Beaded Jacket and Green Bag

I've been semi-successful in my attempts to concentrate on only one thing at a time and finished the back and one sleeve of the beaded jacket I'm designing for the Charity Craft Fair.

Click to enlarge

Here it is roughly pinned and draped as best I could over the dress form. I decided to go for a fitted design so the body is shaped and the sleeves are set in. I'm also now considering a twisted i-cord edging (a bit of which is pinned to the bottom). It's not twisted perfectly but I just wanted to get an idea of how it might look. I think I'm now beginning to lean more towards a simple edging like this rather than an ornate one as I feel the beads and lace on the main part are ornate enough in themselves without the addition of a very fancy edging.

Below is a green bag which I've almost finished to celebrate Project Spectrum's May' colour.

Pattern: 'Arctic' from Emma King's 25 Bags to Knit (with some modifications)

Yarn: Main part in DB Merino Chunky/pink flowers in Rowan Big Wool

Handles: 'Madeleine' (615 108) made by Prym

I've put one of the handles in position for the photo but they both still need attaching and I need to get some nice bright funky lining and either some vilene or plastic canvas to place inside the lining for stiffening. The green yarn is the result of frogging a scarf (below) that I'd almost completed but decided wasn't really doing anything for me so to the frog pond it went.


I also wanted to mention the floss threaders/bead threaders again as I feel such an idiot. The ones I ordered from Express Chemist are larger than the ones that Ellen at Earth Faire sent me and are really too large to go through the holes of beads suitable for knitting. I hadn't noticed this and sent some to Cherry. Apologies, Cherry, I'll send you a replacement but please be careful not to lose it as I only have a few of the original ones. Next time I order some beads from Earth Faire, I'll add a note to Ellen asking her the name of the make of the dental threaders that she sent which are perfect for the job. I can then google for them and, hopefully, will be able to order some online and provide the link to anyone who's interested. I've also edited the earlier post in which I mentioned the threaders as I wouldn't want anyone else ordering them to use as bead threaders.

Dreamcatcher asked about the dress form and I answered in the comments section that it's available from John Lewis but it might also be helpful to know that it's an Adjustoform dress form and you can find more details here

In other news, Ruth (Woolly Wormhead) has two gorgeous new hat patterns for sale here. I've purchased both and Ruth has very kindly given me permission to use these and her free hat patterns for Charity Craft Fair knitting.

The sun is shining and all is well only marred by the fact that our agenda in the coming week includes clearing out the garage. More welcome plans include a trip to Brighton to visit that wonderful bead shop that I keep hearing about. Can someone in the know please advise me exactly where it is in Brighton? With the Craft Fair in mind again, I might be able to get some of the red, teal or hot pink coloured beads that Acrylik suggested would be good with black yarn for knitted Goth style bracelets. There's also a crochet workshop on my agenda in which I hope to, at long last, learn how to hold the hook properly. I've been crocheting for years but would really like to learn how to hold the hook in the correct way as it should help with both speed and evenness of tension. If there's an opportunity, I'd also like to have a look around Fibrecrafts which is not too far away from where we live . . . . .