there's something very wrong with me...

There's something very wrong with me... and I'm not sure that it can be fixed.

Today I walked into an Op Shop...

You know... a Second-Hand Store, a Thrift Store, a Charity Store... whatever you like to call it...

Anyway,

It's a while since I've really been Op Shopping... and when I walked in today, I cause myself pausing in the doorway.... taking a BIG DEEP BREATHE in through my nose...

I wanted to savour the aroma... it seeemed so familiar, and comforting, and friendly

I was thinking to myself, ahhh I love that smell...

And then I suddenly realised that the SMELL which felt so wonderfully comforting to me, was a blend of mothballs and musty old upholstery.

Oops...

I don't think that our Op Shops here smell as bad as some that I hear about... but really... one isn't supposed to ENJOY the smell of them!



So I shopped and shopped and shopped...

And then I shopped a little more.

Four Op Shops later, I was loaded up with goodies... and wondering where I was going to store all my new-found treasure!

I won't overload you with all my finds in this post, but I did come across this beautiful bracelet.

The elastic is starting to deteriorate in it, it's yellowed and becoming brittle... so I was thinking that I would re-string it...

But then when I took it apart, I decided that it would be much more fun to make earrings with the pieces.

So I'm off to play with my jewellery making tools...

I'll show you some more photos when I am done.

Oh... and looking at that last photo, I need to moisturise my hands, too!!!

earrings...

Been having a little bit of a break from the yarn...

And focussing on some jewellery making

These earrings are made from recycled materials

Except for the bits which actually go through your ears - THOSE BITS ARE NEW

A couple of pair have already sold... but there are still some for sale in my store... click here to take a look

They're only $12.50 for a pair!!!

master six produces a necklace

You might remember I've talked about our plans for a hand made Christmas in the Goldfish household. Basically, instead of buying gifts for one another, we will be making them.

Well... over the weekend, Master Six worked on his gift for Little Miss Four. She is very much a girly girl who loves her jewellery, so he was very keen to create a necklace for her.

I was actually quite surprised at his forethought with this project. Twelve months ago he would have strung on a random handful of beads and the job would have been finished in two minutes flat. But he has matured a great deal this year. There was a long involved process of choosing the beads... then laying them out in the order he wanted... then measuring to check the length of the elastic... all very precise and planned. It was beautiful to watch him putting in so much effort, all because he wanted to make something really special for his little sister.

beaded wire knitted bracelet

How about I show you just how easy it is to make one of these knitted bracelets?

Unfortunately I seem to have chosen a shocking background for the progress shots here. I wasn't really thinking about colour, and I just placed my work on the nearest surface for the pictures.

As always, if you would like to see the photos in greater detail... click on them... and you will be able to enlarge them using flickr



Firstly you will need an old pair of needles. Once they have been used to knit wire with, they will never be quite the same again. I am using a 2.75mm pair, but the exact size is not critical. I could probably have gone a little larger. But these ones were already old and bent, so it was an easy choice. Use what you have!



This is the copper wire I reclaimed from the electrical cable (click here for the blog post detailing how I did this) It is a bit thicker than the crafting wire I used in the earlier projects. If you are looking to buy wire, I recommend a 28 gauge... it is pliable enough to work with, yet strong enough to resist breaking too easily. My original knitted bracelet was worked with 28 gauge wire and 2.75mm needles

Your wire will be easier to work with if it is warm, so you might like to place it in a sunny window before you start working. It really does make a difference!



Gather a variety of recycled beads and buttons... or whatever you plan to embellish with



Before starting to knit, you will need to thread these items on to your wire. Always thread on more than you think you will need. If you are using recycled wire you will need beads with large enough holes to easily pass over the kinks in your wire.



Cast on a few stitches... the width you would like the bracelet to be.



Make sure you keep your stitches LOOSE, as the wire has no 'give'

Knit one row. This bracelet is worked entirely in garter stitch. Just plain old knitting

Try to ignore the fact that it looks ridiculous!

It looks nothing like regular knitting - but that's okay

Do not panic if you think it 'looks wrong'... start chanting to yourself "embrace the squiggle... embrace the squiggle... embrace the squiggle"

Just keep going... it WILL be fine!



When you are ready to start adding beads, knit the first stitch. Put your needle into the second stitch as if to knit it, then slide a bead all the way up to the needles.



Now you can wrap the wire around the needle and continue making the next stitch. Add as many beads as you like.



You'll notice that all the beads are settling to the BACK of your work.



Then when you turn for the next row... you will see them clearly.

ALWAYS ALTERNATE YOUR ROWS... a bead row is always followed by a NON-BEAD row

REMEMBER if the beads are facing you, you are working a NON-BEAD row



See the way the top two rows of beads are bunched up together in the above photo?



I like to give my work a stretch every couple of rows, to open it up a bit



Work until you are happy with the length.


I have joined this one by 'sewing' the two ends together using the tails of wire. Obviously I have not actually used a needle, just poked the wire end though.

beaded wire crochet bracelet

Want to see just how easy it is to make one of these crochet bracelets?

As always, if you would like to see the photos in greater detail... click on them... and you will be able to enlarge them using flickr



Firstly you will need an old hook. Once it has been used to crochet wire with, it will never be quite the same again. I am using a 3.0mm hook, but the exact size is not critical.



This is the copper wire I reclaimed from the electrical cable (click here for the blog post detailing how I did this) It is a bit thicker than the crafting wire I used in the earlier projects. If you are looking to buy wire, I recommend a 28 gauge... it is pliable enough to work with, yet strong enough to resist breaking too easily. My original bracelet was crocheted using 28 gauge wire and a 2.0mm hook



Gather a variety of recycled beads and buttons... or whatever you plan to embellish with



Before starting to crochet, you will need to thread these items on to your wire. Always thread on more than you think you will need. If you are using recycled wire you will need beads with large enough holes to easily pass over the kinks in your wire.



Work a few chain stitches... the width you would like the bracelet to be.



Make sure you keep your stitches LOOSE, as the wire has no 'give'

Work a single crochet into the second chain from the hook, then into every chain until the end. Try to ignore the fact that it looks ridiculous! It looks nothing like regular crochet - but that's okay... start working back and forth in sc, working a turning chain at the end of each row.

Do not panic if you think it 'looks wrong'... start chanting to yourself "embrace the squiggle... embrace the squiggle... embrace the squiggle"

Just keep going... it WILL be fine!

It can be really difficult to determine where EXACTLY your stitches are... don't worry about it... just poke that hook in wherever you can fit it, and try and keep your stitch count consistent. Seriously - it doesn't matter!



When you are ready to start adding beads, work a sc then slide a bead all the way up to your hook before working the next sc. Do this as many times as you like in the row.



You'll notice that all the beads are settling to the BACK of your work.



Then when you turn for the next row... you will see them clearly.

ALWAYS ALTERNATE YOUR ROWS... a bead row is always followed by a plain sc row

REMEMBER if the beads are facing you, you are working a NON-BEAD row



Work until you are happy with the length.



I have joined this one by 'sewing' the two ends together using the tails of wire. Obviously I am not actually using a needle, just poking the wire end though



To finish off I have threaded the wire through one of the beads on the bracelet, and then trimmed the wire



Next time I will share instructions for the knitted version!

and now for the knitted bracelet

Well that was a nice surprise. I thought that the knitting would be more difficult to manage, but it's actually just as easy as the crochet. You just need to be mindful of keeping your stitches loose. If you work too tightly, you will find it a struggle.



Once again you need to embrace the wiggle! Every now and then you can give your work a little bit of a stretch, just to shape it nicely.

One problem which I did encounter with the knitting is that you need to be careful when turning at the end of each row... it is very easy to over twist the wire, which results in kinks which are difficult to remove... so it's best not to let them occur in the first place.



Here is a side by side comparison of the two. As you can see the crochet results in a heavier, sturdier, more dense weave. The knitting gives a softer, more delicate look. I don't have a preference here, I like the way they both work up.

Click here to see a photo tutorial demonstrating how to make a knitted bracelet

Click here to read my post about the crochet bracelet

playing around with beads and wire

I finally sat down and took some time to play around with beads and wire...



I think that the hardest part about crocheting with wire, is that you have to accept that it will come out all random and squiggly looking! No matter how much you practice, you won't get those perfect evenly shaped stitches which you get when you work with yarn. Wire just doesn't work like that. It's not particularly co-operative.

So you need to relax your expectations, and learn to 'embrace' the squiggle. It's fun and quirky... so just roll with it.



As you can tell, my bead selection was random. But I like random. I didn't put much thought into it, since I just wanted to experiment a little with what I had on hand. There's an assortment of materials in there too... some glass, some plastic, some wooden... but ALL recycled!

This worked up so quickly. It was a bit fiddly, but certainly not difficult. And I think it's a fabulous gift idea to keep in mind for the holiday season.

One thing I do need to learn a bit more about though... is my method of closure. No fancy 'findings' for this little black duck! Take a look at my technique here.



Yes. Your eyes do not deceive you. It's a humble safety pin!

I can see my father rolling his eyes right now, and muttering about the importance of finishing details... I can hear his voice in the back of my head... if a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well!

Never mind. I will learn a fancier technique, and when I do - I will share the knowledge with you all. In the meantime, this little pin works beautifully... and it's a perfect colour match too.

Perhaps the safety pin can be a design feature?

So now I've pulled out the knitting needles to see how they work with the wire. Hopefully I will have some photos to share with you tomorrow.

my anniversary ring

Yesterday was my Wedding Anniversary... celebrating nine years of marital bliss!

Okay. So you all know I am stretching the truth just a little bit when I say that. Yes, we have been married for nine years. But obviously it hasn't all been marital bliss.

Mind you. We're pretty proud of ourselves. Seems like so many couples that we know are going their separate ways at the moment. We're almost starting to feel like freaks for staying together!

Despite how proud we are of our achievement, I was told in no uncertain terms by Mr Goldfish that I had received 'more than enough' jewellery last year... and not to expect any this year! It seems he wasn't joking.

So I thought it was a good excuse to start a new project. I know I'm not supposed to, but it was just a little one. Over at Silly String we were issued this challenge What’s the finest thread you can actually crochet with to create a wearable ring?

So I decided to make my own Anniversary Ring



I knew it would be a challenge to work with such a fine thread, but I loved the gold colour and thought it would work up a treat. It was a bit of a nightmare, actually. The metallic thread was so damn slippery. I hadn't anticipated that. I ended up using a 1.75mm hook, as I just couldn't grip the thread with anything finer.



I had grand plans of creating a diamondy shaped motif which would be the feature of the ring, but I just couldn't manage it. So the finished item is simple and dainty. I even tried adding a glass bead as the 'stone' of the ring, but nothing looked right. Everything looked so chunky and out of place.

So here it is... my anniversary gift to myself.



Now if I only knew how to crochet a fully functioning dishwasher.

queen of recycling

As you know, I am a member of the Silly String group over at Ravelry. Each month we are issued with a challenge, inspiring us to try our hand at something a little unusual.

'Legions of Queens' was the name of the challenge this month

The task involved firstly choosing your domain... What do you want to be Queen of???

Next you needed to create an appropriately themed tiara or crown crocheted from wire... one which would actually fit on your head!

So. I nominated myself 'Queen of Recycling'

Firstly I needed to source myself some recycled wire. I turned to Mr Goldfish for this one... surely he had some kind of wire stashed away in his garage that I could use?

Of course he had oodles, but nothing fine enough for me to crochet with. Then he came up with the suggestion of cutting open some old electrical wiring, and salvaging the fine copper wires from inside to use. Has anyone ever tried this? I would be interested to hear your feedback on it.

As it happens, Mr Goldfish couldn't find the electrical cables... and I was getting impatient. Can you believe that? Me getting impatient about something? So he handed me some telephone cables instead. I sliced them open and 'ooh-ed and ah-ed' at the pretty colours inside.

The telephone wires weren't too bad to work with. It took me about an hour to crochet the tiara. At that time my fingers weren't at all sore. I have heard some awful reports about people developing blisters and the like from working with wire. Admittedly my wrist was sore. Sore enough that I would have needed to stop for the day and continue again tomorrow sometime. And I'm happy to report that my hook was unscathed. Apparently the wire is notorious for destroying crochet hooks.

To embellish my tiara, and in keeping with the recycle theme, I used an old clip on earring for a a feature at the front, and then a couple of brass split pins to finish off.