Crocheting with Wire

I feel that with all my knitting lately I have been neglecting my crocheting.

I learned how to crochet about 12 years ago and I love to make jewelry. Put them together and what do you get? Crochet with Wire. By just using the chain stitch, beautiful beads, and a little planning, you can make gorgeously unique jewelry. Here is a necklace that I made as bridal jewelry with sterling silver wire, freshwater pearls and swarovski crystals. You could easily make this for bridesmaid jewelry, or for everyday wear, by adding color with glass beads, faceted stones, and dyed pearls.

I love Opera Length

Long wrap-able necklaces have been all the rage lately, you can't look at the gossip rags in the checkout line without seeing a star wearing one. I took 4 feet of Soft-Flex, 2 packages of seed beads and a handful of my favorite beads and made a SASSY Opera length necklace. I can wrap it up to 3 times for a necklace (wrap it two times for a flapper look) and a bunch of times for a bohemian bracelet. It is so fun and easy to make, perfect for sitting in front of the tv and beading all those seed beads.

Texas Holdem

Every Wednesday there is a free Texas Holdem tournament at Sally O’Brien’s in Union Square. Jeff and I go off and on, more to see our friends than to play poker. Jeff’s friend and best man Herb runs the poker game, Liz is usually there too, and sometimes Patrick and Kim come. There is always a fun group of people there, you couldn’t ask for a better Wednesday night.

This week there were 4 prizes. Usually, only the top 3 players get a prize. Third place wins a drink, second place a $10 gift certificate to the bar, and first place wins a $25 gift certificate to the bar. I have won 3^rd place twice but that was the best that I had ever done, Liz on the other hand has won TONS of times. This week there was also a trivia question prize (Herb is also a Trivia Jockey). The question was “What is the average annual snowfall, in inches, at Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine?” I totally won! I guessed it was 146” and it was 150”. The prize for the trivia question was a BOGO free lift ticket at Sugarloaf. I don’t really ski, I haven’t gone since the time I fell off the lift and every time I tried to get up the people on the lift going over me would knock me over. But Jeff and Liz have been talking about going this winter, so I will give them my prize, they can ski and I can sit in the lodge and knit.

To top it all off I won the Poker Tournament. So exciting, I am in the League of Champions now, hehehehehehe.

Adventures in Knitting

I am a crocheter, I love it, I teach it, I am attempting to write a book about it. The thing is, most of the crochet patterns suck. They are totally granny-ish, and not in the cool way either.

My friend Liz is a knitter, she is actually a knit-o-holic. She makes the coolest things. Liz made the most beautiful shawl to wear at my wedding (she was one of our readers). This year for Christmas she made her entire family socks (no small feat when you have 4 sister). They aren't just your run of the mill socks, they are AWESOME! Liz and her sock making inspired me to learn how to knit.

I started off with some chopsticks, old yarn and my laptop. I Heart Google. I found a great site with lots of videos and tips (www.knittinghelp.com/ ). After much deliberation and a few phone calls (one to Liz and another to my grandmothers knitting friend Madeline) I decided to learn the continental style. Because I crochet, I am already accustom to holding the yarn in my left hand, and Liz says that it puts less stress on your right hand (my right wrist is killing me from all the wire wrapping I have been doing).

I have decided that since I am sure my inaugural project is not going to be as neat and mistake free as I would like, that I will take is opportunity to experiment with felting. My goal is to make a half way decent felted purse. I went out last night and bought some Limeade Lambs Pride and some Clover no. 11 circular needles. Here is my progress thus far.

Wire Wrapped Bridal Jewelry

Wire wrapping each individual pearl and crystal takes FOREVER, but it looks stunning when it is all completed. I love the beautiful faceted quarts drop as a centerpiece, it really sparkles.




Wire wrapped freshwater pearl and swarovski crystal bracelet complete the set. I was inspired by the thought of making a color co-ordinating bridesmaid set and I love these lavender swarovski crystals.

Busy Jewelry Week

I have been on a huge jewelry making kick for the last week. I was contacted by a bridal salon in Maine to make wedding jewelry to match some of their gowns, but that was the day after Jeff and I got married, so up until now I have been a little too preoccupied to do much for them. I just photographed a few necklaces today during lunch, its been rainy and overcast for a while and I need to have nice light to capture the pearls and swarovski crystals. I love how luxurious this necklace looks and feels. It will compliment most wedding gowns and would be stunning for any dressy event.

Blogging is Scarry

Here I am, starting a blog. I am finding it a little daunting, mostly due to my difficulty spelling and poor grammar skills. Being newly married, I am trying to wean myself of The Knot, where I have spent the last year of my life. However, my real goal here is to create a crafting forum for myself so that I can share my new projects.



We put up our Christmas tree today. This is my husband's first live tree, he was so nervous about the whole process. He got totally paranoid that there would be a field mouse or spider nest in it and there would be vermin running over the house. We went to three different tree places and ended up getting a tree at the first place we went to a beautiful Frasier Fir.


Right after Thanksgiving I was watching the Carol Duval Show on HGTV, and usually I think that everything on there looks like crap, but she had a guest on that was making polymer clay Christmas candy. That night I went out and bought an obscene amount of polymer clay and I made fantastic ribbon candy. My husband also got right into making it too, and actually stopped watching football to play with the polymer clay. I made the candies into decorations, they are so fun and look great on the tree.