Primrose Corner

Or… ttnp … as it is also called. Crafteroo is a youngish craft forum. There’s a lot goes on in there. The folk are friendly and full of advice and support and it has a lovely relaxed atmosphere. Crafteroo is building it’s own tutorials and tutorial links, which are always useful when you’re looking for new ideas or searching for new techniques.

I enjoy reading what everyone get upto. It has chats about etsy, folksy and ebay and all the selling and advertising discussions that are incredibly useful when you’re trying to sell your art and crafts. It’s definately worth a look.

But the mysterious Thursday night project - what might that be? It was started by Pennydog

It isn’t a challenge as such, it just provides an opportunity to show off what you’re up to on a Thursday/Thursday Night. All this activity has been linked to a brand new flickr group which you’ll find here ttnp It’s a public group where you can add photos of your own work and obviously see what others are upto. A building resource, methinks!

So, what did I get upto apart from worrying about the gross national product of Malawi (why do children leave their homework so late!!!!!! is it just mine?)

Well, I finished this;

I’m trying to get a little more arty with the photo’s. Is it working…… Umm!

And because I like feeling part of something ….. I made this too….

What am I going to do with all these bracelets….?

They’re made out of coloured wire threaded with 400 plus, seed beads. The green one used size 8 beads and the silver one used size 9 beads. The knitted fabric is quite soft and pliable. If the beads don’t end up where they’re supposed to (at the bottom of the stitch) then you just pull the wire gently and put it where it’s supposed to go, and squeeze the stitch back together. It’s finished with bar clasps.

Not bad going for a Thursday!

This

grew… and grew…. until it became

this. A knitted wire bracelet.

I’ve never knitted wire before and I was surprised how straight forward it was. (I know, it’s probably the simplest thing you could make but I like to start at the beginning. What does that say about me? )

O.K., I admit it, it wasn’t that easy. There was the threading and generally spreading around the floor of the beads. (Have I ever mentioned how clumsy I can be?) Then there was the actual knitting of the wire. This was more a process of adjustment really, with yarn you develop a way of maintaining a tension in your work don’t you. Well, this is no different except of course there is no stretch in the wire so if you pull the wire too snugly around your needles then on the next row there is absolutely no way you can either insert the needle or move the wire through the stitch. It wasn’t a tough learning curve though. On the positive side you can manipulate the wire into shape, a kind of wire equivalent of blocking I suppose. The whole process of making it was a lot fun. The type of project that you can’t quite put down because you just have to see what happens next.

I thought that knitted wire would be stiff, tough, snag your clothes and generally just not be that nice but it’s actually quite soft, (bit bumpy with the beads, but hey what do you expect) nothing like I imagined. Having made this my mind is full of imagining what else I could make. All I need is more time but it’s the summer holidays bless ‘em and they’re beginning to get fed up with each other. Oh dear! Trouble brewing, must think of some major diversion.. but later when I’ve written this.

Back to the bracelet. I’d read somewhere that knitting or crocheting wire can be very rough on the hands but I didn’t find this. Perhaps, the more modern craft wires have evolved into something more friendly… Anyway, it was fun to do and as you can see it’s very, very sparkly.

Now, I need to get on with some sewing..