Rosary Finished, Now What to do?

 

Finished the rosary by buying a cross.  I couldn't manage to make a cross out of wire without torquing it badly so I decided to buy one.  It was easy enough to attach to the rosary.  I got a critique of the rosary and it is to long and could have been made with smaller beads.  But it is pretty and sturdy.  Next time I will try and make it smaller and will look into a special rosary tool.  I'm so glad I stopped working on the pearl rosary it would have been to heavy to lift!  Now to start making gifts in earnest.  It would have been so much better to have started in October.  Will have to finish making a list of gifts and start making stuff.  Definitely need to make lots and lots of earrings! 

 

Added the Cross with dove to rosary.

Silk Ribbon Initial

Silk ribbon embroidery can be rather fun when you just sit and doodle.  Today I worked on a piece that will be made into a needle roll.  As a few posts ago I sharply realized that a proper needle roll was important.  So I started one for myself with my initial.  It has gotten a bit out of control, I keep adding bits of embroidery to it and in some parts embroidered over embroidery that didn't look right.  That is the problem embroidering without a plan and doing only rough sketching on the fabric.  Before I started the project I wanted it to be very ornate and tried to remember pieces of old ribbon work that I had seen.  So I couldn't settle for just a pretty initial it had to be surrounded with stitching and then more stitching around the other stitching until it threatens to take over the whole piece of fabric.  Now I'm trying to deciding whether to add a crown!  I think it is quite ornate enough and will wait to decide on anything further tonight.

How to Make a No Chain Start in Crochet Tutorial

This is such a clever way to start crochet projects without making a foundation chain.  It doesn't work for all projects but many projects especially afghans it does.  One of the biggest reasons that I gave up making afghans is the starting chain.  Sometimes more than 200 chains to just get started and then a few extra just in case you miss counted.  Then I found the chainless start in a 19th century book and I'm so happy I sat down and learned this trick.  The tutorial is for making a row 1 of double crochets.

Step 1:  Make a slip knot and tighten it around the hook.

Step 2: Chain 4, the first chain loop takes the place of the chain start and the three make up the first double crochet.

Step 3: Yarn over insert hook in fourth chain from hook.  Yarn over and pull through, there will be three loops on the hook.

Step 4:  Yarn over and pull through 1 loop, 3 loops will be on the hook. The loop you just pulled through becomes the foundation chain for the next stitch. 

Step 5: Yarn over and pull through 2 loops, 2 loops remain.

Step 6: Yarn over and pull through 2 loops, stitch is now completed.

Start of next stitch.

Step 1: Yarn over and place hook in the bottom of the last stitch.  In the picture you will see that I left the chain stitch loose so it was more visible.  Yarn over and pull the loop through, 3 loops on hook.

Step 2:  Yarn over and the pull thread through 1 loop, 3 loops on hook.  This is making the foundation chain for the next stitch.  You can think of this as making the original starting chain while crocheting the stitch.

Step 3: Yarn over and pull through 2 loops, 2 loops remaining.

Step 4: Yarn over and pull though 2 loops, 1 loop on hook.

Step 5: Repeat the second set of steps 1 through 4 until you have the correct number of stitches for your pattern.



Need chain spaces?  It is easy.

Step 1: Chain number of chains in pattern  This example will use 1 chain space.

Step 2: Yarn over and place hook in the bottom of the last stitch.  Yarn over and pull the loop through, 3 loops on hook.

Step 3: Now yarn over and pull through as many times as need for chain spaces in pattern.  In this example we will use 1 extra space. Yarn over and the pull thread through 1 loop, yarn over and pull through 1 loop again creating a chain one space and the foundation space for the next stitch.

Step 4: Yarn over and pull through 2 loops, 2 loops remaining.

Step 4: Yarn over and pull though 2 loops, 1 loop remaining.

I hope that these instructions are clear enough and someone finds it helpful.

Cross for the Rosary

Today wasn't very productive.  I've been working on a cross for the rosary.  So far I have been trying to string beads on wire to form a cross using the rose quartz beads.  But the tension is hard to get right.  The rest of the day I made lists and got stuff ready for the coming Holidays.  Tomorrow I hope to get the tree ready.  It is supposed to rain starting Wednesday so have to get ready for that also.  To many rainy days means fewer chocolates made.  I have been looking at a recipe for a chocolate and raspberry candy that sounds delicious.  Lots to do!

Rose Quartz Rosary

Last night I decided not to continue with the pearl rosary. So today I found the rose quartz beads. They are a very delicate pink because I don't usually buy dyed stones. The dye will fade over time and buying them undyed also gives them a more translucent look.  They are size 5 beads so this will be a much smaller and lighter rosary and I was able to use some of the gold chain I have.  
I chose square separator bead.  It is a lot of work wiring all those beads.  Last night I also looked up about prayer beads.  Turns out many religions have prayer beads and they usually differ on the numbers of beads in a strand.  According to Wikipedia the English word bead is from the Old English bede which means prayer.

 

Rose quartz Rosery.  All it needs is a cross.

 

 

Pearl rosery with a wire cross I made.

 

So I stayed up rather late last night because of all the sleeping I did during the day.   I stopped making the Rosary and started a silk ribbon decoration for the clear glass ball ornaments.  It was stitched onto crinoline which was horrible to the silk ribbons.  I had to use short lengths of ribbon because of all the tearing. But after embroidering the crinoline I cut out the design and used markers to match the edges to the embroidery.  Then I glued it to the ball and it came out beautifully.  Now I need some rest!

 

Work in progress on embroidered glass ball.

 

 

Embroidery cut out.

 

 

Embroidery glued to glass ball.

 

 

Another view.

Rosary part deux

Today I slept over 17 hours so I haven't worked much on the rosary.  However I realised that there are 5 sections of 10 beads not 4.  So by the time I am finished with the piece it will be very long and heavy.  It is beautiful and I made the links as small as I could but the size 8 pearls are making it very long.  Besides that the cross I made is to small for the rosary.  So now I have the dilemma of whether to finish it or to break it apart into 2 necklaces.  Either way I will need to buy more silver chain to make a new or finish the current rosary.  I'm not sure at all that I can afford some more chain with the price of silver.  So I will look at my own jewelry and see if I can find a strong enough chain to recycle.  I'm just sad because I wanted to give the gift next week.  Perhaps the size 6 rose quartz that was purchased for another wedding will work!

Lee is working on the kitchen so I will have lots of space to start baking gifts.  I'm still not sure what I want to bake but the stollen was so good last year that I have a feeling I will be making more!  The only problem is will I just eat it instead of sending it!  Of course there must be truffles, at least they are easy to make.  With luck the first package will go out Tuesday!

Just finished "Pride and Prejudice" now for "Sense and Sensibility" and "A Study in Scarlet".

Pearl and Crystal Rosary

On Firemountaingems.com they have a few instructions for making Rosaries.  So today I started one for a friend.  I used 20 gauge wire and started making wired pearls.  I used the smallest pliers so that the loops would be small compared to the size 10 pearls.  Then between the sections of 10 wired pearls I put 5 links of silver chain and a size 12 AB round crystal.  So far it looks alright, but the cross is going to be hard to decide on.  I was thinking of making the outline of a cross in heavy wire and then flatten it on an anvil.  With a smaller gauge wire I was thinking of stringing small crystals inside the cross.  I had hoped to finish it tonight but it was just to big a project for one afternoon and evening of work.  Maybe tomorrow I will be able to finish it and I will have another gift done!