Beads, Wire, Yarn: It’s All Good

I put on my dark berry T-shirt and couldn’t find any earrings to wear with it. I found dozens of pairs of earrings, but I’d worn them all before, many times. I was suffering from earring ennui. It was time to retire to the Bead Room at get at it. I took this postcard I bought at the Monet in Normandy show M and I went to in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago.

After a bit of poking around in my drawer of Swarovski crystals, I grabbed some sterling headpins and my pliers and made these:

The pliers in the picture point out an important aspect of making these earrings. You have to mark the pliers! I used the second mark on the long nose pliers to mark the distance from the crystal to the place to make the loop. And the mark on the round nose plier tips showed me where to wrap each loop. I made wrapped loops. I almost always make wrapped loops. They are just so much more secure than a simple loop. Only if the wrapped loop would severely compromise the design, AND a simple loop wouldn’t cause pieces to fly off (I’ve had it happen! I learned this lesson the hard way.) will I think of considering a simple loop.

Are you old enought to remember mood rings back in the 70s? I didn’t have one, but my friend Margie did. Her hands were always so warm that the “mood stone” was always a deep royal purple. This meant she was relaxed and at peace, in love with the world. Well, Margie would get bored with her purple ring, so during recess and lunch, she would have me wear it. I have low blood pressure, so my hands were/are usually cold. Margie would watch her ring turn from deep purple to royal blue, turquoise, gold, brown and then black on my hand. Black meant I was tense and anxious, at odds with the world. She shared her Little Debbie snacks with me at lunch, so I put up with her teasing me about my “mood problems.”

Last Spring, while looking at bead auctions on ebay, I found some new mood beads (I don’t remember the site, and I couldn’t find it today). The beads were on my beading table, so I strung those up with some Thai silver beads that look faceted. I wanted to string the beads on black leather cord, but the silver beads’ holes were too small, and I really liked the faceted silver so the leather idea bit the dust and size 6 Czech black seed beads filled in. I like the look.

Mood and silver beads up close and personal:

I wore the necklace today to work, and the beads were turqoise, blue or purple most of the day. I was relieved that they weren’t black, that would be pretty lame if my neck were that cold when the beads were greeny-gold lying on my desk.

And in yarny-knitting news, I’ve finished the gusset of the first of Nancy’s Peacock socks. I chose to do what I’ve read called “eye of the peacock” slipped stitched heel flap. I thought it was appropriate with the yarn colorway 😉

Must go knit and watch House.