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!

Socktober

How on Earth is it Halloween already? That's it now; as of tomorrow it’ll be wall-to-wall Christmas.

I had a very sock-filled October. I've knitted four pairs this month and all of them are getting worn daily (not at the same time, obviously) as it's quite chilly down the shed.

I couldn't have knitted all those socks without my furry assistant.

Nigel knows exactly when to leap onto my lap or demand that I open a door for him and this is usually in the middle of a complex stitch manoeuvre or just as I'm turning a heel, and he never chases my ball of wool across the lounge floor or anything, no...

Cats, eh? The stuff they get away with on account of being so flipping lovely.

The wool Nigel is 'looking after' in these photos is Malabrigo Ultimate Sock in shade 658 Zinnias. I turned it into a plain pair of socks as I think the variegated yarn is enough on its own without any sort of stitch pattern.

The yarn is a super soft merino and nylon mix and it's a mélange of reds, pinks and oranges.

These were knitted cuff down which is a bit of a change for me as I normally go toe-up but it's good to have a change every now and then, isn't it?

These sparkly, icy pale blue-green socks were knitted cuff down too.

I absolutely love this yarn. The merino and nylon mix is very soft and squishy and its silver lurex spangle is just so pretty. The yarn is Nateby 4ply in Silver Birch from Eden Cottage Yarns.

The pattern is Bembe by Dawn Henderson from Laine's 52 Weeks of Socks book. The patterned leg is very simple and is created with just knits and purls.

I haven't started another pair of socks yet but I think I'll probably end up beginning some this weekend. I've been working on a jumper the past few nights and it has a very complex cabled yoke so I think I may well need a pair of socks as an I-just-need-a-little-break project to give my knitting brain a rest.

I have new beads made. Some need cleaning and others are in the tumbler and I'm aiming to get them all sorted and photographed tomorrow afternoon so check back here then or maybe Saturday for new beads.

Whether you're out trick or treating with the children, staying in and ignoring the trick or treaters, or going full-on Samhain about it all, I hope you have a good All Hallows’ Eve.

Xanadu

I love learning new words. Obviously I've heard of Xanadu, as in the place and also as in the film and the Olivia Newton-John and ELO song, but today I discovered that it's the name of a colour too.

While I was searching for a name for these beads, looking at paint charts and colour swatches, I happened across xanadu which is a grey-green. The colour is named after Philodendron xanadu which is a plant with grey-green leaves. The history of the colour is fascinating and if you like you can read more about it here.

These 'Xanadu' beads have cores of CiM Foam that I've encased with Effetre Dark Steel Grey 088, some heavily and some thinly, and the decoration is Effetre Pearl Grey 268.

The beads are currently available in my shop and tumble-etching is available for them at no extra cost.

I saw Squeeze and Badly Drawn Boy last night. Squeeze are big supporters of the Trussell Trust and they arrange collections at their gigs. As a foodbank volunteer I got to go along to the Cambridge Corn Exchange last night to collect cash and food donations.

I wasn't expecting many cans of beans and tins of sardines but we ended up with heaps of foodstuffs kindly donated by the audience. I also got to watch a bit of Badly Drawn Boy's set and most of Squeeze's and both were bloody marvellous. What a treat!