I made these back in February, took photos of them on April 1st and got around to uploading them a few days ago. And posting them now. Because it takes a few seconds.

I picked up a vial of mixed beads at a store a while ago. I was debating between sorting them or just using them as is – I decided against sorting. I poured out the beads into a tray and picked up whichever ones were closest and just strung them on and this is what I ended up with. I forgot to do measurements before writing this, but they’re probably approximately 2.5″ in length, without including the fishhooks.

Materials: base metal jump rings and crimp tubes, nylon coated wire, antiqued silver fishhooks and multi-coloured plastic and glass seed & bugle beads.

What’s a girl to do when she wants something simple to do to pass the time as a (short!) study break? Obviously, make some earrings!

First up is silver plated wire-wrapped stars paired with red pearls and base metal findings (eyepins and fish hooks).

Next is upcycled wire-wrapped stars with curled wire and glass translucent blue seed beads. Antiqued silver fishhooks and base-metal jumprings.

Group shot! The blue stars are larger than the silver plated stars.

Last night, I stopped knitting right before I took that photo. I had 10 sets of yellow stripes. Now I’ve just stopped knitting for tonight and I have 12. I’m definitely going to get this scarf done soon! It’s way longer than I am tall now and I can no longer hold it up and not have it just touching the floor anymore. I can’t wait for it to be done! I’ll have to take a photo of it next to my Slytherin scarf. I’m pretty sure the Gryffindor

I have come to the conclusion that I own a lot of scarves. I have… 2 that were made for me by my sister (the Slytherin scarf and a pink and black one that has a matching hat), 2 that I’ve had since I was little (one’s baby/toddler sized, the other is small-child sized), 1 loopy boa that I received as a birthday gift from when I was in elementary school and 1 that I received as a gift in grade… 11, I believe.

Now, that’s already 6 scarves. And they’re all different lengths, colours and styles. Plus the one that I’m working on right now is scarf #7. I already have two coat hangers full of scarves in my closet, I’m going to have to start hanger #3 after the Gryffindor scarf is completed.

Plus… I have plans for more scarves.

My really soft and fun-to-pet Red Heart Whirly? At least one skein is destined to become a mobius strip scarf (crocheted, not knit). I bought four. Realistically, it’ll take at most two skeins. And not even the full two skeins.

I have 5 skeins of Moda Dea’s Dream in this light green… It was purchased with the intention of making this really nice filet crochet lace scarf/stole… But I guess if I can call it a stole, it doesn’t really count as a scarf, right?

And then there’s all that Bernat Satin that my sister and I have somehow accumulated (I really have no clue how we end up with it all…). I’m going to be making (at least I plan on it) a rainbow scarf. We already have red, orange, yellow, green and white in Bernat Satin. I’d just need a blue and purple and then I’d be set… The white is for clouds at the ends.

3 more scarves (… 2 if I can count one as a stole and not a scarf!). Which brings my scarf count up to 10 (… or 9).

And all this means the following: I either need to:

• Stop making scarves and make something else (… I already plan on making mittens! And lots of amigurumis!)
• Somehow grow a few more necks! That way I can wear more than one scarf at a time.
• Donate a bunch to a charity (… Probably not the ones that have been given to me as gifts, as that would be rude.)
• Start finding a lot of friends who have really cold necks (… in spring?).
• Start making more scarves, learn more stitch patterns (for both crochet and knit) and gift them all for Christmas (… I do have nearly 9 months).
• Go to a store, buy enough yarn for a sweater and start doing the most complicated sweater I can possibly ever make in my life (… or not?)

I, umm, started this scarf sometime in 2007. I worked on it on and off until probably December 2007 and then it got tucked away and I didn’t pull it out again until March 28th (… 2009). It’s the Gryffindor house colours (yeah… I’m a Harry Potter fan…). My sister made me a scarf with the Slytherin house colours, which she got done in the summer of 2007… She never tucked it away and forgot about it for a year, obviously!

The pattern is based on the stripe variations in the Atypically.Knit Prisoner of Azkaban scarf pattern. However, the Atypically.Knit pattern calls for the scarf to be knitted on circulars and it’s rather… wide. And, well, I’m kind of a lazy knitter, so when I casted on for this scarf, I did 32, as opposed to 90… And plus, I’m doing mine in 2×2 rib stitch, which I adore. I’m using Bernat Satin in Sunrise for the yellow stripes and Red Heart Super Saver in Burgundy.

The stripe pattern goes as follows: 27 of the red, 3 yellow, 5 red, 3 yellow (repeated for a total of 14 sets of yellow stripes) then another 27 in red. I, as you can see, have 10 sets of yellow stripes. I’m crossing my fingers that I’ll have enough of the red…

Slightly adjusted so you can see the true colours… Except, my problem was that the carpet is the right shade, so is the red, but the yellow’s a tad bright (and it’s dull in the first photo compared to the real thing).

None of my previous entries have disappeared, don’t worry. Now they’re just available for reading for those who have verified and approved subscriber accounts. For more day-to-day blog entries, you’ll have to hop over to my other blog to read those. From now on (hopefully), Chelle-Chelle.com will be dedicated towards my writing and crafty endeavors.

Chances are, most of the crafts that will be posted up here will be jewelry (one of my favourite things to do, but also one of the more expensive ones), crochet and knit work (scarves… hats… mittens… more scarves…), maybe some polymer clay work (I have a lot of it, I just never seem to have the time to do it – which is absurd, considering how much time I dedicate to other crafts… and schoolwork) and some paper crafts (watch me not cut in a straight line).

I have a yarn stash, which I share with my sister, and it’s full of acrylics, wools, soy, bamboo, merino and a lot of other fibre goodness. We haven’t gotten into spinning yet (but I’m sure that once we find a nice local source for roving, we’ll be adding to our hobbies). I share my love of knitting and crocheting with my sister, so we’re both really good at enabling the other person when it comes to yarn sales. And by ‘really good’, I mean ‘really bad’.

I first learned how to knit when was I about 8 years old. I wanted a new sweater and instead of my mom taking me to the store to buy one (because my parents were really into hand-me-downs), my mom cast on the appropriate number of stitches onto a set of circulars and taught me how to knit (not purl, just knit). This kept me occupied for a few days. I did about 7-10 rows before I gave up. It was in 100% red wool from a now defunct company. I know this because when I picked up knitting again when I was 16, I used the exact same wool to make a scarf for my mom for Christmas.

After picking up knitting, I picked up crocheting in 2006 (because, well, it seemed natural – plus I found a copy of Stitch n’ Bitch: The Happy Hooker by Debbie Stoller and my local public library). And so, I learned that. And I bought the largest ball of yarn I had ever seen in my life at Walmart for the lowly price of $6. It was Red Heart, in variegated shades of blue and it was 100% acrylic. And with the knowledge of how to do single crochet, how to increase and decrease, I made myself a bag for my first project. Two side pockets, long strap and decent amount of death. I take it fairly frequently as a book bag.

My bead stash is kind of basically my pride and joy. I started making my own jewelry sometime in middle school. Before I really had much money, I would buy one item at a time, once every two weeks, with a 40 or 50% off coupon at Michaels. I started off with a huge amount of plastic beads that I got as a Christmas present one year from my parents – I saw it at the store and absolutely adored it. I think I was about 10. I started off with those. And I found websites on the internet with photos of necklaces and earrings with really nice beads. So from that, I started to buy things, one at a time. I started off with jumprings. Then bought earring hooks. Then bought a package of beads here, a tube of seed beads there. I developed my jewelry supplies very slowly. It took me about a year to stop myself from buying a package at a time and then save up for a bit and I bought my very first set of jewelry pliers, with a 50%-off coupon at Michaels. I was so ridiculously proud of myself. I later ‘discovered’ more bead shops outside of Michaels and, well, now we all know where my money goes to (besides school and yarn, of course). I have like 20 or so boxes to organize the beads, I have a box dedicated for pliers. I have a really nice pair of crimping pliers that I would honestly rescue from my house in the event of a fire (along with, basically, all of my beads, a couple teddy bears and all the nice yarn).

So, now that I have my crafty introduction out of the way… I have a massive to do list in terms of projects. Such as a new pair of mittens. A few dozen amigurumi (since I really need more stuffed animals, honest). And, of course, the scarf that I’m currently working on. It’s currently about 5 feet tall (almost my height) and it’s no where near done. I’ll post progress photos later.