ssk, yo, K3tog, yo, K5;* repeat between * and *, end last repeat K8, yo, K3 (49 sts)

Row 27: K3, yo, K10, *yo, slip 1, K2tog, psso, yo, K7;* repeat between * and * twice more, end last repeat K10, yo, K3 (51 sts)

Continue rest of section as described in original pattern

Detail, Snicklefritz

ROSEBUD PATTERN (substitute for Second Butterfly Section)

Work as original pattern describes through Row 44; complete all even rows as described in original pattern

Row 45: K3, yo, K6, *k2tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k5* repeat between * and* 9 more times, end last repeat K6, yo, k3 (115 sts)

Row 47: K3, yo, K6, *k2tog, yo, K3, yo, ssk, K3;* repeat between * and * 9 more times, end last repeat K6, yo, K3 (117 sts)

Row 49: K3, yo, K8 *yo, ssk, yo, K3tog, yo, K5;* repeat between * and * 9 more times, end last repeat K8, yo, K3 (119 sts)

Row 51: K3, yo, K10, *yo, slip 1, K2tog, psso, yo, K7;* repeat between * and * 9 more times, end last repeat K10, yo, K3 (121 sts)

In silk, with green raku finished beads

ROMAN STRIPE (substitute for Knotted Openwork Section)

In Tosh "Pashmina," purple

Row 67: K3, yo, K1, *yo, K1;* repeat between * and *, end K1, yo, K3

Row 68: K3, purl across to last 3 stitches, K3

Row 69: K3, yo, K1, *K2tog;* repeat between * and *, end K1, yo, K3

Row 70: K3, P1, *yo, K2tog;* K1, p1, K3

Row 71: K3, yo, K1, *yo, K2tog;* repeat between * and *, end K1, yo, K3

Row 72: K3, purl across to last 3 stitches, K3.

Repeat these 6 rows one more time, then . . . .

Row 79: K3, yo, knit across to last 3 stitches, yo, K3

Continue rest of pattern as described.

Rocky would like you all to know that Summerflies makes a great pug bed . . . .

Rocky the K2Pug

I look forward to making more of these wonderful shoulder shawls, mixing and matching to make each one unique. If you make any, please share them with me here.

Memory Wire Bracelets

Posted on by

1

Seafoam Bracelet

Sometimes it is hard to say what inspires us. I have had bracelet-sized memory wire in my bead chest for maybe 10 years. At least 10 years. I know I tried to make a few bracelets when I first started beading about that long ago, but I don’t remember what happened – what I made or if I liked it. I must not have, because I haven’t touched memory wire since.

Until this past weekend. I do not know what got me – the bug to clean out, to use up what I have, some subconscious recollection of something I saw and liked made with memory wire. Who knows? But on Sunday, I sat down with memory wire, some memory wire cutters (also 10 years old) and some raku seed beads, size 8, and some 6 and 4 mm Czech crystals.

The results? Four bracelets, each made with five wraps of memory wire. I love ‘em and wanna make more. So what did I do yesterday? I bought more memory wire!!!! So much for cleaning out!I am selling them in my Etsy store.

Green Iris bracelet

To make one of these bracelets, you will need:

memory wire

memory wire cutters

flat-nosed pliers

size 8 seed beads

24 4mm faceted Czech crystals

24 daisy spacers

12 6 mm Czech crystals

Bronze Iris Raku bracelet

With memory wire cutters, cut about six wraps of memory wire. Use flat-nosed pliers to fold back about 1/8 inch of memory wire to inside of circle formed by memory wire (this will stop beads from sliding off). String beads in following pattern: *20 seed beads, 1 4mm crystal, 1 daisy spacer, 1 6 mm crystal, 1 daist spacer, 1 4mm crystal.* Repeat between * and * until all crystals are on wire, finish with 20 seed beads. With memory wire cutters, cut memory wire about 1/4 of inch from last bead. Use flat-nosed pliers to fold under 1/8 inch of memory wire towards center of circle formed by bracelet.

Hex Cut Beads bracelet

Beaded Bracelet Bonanza

Posted on by

0

Okay, remember in my last post I raved about how fun it was to teach my top-down sock class? Well, that class no has a rival in the Beaded Bracelet class I taught last weekend at K2Tog.

I have been making these beaded bracelets for a couple of years, ever since I bought a kit from Swallow Hill Creations at a Stitches West.  I have given many as gifts, sold a few others and generally had a blast whipping them out. From bead stringing to binding off takes me about an evening. But I am generally considered fast (haha).

So for the purposes of this class, which I had only three hours to teach, I prepared kits for students which included me pre-stringing half their beads. Fortunately, I had a lot of help in this from my mom, Diann, who was visiting me for a week. She strung A LOT of beads for me. Thanks again, mom.

Pre-stringing for the kits

In the kits, we included the beads (size 6 seed beads), a threader, a pattern, a square of velix, the “yarn,” a clasp and a band-aid in case the tiny needles required – Addi Turbos size 000 – caused some sore thumbs. I am happy to say no one needed the band-aid.

I had six students, plus my mom. Folks got started stringing while I talked about the construction – garter stitch consisting of one beaded row, one non-beaded row, with a beaded cast-on and cast-off – and general principles of design – different clasps, different orders of bead stringing to make different designs.

Karen strings her beads

After stringing, we tackled the beaded cast-on. This was not people’s favorite thing to do. But once past that, you get to the good stuff – the knitting. The bracelet is knit lengthwise, with between 43 and 48 stitches on the needles, depending on the size of one’s wrist (congrats to Marilyn, who had the largest!). There were a couple of dropped stitches here and there (UH-OH! and we get out the teensy crochet hook) but no major disasters.

Suzan chose purple beads

Then it was on to the beaded bind-off, and if they were unhappy with the cast on, they were miserable with the bind off. The trick is to keep it loose. But as grumpy as they were, they all made it through to the end! With an embroidery needle they sewed on their clasp and we put a little dab of glue to seal the deal.

Penny attached her clasp

The class took a bit longer than 3 hours, but I figure if I pre-string all the beads for everyone in the next class, we’ll make it in under the wire. We still have a few kits available at the store for $15 – they do not include the Addi’s. But if you have a set of 00′s they’ll do. But the 000′s are best.

Look for us to reschedule this class sometime before Christmas.

Sharon's green bracelet

Earrings and Pendants

Posted on by

0

Now I am excited because last night and late this afternoon (after finishing my real work, of course), I came up with one original design for a pendant, and one almost totally original design for earrings. This is tough for me – BUT I DID IT.

Blue Dangle Earrings

The first is a pair of earrings. They are made with a milky turquoise round bead, 6 mm. in circumference, a 4 mm. carnelian bead and a Swarovski crystal. I wove some size 15 beads (those teeeeeeny guys) around the round bead and wirewrapped the rest. I like it! I posted it in my Etsy store today. Again, I am trying to improve my photography. Better?

Then, this afternoon, I was fiddling around with some 3, 4 and 6 mm Czech crystals and some size 15 seed beads to see if I could make a mandala-like pendant. My first try, a white-ish one, came out rippled – the beads did not fit together comfortable in the wheel shape. So I started over with some green and bronze colored beads, substituting some 3 mm where I previously had 4 mms. And I suddenly thought I could use these little teardrop-shaped beads to make spokes emanating from the mandala. Here it is . . .

Mandala Pendant

I’ll post this one on Etsy tomorrow. I’d like to try and post one thing every day or two so the stock doesn’t go stale. But will time permit? HA!

detail

New Year’s Resolution

Posted on by

0

Okay, this is the ONLY one I am making – to beef up my Etsy store. And in keeping with that, on this frist working day of the new year – I tried really hard to take better pictures of my stuff. This is a constant battle for me – I am techno-challenged and probably only know how to use 1/100 of my camera’s tools. But here are the results – and I am pretty happy with them.

Evening Star Earrings

These are my “Evening Star Earrings,” now posted in my Etsy store. To see the old picture, scroll down to my last blog entry. Better, huh?

I am calling this the “White Star Pendant.”

White Star Pendant

That’s one of my favorite beverages, White Star.

Amber Star Pendant

And this one is the “Amber Pearl Pendant.”

So, now I gotta get back to taking some pictures of older things and reposting those.

Kiowa Rose Bead Challenge

Posted on by

5

Kiowa Rose

Last month, when my friend Lisa was here from Texas to attend the BABE Show with me, she and I drove an hour or so south to Fremont, Calif. to go to Kiowa Rose, a bead store we had never been to before.

YOWZA!!!!

This is a bead store right up my alley – it is heavy on seed and glass beads, Victorian and Art Nouveau designs. Put simply, it ROCKS. We must have shopped for over an hour, and as we were checking out, I saw a sign advertising the store’s monthly “bead challenge”- put your name in a hat and if it is drawn they give you a handful of beads and a month to make something out of it. If you complete the challenge, you get a $10 gift certificate.

I’m game, I thought, and plopped my name in. Three days later, a call from the store – my name was chosen. I drove down again a few days after that and picked up my beads. Here they are:

Bead Challenge Beads

I got some dyed pearls, some flower-shaped beads, some dagger beads, a tube of size 11 seed beads with a raku finish and tube of size 8 seed beads with a polished finish. There were also what appear to be some labradorite, but I am not sure. Those are the oval-shaped beads on the left.

There are a few simple rules to the challenge: you have to use at least 75% of each type of bead you are given; you can add anything else you want to complete your design (fiber, beads, wire, etc.) I picked up a few more beads before I left the store with my challenge beads – a couple more of the flower-shaped beads and a strand of 25 leaf-shaped beads. And a beautiful glass button that I envisioned as the centerpiece of the necklace I was going to make.

But that design didn’t pan out. I thought about it all thru the Thanksgiving holiday, planned it in my head, but when I sat down to make it, I couldn’t make it work. So yesterday, after looking thru some 10-year-old bead magazine I had lying around, I made this:

Kiowa Rose Necklace

AND I LOVE IT. I used almost every bead given me – I think I had one left of each of the non-seed bead types left, and I used about 75% of the two types of seed beads given me. I had two leaf beads left, and 2 pearls so I will make some earrings to match. I’m popping it in the mail to have it to Kiowa Rose by the Friday, Dec. 11 deadline.

Here are some detailed pictures . . .

Center of necklace

I used a faceted teardrop bead for the centerpiece, which I also bought that day at Kiowa Rose. And I used one additional tube of seed beads that I already had in my stash. And I already had the clasp. But the rest of the beads are from the challenge.

Fringe detail