Friday, September 30, 2011

New Necklace

I finished my kumihimo necklace last night, including the assembly! It was a great deal of fun to braid, and I think I only missed one bead. Quite a few of the beads wanted to hide in the center of the braid, but I managed to tease them out, there is just one place there should have been a bead and there isn't...

To add the clasp, you crazy glue the findings on to the end of the braid. I dry fit the ends into the cups, and they fit (barely), but I hadn't realized how difficult it would be to do the same thing with the crazy glue oozing out. I just about glued my finger to the necklace! I still have to do a little trimming (that part is strategically hidden in the picture below) but it is DONE!

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There are 12 strands of a chenille yarn and 4 strands of metallic thread with beads. I have another very similar kit (the colors are just a bit different) so you should be seeing that one soon too.

I had hoped to be able to show you my floor doily. I bought 3 skeins of a chunky yarn, and crocheted them up in an afternoon, but needed a little more for the border. So I bought another skein on Wednesday and added that yesterday. I had so much left from that skein that I decided to go for another round on the doily, and only got 1/2 way around, so now I need to buy another skein. I promise this is the last one, though! I think it will turn out pretty cool.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Autumn Pouch

I started this pouch before the black and white one, but didn't finish it until yesterday. (Please forgive the extra little thread around the top. I am trying to train the petals to droop down. If it does not work I will have to put in a little invisible stitch to keep them folded down.) I like the colors of this pouch, but not the fabric. It is supposed to be a silk fabric, but the store I was in didn't carry silk, so I found this shiny substitute. It looks nice, but doesn't handle nearly as nice, and doesn't feel as nice either.

I love the tassel! C helped me pick out the beads (I may have shown the tassel earlier), but it looks really rich. The kumihimo braids turned out very rich too.

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The leaves are appliqued by machine, with just a straight stitch.

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I got out one of the kumihimo kits I picked up at the Midwest Stitching Expo last month. The kit is very complete, with a new braiding disk, chenille fiber, and bobbins to keep the fibers under control. Each strand is more than twice as long as anything I have braided before, and having the fibers on bobbins is making a world of difference.

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I don't know if you can see, but 4 of the 12 strands are metallic, with beads. It is forming a very pretty and interesting spiral; I hope to get better pictures of the braid itself when it is done. I am not as sure about the chenille, but I will be working with beads again! I do have another kit with both chenille and beads, so if I do something different, it will be after that.