Do these glasses make me look smarter?

This is my new favourite brooch, made by Carly Altree-Williams. There are available here.

I think it is delightfully surreal. And I always kind of wanted to wear glasses. In fact I'm the only member of my immediate family who doesn't.

She lets her ladder down for those who really shine

Rhonda asked for photos of the bracelets on my wrist, and I am happy to oblige. They seem to go with my casual vibe these days (I'm still on long service leave).

Latest obsession

I know I saw instructions for this method somewhere online in the last few weeks, but I can't find any trace of that tutorial now. Luckily I remembered the basics of the method from when I first read it. It's a three-strand plait (braid) with beads placed in the middle of the plait on every second cross. I already had quite a collection of coloured waxed cotton (and I found a few more colours in the dollar shop yesterday) and lots of beads of all kinds. Only certain shapes/sizes of beads work - some of them won't stay in place properly in the plait. So far I'm only really happy with the turquoise beads. But I think there will be some more good ones to unearth from my bead collection.

now's no time to hesitate

The other day I took some more items in to the Craft ACT shop. They regularly stock my pears and bowls there, and they sell slowly but reasonably steadily, which is fine with me. It might be hard to keep up with faster sales, and I like knowing that they are there for people to see, even if they don't always buy.

However, I have been wanting to develop another product I could sell there, and thought that this necklace might be a good contender.


A while ago I made another one to send to my aunt. Here they are posing together.

For us sort of quiet types it can be hard to put yourself out there. I knew that they are selective about what they stock - and I'm cool with that of course. I happened to be wearing the necklace (not planned on this occasion, though I had worn it before hoping it would spark a conversation) and as our business was being concluded, I pushed myself to say 'have you seen my necklace? I'd like to show it to you as a possible item to sell'.

And then, as I fumbled with the clasp, the bloody thing fell right off my neck!

A jump ring had come unattached from the felt at the side.

I had no option but to plough on, 'ah well of course it is a prototype, and I plan to use sterling silver findings, I have some oxidised silver chain at home which is really nice, anyway what do you think?'

Talk about an uncomfortable silence. To be honest, the reaction ended up being pretty kind, though not exactly enthusiastic.

It actually wasn't really until I got home, pulled the wretched thing out of my bag and replayed the experience in my head, that I realised just how mortified I was. What awful timing. How hard it will be to try again.


The one I made for my aunt used oxidised sterling silver chain which I bought on etsy. Aunty, I do hope it is standing up to a bit of wear but if it falls apart, call me!

Bling! now in brooch form

I'm wearing it today as a brooch, though I still want to use a piece like this in a more elaborate version of this necklace.

It must have been the tax return eating my brain (PS It's ok, I lodged it the other day), I forgot I wanted to acknowledge that I took direct inspiration from Alwen's gorgeous bead embroidery, though mine is still much less fine.

Is it an elaborate pendant or a small bib?

So, I'd been meaning to make another necklace like this one for months. Actually, I'm pretty sure I promised my other sister a black one. Other sister? Let's talk.

And, I keep making felted circles which seem to have all sorts of uses. I've also been wanting to have a go at 'bib' style necklaces using embellished felt.

And finally I had a new outfit which wanted a new necklace, and an event to wear it to. Deadlines can be wonderful - I made this from scratch on Sunday (including felting the circles and drying them quickly on the heater, even though it wasn't really cold enough to have the heater on) because I wanted to wear it on Sunday night.

I haven't been able to correct the colour of the top - it's actually a very dark bright fuschia - but the point is, the necklace sort of works with the shape of the neckline. At least, that was the idea.

If I do this again, I'd like to come up with a slightly more involved beading design. And a simple way to attach a fabric backing - I can tolerate the felted wool (I always find it less scratchy than the same wool before it is felted) but it would be more comfy with something smooth on the back.

Setting the record straight

I just realised that when I said this idea just popped into my head, that was not true in the slightest.

It was actually inspired by this leafy necklace. I found it a couple of years ago, a $5 bargain at a Portmans clearance shop, and it tends to attract comments when I wear it (more than any other piece of jewellery I own - most of them attract no comment, generally.)


I realised as I took this photo, that there is a jump ring missing! Will have to fix that.

I remember at some point writing an idea in my notebook for a version of this with felted leaves. I never pursued that, though I may one day. But it was clearly a stepping stone to the crocheted circles necklace.

All I wanted was a sign on the last day

I came up with another way to use those crocheted circles of waxed cotton. This idea popped into my head almost fully formed. Which is certainly nice, on when it occasionally happens. I was planning to embellish one or two of the circles, either with a silver border (didn't sit right) or with buttons (too much going on). In the end, the simple version was the best. I used sterling silver chain and jump rings to join them all together.

This was a birthday present for my sister. Didn't she style it nicely with her blue tops?

It's nice to have options

One friend particularly admired that first brooch, and even went so far as to say she thought she would wear one like it. I took her at her word and made one for Christmas. Which quickly turned into two, as I wasn't sure if she would prefer one almost exactly the same, or a variation.

After making my first brooch, I aquired some more of the waxed cotton. The one on the left is dark blue rather than black. I went back to Mooble for two more buttons by Bird Textile. I have plans to take this idea further into other items of jewellery / embellishment. So many plans, so little time! I'll get there.

I just stood there whistling

This is my sister's necklace which I mentioned the other day, made from a combination of the felted beads I made for her for Christmas last year, and some wooden beads she had from another necklace. The two types of beads actually work together really well - I think this photo makes them look more different in colour than they look in real life. And because it is threaded on ribbon - she has done this with a few bead necklaces - she can tie it to whatever length works on the day.

You buckle with the weight of the words

My sister's Christmas present last year was a box of pink felted beads and a promise to make them into a necklace for her. It took maybe six months for us to get around to that. It ended up being ridiculously simple - we just threaded them on a matching length of very narrow ribbon and called it done. And any day now I'll get photos to show here.

Meanwhile, last Friday morning I was hit with the urge to make a new necklace, and to make it before work. It was a day when I had to walk the dogs, which usually leads to me being not particularly early for work. Who am I trying to kid, I am hardly EVER particularly early for work. Anyway I was walking the dogs, thinking about this necklace and how crazy it would be to make it to wear that very day, and how I would of course do no such thing. On arriving home I would hurry to feed the dogs and get dressed and get to work quick smart.

Next thing I know, I'm sitting at my messy home desk, all my jewellery findings scattered across it, with a length of chain looped around my neck, attaching things to the ends.

Well it is a very simple design. One end of the chain sports one of my favourite ever earrings. I lost its mate many many years ago and it has been sitting around waiting for a new purpose in life every since.

The other end has one of the leftover raspberry felted beads, with a little cube at its base.

Then I used a jump ring to attached the two hanging parts together. There is no clasp as it fits over my head. Done.

It's exciting for me because I have been wearing all my necklaces around the same length (short but not choker) for-EVER. I've been inspired recently by Erin from Work with what you've got with her long (and combination) necklaces that she often makes herself.

Then we'll be waiting for the moonlight

Two brooches dispatched today. I covered those buttons myself - though not in the proper 'covered button' way. But a good way to use some of the ugly or damaged shank buttons from the stash. Yes, I have button stash now too, much of it from a bout of op shopping in my last holidays.

Ring included for scale. I got it at a market up Noosa way last year.

Like fool I spent it all on you

The other day I was out of sorts. I had worn a shirt to work that didn't feel very 'me'. This was particularly annoying as I only bought it very recently and it cost quite a bit.

I thought a brooch might be just what it needed, and at lunch time I found a button I really liked at Mooble - it's by Bird Textile. I was thinking I might be able to put it on a felt circle, but when I tried it out at home that didn't seem like it was going to work. I remembered the waxed cotton I used for those knitted cuffs. I still had plenty left to crochet a circle as a base for the brooch. I also had some brooch backs in my collection of jewellery findings, and it was pretty simple to sew the whole thing together - actually I did this part this morning before work.


And here is how I wore it today. I haven't tried it with *that* shirt yet. I never thought I would do one of those dodgy work bathroom photos - I used the wheelchair accessible bathroom to avoid funny looks and questions! It would have been smarter to just ask the ladies I knitted with at lunch time today.

Somebody said they saw me swinging the world by the tail

These little bags came about because I wanted to make something for my nephews and niece during my time off work. At 15 months, the twins love putting things into and out of bags. They've been playing recently with little paper gift bags.

Yes they look like mini handbags, and I took pleasure in making one for my nephew as well as my niece. They both like to carry their toys and books around. The two are quite different to each other in looks and personality, so the days of matching gifts are probably numbered - not that these are exactly matching.

Their three-and-a-half-year old big brother scored a wooden bead bracelet and a little pouch to keep it or other treasures in.

I had all the beads already (and a great many more besides). I remember when I bought those letter beads I took two packs knowing that when I came to use them to spell something, I might have trouble finding the letters I needed. And even with two packs, there was no 'E' - I ended up having to transform an 'F' using a fine black pen.

You call me sweet like I'm some kind of cheese

I used to buy a lot of beads and make jewellery pretty regularly. Other creative pursuits have now taken over more of my time, but a few factors have conspired recently to get me back into it.

1. I have a desk now. It is so much more inspiring to be able to sit up at a desk rather than crouching at the coffee table at the old house. I can also easily leave works in progress sitting there and come back to them when it suits me. Some years ago I bought a small mobile computer desk to work on and store all my beads. The idea was that it could be shut away in the spare room and brought out to the living room as needed. And it worked for a while but it was a hassle and we were so cluttered in the living area that I wasn't inclined to bring it out and add to the general claustrophobia.

2. Mum asked me if I could rejuvenate some of her earrings made by me over the years. We're replacing the findings with better quality gold plated stuff and the results are very pleasing.

3. I fell in love with these beads at an African drumming stall at that festival I went to recently. I dug them out of a big bowl of mixed glass beads, and isn't that the BEST way to buy beads? You feel like you could unearth a treasure. I get much the the same feeling diving to the bottom of bargain bins full of wool. Before I made them into a necklace they really looked pear-shaped to me. Now I'm not so sure. I'm also not sure this necklace actually suits me perfectly, but I love it anyway.

I'm just trying to steer this boat

This is the knitted man jewellery I was talking about. The pattern is the Herringbone Leather Cuff from Alterknits by Leah Radford. The black one, made for K for his birthday (and completed in one long Friday evening) is knitted from black waxed cotton - a substitute for leather cord. Large quantities of 1mm leather cord are both hard to find, and pretty expensive. I made it slightly narrower than the pattern and added repeats to make it longer as well.

During the Noosa weekend I made another one. The red part is hemp. This time I reduced the width even more to allow for the different gauge. I knew I was a bit short on the hemp and had thought I could try knitting stripes or sections in the black cotton, but the gauge difference spoiled that plan.

Instead I did the crochet edging in the black and used a few extra rows on the ends to make it long enough.

It took a couple of tries to get the crochet looking ok, and it's not perfect but then we know I'm not a perfectionist. I wasn't sure if it was dorky but both K and the recipient's girlfriend approved it before I handed it over.

One and one and one is three

Some time ago I made a felted pendant for my mum. And now I have finally made one for myself.


It's a crocheted circle, felted then cut into a rough oval shape. I stitched all around the edge with embroidery cotton. Then I just poked a hole for the jump ring, and attached the bead-and-shell pendant. This part was made using recycled bits given to me by a good mate. A while ago, there was a fad for selling jeans with a jangly bundle of charms hooked onto a belt loop. I don't think the look ever took off, but it supplied me with some bits to play around with!

This other necklace came about in the the same session. I was playing about with the wooden beads as a necklace to hold the felted pendant, but there was too much going on all together so I paired it with a simpler pendant.

Things can get a little strange

This was part of Mum's Christmas present, wrapped up unfinished, the way I almost always give necklaces - gotta get the length right. This time it wasn't simply the length but the whole thing I was unsure about. I'd been thinking for ages about coming up with a felted pendant, though the actual execution was quite fast. I handed it over as a "here's this odd thing I made, I think it's probably too wacky to actually wear" kind of present. With three grown-up daughters, Mum really shouldn't have to relive the days of wearing weird or poorly chosen jewellery just because "my daughter gave it to me".


It's a simple crocheted circle, felted and then embroidered with a couple of meandering lines. The leaf is turquoise, a great find at a gemstone/jewellery shop called Mineshaft. I thought it would be fun to show her my experiment but then I could rebuild it with the leaf in a more simple arrangement with other turquoise-y beads. But (the suspense is killing you, I KNOW), Mum really liked it. And it's not like I think she was crazy for liking it. I was just really glad that she liked it AND thought it would work for her.