It seems to
have been a good year for sloes, we saw lots of them in the hedgerow on a
recent nature ramble on one of the last sunny days. A few happy days with the macramé
board followed, as I created a necklace inspired by the colours we had seen.
More photos
on my Folksy listing at https://folksy.com/items/7065144--Plumstone-purple-sea-sediment-jasper-pendant-with-orange-and-beige-macram-
When I’d
finished that I decided I would finally get to grips with bead tube crochet.
This is something I’ve never mastered. I’ve had several attempts over the years
but the technique has eluded me. The aim is to take thread and seed beads to
make a beautifully neat tube. The beads sit on the outside and the thread ‘core’
makes a rope with a lovely flexible drape. Every time I’ve tried it I’ve
ended up hot and flustered with a birds nest of thread and a tiny tangle of
beads that look like a bunch of grapes. It annoys me – because I can happily
manage eight kumihimo bobbins, or a whole swathe of macramé threads. So I
bought myself an instructional DVD and took myself in hand.
A whole six hours
later and I finally had it mastered. Turned out it was like learning to ride a bike and
something suddenly just ‘clicked’. It doesn’t look much for six hours work does
it – but there’s definitely a glass of wine with my name on it this evening
with ‘Strictly’.
