Maraschino

The beads in this bracelet are made with CiM Maraschino which is the most perfectly-named glass. The red is the exact colour of cocktail cherries. This glass is semi-opaque and for these beads I layered it thinly over a base of clear. The beads might look opaque at first glance but if you hold them up to the light you'll see the translucency of them. The beads are decorated with Effetre White 204.

I've strung the beads with red Preciosa crystal beads which sparkle beautifully, white Japanese seed beads and plain sterling silver round beads. The bracelet is adjustable by way of its lobster clasp and extender chain.

The Maraschino bracelet is available in my shop.

Also in the shop are these rosy pink beads. They shift from a pink hue to a more bluish one depending on the light. I can tumble-etch these ones if you'd like and there's also a bracelet upgrade available for them.

These are CiM Foam encased with Effetre Dark Rosato/Lavender Blue 083 with decoration in Effetre White 204.

In knitting news, I've finished the cabled yoke of my jumper.

Now it's time for swathes of stocking stitch but I like that. I can knit stocking stitch in the round without looking which means I can switch from my reading glasses to my further-away-than-arm's-length specs and actually see the telly while I knit.

I'm six seasons through my annual Mad Men rewatch (I think this is my fifth go round and it only gets better with every repeat viewing) and it'll be nice for everyone to not be a blur. I've got to get some varifocals. Switching between two pairs of glasses all the time is so irritating.

New beads and a podcast recommendation

It's getting proper chilly down the shed and I've had to put the little heater on in there first thing in the mornings. I'm not moaning; I love this time of year and I'd rather be cold than hot. 

I've made three more quintets and they're all currently for sale in my shop. A bracelet upgrade is available for all three sets.

Bead recipes are as follows...

Violet: CiM Foam encased with Effetre transparent Light Violet 041, with decoration and spacers in Effetre Lavender Blue/Pastel Ink Blue 247

Teal Green: CiM Foam encased with Effetre Light Teal 026 with decoration in Effetre Light Turquoise 232 and spacers in CiM Kryptonite

Dark Rose: CiM Gellys Sty encased with Effetre Medium Amethyst 042 with decoration in Effetre White 204 and spacers in Reichenbach 104 Pink Lady

While I was making these beads I listened to a brilliant podcast about a 'shaman' called Juliette D'Souza who about two decades ago conned people in Hampstead out of millions of pounds.

It's a shocking tale and also very sad. The podcast is called Filthy Ritual and it's available in all the usual podcast places.

Bracelet upgrades

As I was sat making one of my bead quintets (five decorated beads plus coordinating spacers) for a bracelet, it struck me that if I came up with a standard, simple bracelet design incorporating a quintet then I could offer it as an upgrade to a strand of beads. So if someone likes a set of beads but they don't make jewellery, I can make the beads wearable for them.

I've made a couple of bracelets as examples, one in lavender rose, which is the set I was working on when I hatched this plan, and the other with the Mulled Wine beads from a few weeks ago. They haven't sold so I thought I'd make them into something.

The beads are strung with coordinating glass seed beads and sterling silver beads. All findings are sterling silver and the bracelets have an extender chain so they can be adjusted from a six and three quarter inch inner circumference to just under eight inches.

The bracelet upgrade is £15.00 on top of the price of the beads. I've added it to the three quintets that are currently in my shop - Maple Syrup, Lemon Sorbet and Milk Bottle - and I'll add it as an option for all future quintets.

The Lavender Rose and Mulled Wine bracelets are both available to buy in my shop.

In other news, I'm struggling with plantar fasciitis in my left foot. It came from nowhere a couple of weeks ago. No injury, no footwear change. The pain is so bad some mornings that I can barely walk. I'm pretty sure it's some hormonal nonsense. Did you know that diminishing estrogen levels can mess with your feet? No, nor did I. What a complete thrill ride this time of life is. So now I own two pairs of Crocs, one for the garden and shed, and one for around the house because apparently walking barefoot is a no-no for plantar fasciitis and even though Crocs are some of the fugliest footwear ever created, they do have good arch support. I'm also doing foot and calf exercises and stretches that actually do kind of help.

I'm going for a walk every day so that I exercise my foot but I have to go careful not to anger it too much. This is annoying because autumn and winter walks are one of my favourite things and I'm having to limit them but some walking through the fallen leaves is better than none, I suppose. Hopefully the plantar fasciitis will eff off as quickly as it arrived. It'd better do.

In knitting news I'm just coming up to two thirds of the way through the cabled yoke of the jumper I'm working on.

The pattern is Sculpt by Unwind Knitwear and I'm knitting it in a 4ply wool and alpaca mix in a porridge colour. Tiny needles, complex cables, nice and soft. I'm thoroughly enjoying it, even if I have had to rip it back several times. I'm using lifelines, though, so it's not been too bad. A lifeline is where you thread a strand of yarn through all your stitches every few rows so that if you have to unravel you can do so all the way back to your lifeline and it'll be holding all your stitches from that row in place ready for you to pick them up and try again. It's like the knitting version of a Windows system restore point.

Better late than never

This post was supposed to happen yesterday or this morning but it's now mid-afternoon. I'm in the world's most irritable mood right now and every task I undertake seems to be taking me three times as long as it should to complete.

The new beads are finally all sorted. Glass used is as follows...

'Rose Lemonade': CiM Foam encased with Effetre Rose Quartz 067, decorated with Effetre Light Pink 260, and half of the beads have been tumble-etched

'Maple Syrup': CiM Foam encased with CiM Brown Eyed Girl, decorated with Effetre Red Roof Tile 440

'Lemon Sorbet': CiM Foam enacsed with CiM Candlelight, decorated with Effetre White 204 and tumble-etched

'Hydrangea': CiM Foam encased with Effetre Medium Blue 054 and Effetre Dark Lavender 081, decorated with Effetre White 204 and tumble-etched

'Soft Pink' Spotties: CiM Desert Pink encased with Effetre Super Clear 006, decorated with spots in Effetre White 204, with spacers in CiM Rose Quartz

All of these beads are currently available in my shop. Because you're here reading my blog I'd like to give you a discount code to say thanks. Enter the code BLOG10 at checkout to get 10% off your order. You can use the discount for anything in my shop and it's valid until midnight (UK time) on Monday 4th November.

Enjoy the rest of your Saturday!