Day Two: Rainbow Stitch Markers

Little Ducks all in a Row

So it may not really seem like an accesory to everyone but to the knit set, a set of stitch markers is indispensible. They allow a knitter to mark off things like a pattern repeat, and increase, or even just the center of a peice being made. One of the major draw back of most handmade stitch markers is that they are made with either split rings or tiny hooks. Another drawback can be that the bottom of the beads is actually made with an eye hook not a head pin. A third drawback to most hand made stitch markers is that they can have either rough edges from the wire work, or they can be oddly shaped, and will catch on your work. Oh and a fourth drawback, they can be bulky or heavy, or just plain ugly... well, to me. Don't get me started on commercially made stitch markers... they are generally a snoozefest, or so expensive as to be prohibitive.

Aren't they just lovely?

Well, I've bypassed all these. I ran to my handy dandy craft roller of doom. (Pictures of said doom roller will appear one of these days, but not today.) Inside, within the plethora of jewelry goodness, I searched lovingly for something special. Not a hard task mind you, I had about four other sets of beads lined up to adorn my markers, but still a daunting one. I finally decided on a set of rainbow markers with both pearls and swarovski crystals. I bought the crystals a few years ago in a variety pack, and really hadn't found the perfect fit for the singletons in the bunch, and I also had a similiar conondrum with the pearls! To allevieate the snagging caused by split rings I used the loops from a whole bunch of loop and bar clasps. I buy these in bulk for a multitude of reasons! I am so thrilled with the way these came out, the color matching on the pearls and swarovski really make my day. They are also super lightweight, weighing less than a gram a piece.

Productive OCD and Hoarding

On a separate note, it seems that rainbows are my thing this week as I also reclaimed an old tape organizer (remember those weird reel type things that went into ... walkmen?) and made it into a display for my lovely vintage thread collection. What other way is there to organize this but my rainbow-tization. There has to be a word for the act of organizing by color, but I'll be damned if I know it.

Working on the Crane Chain (Origami Week Day 2)

Everyone learns to make paper cranes in school, well everyone I know has learned this in school. While many people forget this knowledge and just move on from this lesson, I did not. I memorized the lesson, kept it me, and have made cranes on and off for most of my life. The problem becomes, what do you do with all these cranes?

Cranes are lovely and beautiful on their own, and origami papers come in so many lovely packs, generally they have a theme: all solid, all patterned, all in one type of pattern. Well these patterns are lovely and bold, and the rainbow of solids are amazing and crisp, but you rarely see anything that uses them to their best ability.

I took the next logical step and turned my cranes into a rainbow chain to hang in my window! This is a great way to display the cranes since you get to see all the variation and color that the pattern has to offer.