Knit Jewelry - REDO

Oooo.... Aaaahhhh! Isn't it pretty? I am really pleased with my first attempt at knitting jewelry!

I ordered my beads first and then strung them onto the wire. I picked up some smaller sized needles and started knitting. I picked up a bead here and there and finished it off with a toggle clasp. It was a fairly quick knit but it is a little tough on the hands to use wire. I will definately be making more of these! I think some earrings might be nice too, just have to get the hooks for those.

***Ok, so my pics just won't show up directly in this post :-(  I'm linking to them instead, hope that works!***

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/3AxqPD7cfaZUUgrK1z-94n4CyFaFLY4KdNffHlMoXH4?feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/T918Y7ZN0ZZzytoYGqO1TH4CyFaFLY4KdNffHlMoXH4?feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/_PpqxlNK407tEZDDI805cn4CyFaFLY4KdNffHlMoXH4?feat=directlink

Tweed

  

I had this lovely tweed yarn and I wasn't sure what to knit it into. I decided to go with a cowl but I'm still not sure it's the right match. I did a basic 2x1 rib for a little stretch but still showingn off the flecks of color. It's really comfy and a nice size, but I'm just not loving it I guess. I'm thinking it might make a nice pair of little gloves... I really should've gotten more than one skein of this because it would make some real nice bigger items...

A little shopping

Found some nice yarns at the thrift store the other day... I've looked there a couple times and usually they just have the really crafty looking acrylics but this time they had some nicer stuff. Two of the yarns are lightweight (maybe even lace weight?) in a light purple (without a tag) and a light green (with an old tag). Then a nice ball of a dark green mystery yarn. A bright green Red Heart sport weight (with tag). They had a bin full of what is probably crochet floss or something, but there was a white with gold that I thought might be nice so I grabbed that. Finally, I found 4 skeins of a red, black and white varigated yarn (some with tags) that had a UFO still attached!

Another day I was at the Barnes and Noble with the kids and found a great stitch book. It has over 500 stitch patterns! It's a little big for travel but great to start making up patterns at home. I also stopped into Michael's to see what was on sale. I found some bulky brown yarn (for a purse?) and a silky green yarn (perhaps a hat?) but not much on sale. I decided to check out the jewelry section to see if they had anything I could use to make knit jewelry. I found some thin wire, some hemp, and some beads. I finally stopped into my LYS too! I picked up a lovely purple & brown skein of a wool blend that I think will make a nice pair of socks for me. Also a big ol ball of yarn in black, grey's and white which will likely become a purse (or maybe two!).

Finally getting an amount of yarn I think qualifies as a stash! LOL

Some new stuff...

Here are a couple of projects I worked on lately... the first is my attempt at dying. I knit a double seed stitch in a light grey cotton yarn and wanted it to have a tint of purple. Obviously, that is not what happened! I used mostly grape with a touch of fruit punch "drink mix" and this picked up and held all the red tones. It is not horrible, just not what I was going for. I still need to do another vinegar wash to hopefully retain the color since this is cotton. It's too short to be a good scarf so I'm going to have to put some buttons on it or something.

The second and third pics are the scarf that I knit up using ribbon yarn. It's very slinky and fun. Not sure yet if this one will be a keeper for myself or if I'll put it up on Etsy. So, it will sit here for now :-)

Playing with new yarns

Went on a little online shopping spree at joanns.com a bit ago and started playing with the new yarn a couple days ago. I made it a point to get different types to experiment with.

First up was the Color Infusions Memory String in Silver. I thought this would be awesome to try knitting jewelry. My first impression was disappointment, the amount I got was so small I didn't imagine it would make much. So I started with a ring but it was the wrong size so I frogged and started again. The second one was ok, but the amount of leftover made me think I should try for a bracelet instead. Well, all this frogging was not good for the yarn. It started wearing away the silver and revealing the white underneath. There wasn't enough for a bracelet so then I tried mixing it with regular yarn but that looked worse. I went back to a ring and had one that was decent, then the dog got a hold of it :-(. That was the end of that. I would definitely not get that again and would have to look for something more wire like for jewelry.

I then started playing with the N.Y. Yarns Tweed. I chose the green colorway and was surprised that there were hints of pink and orange in it. Knitting it up hides the strange flecks of color though. My original plan for this was a purse or bag but as I knit with it I decided it was too soft of a yarn to not wear. I tried to get some inspiration buy looking at what others had done with this yarn on ravelry.com but still haven't decided for sure.

My most successful yarn find so far was the Lion Brand Yarn Incredible, which is a ribbon yarn. I chose the Accent in Black colorway, a blend of black to dark grey to light grey. I knit every row using a size 17 straight needle until I was out of yarn. It's has a nice drape and it quite fashionable looking. It's not a super warm scarf but it keeps the cool air off your neck.

I also got a bunch of Lily Sugar and Cream yarn. Some in a Strawberry Cream colorway and some in their Christmas colorway. In shades of pink from bright to white the Strawberry was perfect for Breast Cancer Awareness cloths. One, a kitchen hand towel to hang from a handle with a ribbon design and the other a wash cloth in a simple diagonal ridge.

Now off to play some more!