My First Bead Crochet Rope

Here it is, my first bead crochet rope. Taa daa....


I used dark purple silver lined Czech size 11 rocailles, clear silver lined Czech rocailles, and some clear lavender lined Mill Hill seeds I'd brought home from the shop. It's a 6 bead rope, 40 inches long not including the branch fringe. There's purple iris 10 mm pressed glass fluted round beads between the fringe and the rope. They don't show up real well in the photo.

The necklace is draped over a piece of slate and a chunk of really beautiful north Idaho granite from my daughters stash (she stashes rocks, I stash yarn-heh heh).

Went to the bead show with Sarah. It was so much fun, I think cos she was with me, rather than me being alone. We both found wonderful treasures to bring home. There were some awesome lampwork beads that neither of us could live without. That's were I spent the most money, but they were so worth it. This lady does outstanding work.

There was a booth loaded with 16 inch strands of stone in every shape size and variety, all for 8 bucks a strand. I loaded up on some jaspers I'd not seen before. One is green and sort of camo looking (I can't remember the name of it), I got some Silver something-it's cream with silver, grey, pink, and brown inclusions. I got some 4mm cubes made of something that's mostly white with pale lavendar and green in it, and a beautiful strand of 12mm squares of snowflake jasper. This is the first time I've bought a bunch of stones. I'm mostly a glass beader. But it's time to break into the more expensive stuff I think.

Sarah really splurged. She bought a strand of watermelon tourmaline cut into faceted rondelles. Very sparkly, very expensive. But she is very happy.

Charo and Trishia's baby shower was so much fun. I found out Trishia is having a girl, Charo is having a boy. I bought stuff for Trishia, mostly cos there was no way I could do 2 sweaters at once right now. She loved what I got her.

For Charo, I bought a cute little toy, and took a pic of what I had done on the sweater and put those in a gift bag, with a card explaining the pic. She thought it was very funny, and loved the picture so I think she'll like the sweater. Here's the pic I gave her.


I'm having a lot of fun with this pattern. Surprisingly, I've found it very easy to memorize, so I haven't had to refer to the book for every row. Not even for the cables on the center front. Here's a close up of that front.


The yarn has been surprisingly nice to work with. I'm using Caron's Simply Soft. It sort of feels like cotton, but has all the wonderful elasticity I like in acrylics and wools. It has a nice sheen to it too, like mercerized cotton. Don't know how it'll wash up yet.

Something else I'm trying is a new way to make cables-using NO cable needle. I found this tutorial while surfing around one day. I put a link to it here on the blog in the side bar, but hadn't really tried it yet. I have to say, I LOVE IT! It's easy. It works beautifully! I'm sold. No more cable needles for me. Give it a try.

Knitting Cables Without a Cable Needle by Grumperina

Last but not least, my Opal came. On Fathers Day weekend I was surfing Ebay. I like to look at what people are selling in the way of Opal sock yarn. In the past I've bought some wonderful colors not available in the US. A gal in Germany was offering a deal I couldn't refuse. 7 skeins of Opal in the Petticoat colorway for what worked out to be 12 bucks a skein (it's usually 18 bucks here). That included shipping. She took Paypal.

I've not ordered yarns from overseas before, but my mother-in-law did. She got beautiful wools from Greece all the time and was always really happy with her orders. So, I gave it a try. The yarn arrived yesterday-which considering where it came from I found remarkably fast. I am SO pleased with it. It's a little different than the US Petticoat, which is okay by me. Unfortunately, the seller doesn't have an Ebay store. Just auction/buy it now stuff. So I can't put a link to her. But to find her just search for seller silkandmore.

When I get the Monkey Socks done, I think I'll try the Jaywalker with one of these.


Rumor has it my cousin Jerry from Detroit, MI is stopping by for a visit today or tomorrow. He and his wife are driving to Vancouver to board an Alaskan cruise ship? I haven't seen Jerry in years and years and years. I find it ironic, though, that the first family member to visit me since moving to Idaho should be one I'm not close to. My father and sisters have never seen my home. I doubt they ever will. This makes me really sad if I think about it, so I won't. Anyway, I guess I better clean house a bit just in case he does show up.

Have a great day everybody.