Meshing Duo Beads Together

I have recently seen some examples of super-duo beads meshed together in a herringbone pattern, which forms a wide strip e.g. for a bracelet. (What a mathematician might call tiling a plane). This set me thinking that there may be other ways to 'tile' with duo beads, so that they form a flat surface, maybe with an occasional seed bead to fill a hole.
I also have some large spherical haematite beads in need of a project. These spherical beads are 10 mm diameter and coloured gold. They looked like they needed radiating beads to make them into little sunbursts, or maybe sunflowers, but how to mesh them together?
This leads to all sorts of odd numbers problems, for example, if you have to mesh 2 beads, they will need 3 beads to mesh into.
The solution was to use 9 beads onto each round bead, and to work down one side, and then up the other, linking into the first row as you go. Just a couple of seed beads were needed to fill the holes, and even out the pattern. The finished result is very pleasing, especially because there are a correct number of pattern repeats to fit my wrist!

Spot the join! 

I love it when I am able to design a clasp that exactly matches the design of the piece. In this case there are two of the round beads to fit into the two holes. I used two, to make it safer, as spherical buttons are not very secure!

This is a very chunky, dramatic bracelet, which is not for everyone, I know, so I'm going to make a variation that uses smaller rounds, or possibly crystals. Also I really want to see if I can expand the pattern to have three rows of round beads.

Meanwhile in the same vein I designed a very simple  bracelet, with some of the same ideas. 

Called "Little 'O's Bracelet", it is a chain of meshed circles. You can find the tutorial here:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/177433249/tutorial-for-little-o-bracelet?

Stop press! I just realized that it would be much better with "crystalettes"  in a few of the 'O's.

Little 'O's bracelet, with Crystalettes.

Fun, fun, fun, there's so much you can do with super-duo beads!

And don't forget to follow me if you like my blog...please!!

Windows and Arches goes Three Dimentional

If you have been following me on Facebook, then you will know about my design 'Windows and Arches' which is a modular design where you first make the windows, then join them with the arches. This allows for many design variations.

The Original Bracelet

The Necklace Variation with added Rivoli Bezel

Last weekend it struck me that this can, of course, be applied to beaded beads. The main adaptation is that now the windows are triangular and pentagonal, as well as square. I substituted seed beads for the bicones that were in the original windows, and here is the result:

Left to Right: Tetrahedron, Octahedron, Cube, Dodecahedron and Icosahedron.

I couldn't help making each one slightly different. The cube has 4mm bicones in each corner, the Dodecahedron has a 12mm round rock crystal inside it, and the Octahedron has 8mm chatons framed inside four of the faces. This was by far the most difficult bit!

Placing an 8mm chaton inside the octahedron faces, very fiddly to do the last one!

Having done this exercise I found that for a square or triangle window, 11/0 seed beads are the best size, but for the pentagonal window 8/0 seed beads are best and very satisfactory!
Inspired be this I made another icosahedron, with four colours of window. To make sure that no two adjacent windows are the same colour, I had to print off an icosahedral net, and then colour in the points until I had solved this puzzle.

Finished Four Colour Icosahedron

And finally, when I had completed this one, I fancied doing a more lacy version, so I added a hexagon of 6 seed beads in each corner. This gives the effect of separating the faces more clearly, and making the hollow centre more obvious. Very pleasing :-)

Completed Lacy Icosahedron

Beaded beads necklace

The beaded beads make a lovely necklace, I squished the tetrahedron inside of the cube. Nice.

Knitting Break: What to do With that Yarn you Brought in the Sale!

Knitting Break: What to do With that Yarn you Brought in the Sale!

Version 1 with a Top Notch Fringe!

It is at this time of year that you just need to settle down in front of a log fire, and an old movie, and knit something. Handily the local knitting shop is full up with wooly bargains. I couldn't help but buy two 100g hanks of Noro 'Kogarashi' the beautiful japanese yarn that is half silk, half wool (and a little bit of straw!). I bought this yarn because the colour varies throughout the hank in shades of pink green and white. 

The idea was to knit a scarf where the rows are slanted, this effect being exaggerated by the colour variation. Then to use my new  fringe twister, to make a top notch fringe !

Version 1. 

(Please buy your own yarn in the sales, and vary the number of stitches to produce a 12-13 cm wide scarf to your own liking!)

Note: I almost always use a shortish circular needle, the lack of long needle ends makes the frequent turns much quicker.

For Noro 'Kogarashi' Yarn Using a 6.5 mm circular needle

First wind off enough yarn to make the fringes, and keep safe.

Increase section

Make a slip stitch, knit into it, Turn

(RS) Knit into front, back, front, of the stitch. (3 from 1),Turn, 

(WS) Knit to end, turn (3 stitches).  

(RS) M1 (by knitting into the front and back of the stitch) K1, M1, turn  (5 stitches)

(WS) Knit to end, turn

(RS) M1, K3, M1 (7 stitches)

(WS) Knit to end, turn

Continue increasing it this way until you have 27 stitches, ending in a WS row. Note the 27 stitches are across the diagonal, the scarf finished width can be measured along the straight edge.

Main section

Next row:

(RS)Slip one, knit one, pass slipped stitch over, (we will call this D1), Knit to last stitch, M1, turn

(WS) Knit to end, turn

Repeat these two rows until you have nearly finished the hank of yarn, or the scarf is the desired length.

Decrease section

Next row:

(RS) D1 knit to last two stitches K2tog, turn (25 stitches)

(WS) Knit to end, turn

Repeat these two rows until 3 stitches remain, ending with a WS row.

(RS) Slip 2, K1, Pass slipped stitches over. (1 stitch)

Cut yarn, and pass through the loop. Pull tight.

Weave in the ends, and add fringes!

This of course was not enough, as I then thought: What if I made sections of alternating slant directions?

Version 2

Save some yarn for the fringe.

Work the increase section as before, ending with a (WS) row. (27 stitches)

Diagonal Decrease Section

(RS) D1,  K24, turn.     Leave 1 stitch on the LH needle.(26 stitches)

(WS) K25, turn.

(RS) D1, K22, turn.     Leave 2 stitches on the LH needle. (25 stitches)

(WS) K23, turn.

Continue in this way until there are 14 stitches remaining.

(If you have a different number of stitches to start with, the number remaining at this stage will be (TOTAL-1)/2+1  )

Diagonal Increase Section

(RS) M1, K1 turn, (12 stitches left on the LH needle)

(WS) K3, turn.

(RS) M1, K3, turn, (11 stitches left on the LH needle)

(WS) K5, turn.

Continue in this way until you have incorporated all of the stitches on the LH needle and you have 27 stitches again.

Do not do a WS row.

Turn. This is now the RS.

Now work the Diagonal decrease section.

Version 2

Repeat these two sections until the scarf is of the desired length, or you are nearly out of yarn.

Work the decrease section.

Work in the ends, and add the fringes.

Fringe Twister in Action!

The finished scarf is soft, but thick, with a lovely texture, and feels quite japanese with this simple geometric design.

Happy Knitting!

(If you spot a mistake in the pattern, or cannot understand what I mean, please drop me a line and I will elaborate!)

Here's the finished versions side by side. I love the way that the colours softly fade into each other.