The Statement Necklace

Recently, my wonderful and talented friend Cindy came to visit. Cindy, the fabulous jewelery designer behind M.O.T.H. Metier , was in town for a bead trade show. Seeing her excitedly pouring over her strands of garnets and bags of pendants was all too familiar. Ever been to a fibre festival? A big sale at a yarn store? I knew exactly how she felt; anxious to use every new purchase immediately!

While a bead doesn't light my fire quite the same way a fine cashmere does, I have been known to dabble in beadery. My bulletin board always has at least one necklace or bracelet idea tacked up. With Cindy's contagious enthusiasm, I dusted off my box-o-beads and gathered my inspiration.

Inpiration #1:


Inspiration #2:

I love these earrings, but the weight of them makes
me feel like they're pulling my ears off!

After couple of hours of wrestling with pliers and jump rings I eventually had this:

I heart colour.

If you read fashion magazines you've probably heard the term 'statement necklace' . Statement is exactly what I had in mind when I made this piece though I have to laugh at the thought of jewelry literally making a statement. What does your necklace say Sara? "Oh, it says pro universal health care system!". How about you, Laura? "Mine says stop clear cutting our forests!"

Flava Flav's necklace says; "It's ten to twelve!"

My necklace says; "I match your whole wardrobe!"

Ye Olde Tyme Knitting: Anatomical Afghans

So, it's come to this. My new job is encroaching on my 'personal' knitting, and without knitting, well, the blog lies fallow. That is, unless I plant a new crop of yarny seeds! From now on, if I don't have any knitting to blog about, I'm going to pick something from my ever-growing collection of vintage patterns and write a little bit about that. (At least, that's the plan.) So without further ado, let Ye Olde Tyme Knitting begin!

Here's a little something I picked up this summer:

The pattern is called "Afro Afghan and Wall Plaque.
"Capture the African beat on your wall or as a striking afghan..."

Now that afghan on the right... and the wall hanging...um... remind you of anything? Me? It calls to mind a particular scene from the Big Lebowski:

Maude Lebowski: Does the female form make you uncomfortable, Mr. Lebowski?

The Dude: Uh, is that what this is a picture of?

Maude Lebowski: In a sense, yes. My art has been commended as being strongly vaginal which bothers some men. The word itself makes some men uncomfortable. Vagina.

The Dude: Oh yeah?

Maude Lebowski: Yes, they don't like hearing it and find it difficult to say whereas without batting an eye a man will refer to his dick or his rod or his Johnson.

The Dude: Johnson?

You get the picture. Just don't hang that particular crocheted picture on your wall please.

But hey - I'm not writing this to just laugh at the fashion of yesteryear. That's been done. Besides, we've all worn stuff in the past we regret, right? (Pleated jeans anyone?) It's easy to dismiss vintage patterns as dated and silly, but sometimes you just need to get past the front cover. The back cover of this same booklet looks like this:


The blanket on the left? Awesome! I love the colour combo! And here I thought I was the best thing to be born of the seventies!