Sweetheart Necklace

For a while now I had this idea going round in my head of a long necklace in greens and blues, but when the green/blue yarn arrived for the Where the Land Meets the Sea shawl, it suddenly all became clear:

The necklace isn't quite as long as it looks on this bust (the bust is only about 3/4 of a REAL person). However, it is quite long and can be wrapped around twice.

I raided my drawers for all sorts of beads, chains and charms that I thought would work well together and there are:

• vintage beads and beadcaps,: lucite, glass, enamelled, copper, brass and gunmetal
  
• new beads (glass, resin and fabric)
• recycled glass beads from Ghana and new glass pearls and hollow glass beads
• vintage and new chain in black, enamelled blue, copper and brass
• vintage and new charms in brass, copper and pewter.

I love the colours and I like the fact that I've combined various metals so I can wear bracelets in the various metals with it rather than having to stick to one metal. The recycled glass has wonderful bumps and inclusions, the vintage has a lovely patina and all in all the necklace celebrates variety.

... and this one's all mine. LOL

However, if you'd like a similar sweetheart necklace with the sweetheart charm and different colours, let me know. I am happy to make another. Indeed, I might make another one anyway. LOL

In Progress: Icy Shrug

This is what I've been working on when the mermaid shawl got too much. The shawl is very fiddly to do and sometimes I just need some time to think about what I'll do next or how things fit together (it is a bit like a jigsaw).

The shrug is knitted in the same way as the Smolder shrug, but with a few little changes to ensure a better fit (the red shrug is a little looser).


It's not quite finished - hence the stitch holders - because I ran out of yarn. Well, not quite, but I did not have enough to make the bell shaped sleeves I want for this. I'd like to wear it in Summer and Winter, and thought 3/4 length sleeves are therefore better and look prettier with this colour.

I ordered my yarn last week and unfortunately it wasn't in stock - BUT credit to Nicola at YarnBox she ordered it away and it arrived today - one day earlier than expected. :-)



Here you can see the beautiful yarn (Louisa Harding, Grace Handpainted in shade 02, aqua) in detail - I've used a seed stich for the tie:


And here is the plain stotcking stitch:



The yarn is absolutely wonderful to knit with. It has a well defined stitch pattern and the colour variation is well done and there's no pooling. It's half silk, half merino and light and very soft with a beautiful soft sheen. Perfect! I can only recommend it.

The shrug will also have some removable flower brooches (3 altogether) which I can use to dress it up or down. I can't wait for it to be finished as it's just so lovely.... :-)