Sand and Sea Wrap Bracelet - Photo Tutorial

Since I'm still stuck inside and not buying new craft supplies until I work down my huge stash, I made this wrap bracelet out of beads that I've had for years.

I'm in love with this color combo - it reminds me of a blissful seaside retreat.

Materials needed:
- Beads of choice
- Leather cord (2mm diameter, enough length to wrap around your wrist 2x as long as you want the bracelet. My bracelet wraps my wrist 5 times, so I cut my leather cord long enough to wrap around my wrist 10 times + 1 more time to give me room for tying knots, etc.)
- Crochet thread or beading thread (3x as long as leather cord). I used crochet thread so that's what I'll call it throughout the instructions.
- (optional but very helpful) Cardboard bobbin to wind the crochet/beading thread on while working
- Thin plastic wire to help with threading beads
- Clasp, toggle, or just add extra length to your leather cord to make a big knot

Instructions:
1. Find the center of your leather cord and tie an overhand loop knot so that you have two working cords coming out of the knot.

2. Tie a slip knot at the beginning of your crochet thread and tighten it just below your knot in the leather cord. Wrap the crochet/beading thread several times around both of your working leather cords, hiding the short tail of your slip knot inside this wrap (which I messed up in the picture below). At this point, it might be helpful to put a book or something similar over the overhand loop to hold it down while you work (I used my planner as a weight). At this point, it should look something like the below (but ignore the bead in the photo - adding beads is coming next).

3. Wrap the crochet thread around the front of the right working cord.

4. Thread the thin plastic wire through the bead. (Note: I'm using a pretty thick plastic wire here so you can see it in the pictures. I would recommend using a thinner one, as it will be MUCH easier to pull through.)

5. Lay the crochet thread over the plastic wire and loop the plastic wire back through the bead in the other direction.

6. Pull the plastic wire loop through the hole in the bead, drawing the crochet thread through with it (you should now have a loop of crochet thread going through the bead).

7. Thread the left working leather cord through this crochet thread loop and pull gently until snug (but not tight) to anchor the bead to the left side of the bracelet.

8. Wrap the crochet thread around the right working leather cord from front to back.

For the next bead, repeat steps 3-8 but wrapping on the right leather cord from back to front. That is, in step 3 wrap the crochet thread along the back of the leather cord, and in step 8, wrap from back to front.

Continue adding beads to desired length, alternating whether you are wrapping from the front or wrapping from the back. This creates a wave pattern along the right side of the bracelet that fits perfectly with the beach/sea theme.

9. Finishing the bracelet - depending on your desired toggle/clasp/knot ending, this part will be a bit different. For a clasp or toggle, tie the two working leather cords together in another overhand loop knot. Wrap the crochet thread through or around this knot and tie your clasp or toggle on securely.

I used a toggle made out of an old earring whose mate got lost years ago. The rhinestoned bar was perfect for a toggle with just a bit of sparkle.

Upcycled Hummus Container Planter DIY

This super easy and quick upcycle is a great way to combine my loves of apartment gardening and not wasting stuff. It makes a cute, customizable, and lightweight planter that comes with its own drip tray - perfect for hanging or sitting on a windowsill!

Materials needed:
- Hummus container with lid (family/chef size work really well for this)
- Acrylic paint
- Paint brush or sponge
- Drill, or hammer and nail, or X-acto knife (or something else to punch holes in the bottom of the container)

Steps:
1. Eat hummus (duh)

2. Wash and dry hummus container and lid. You can peel off the label (recommended to make the paint job smoother), or leave it on and just cover with extra layers of paint.

3. Paint the outside of the container (and outside of lid, optional) with acrylic. You can do solid coats, stripes, marbling, colors, whatever you want. For the pictures here, I used a wide sponge brush to make a fast base coat in white, let dry for 2 hours, did a second base coat the same way, let dry overnight, then painted over the base with colors.

(In case you're not familiar with acrylic - make sure to wash out your brush/sponge when you're done using it. If the paint dries in there, then your brush/sponge is done for.)

4. Let the finished paint job dry overnight.

5. Use your drill (or hammer and nail, or whatever) to punch holes in the bottom of the container for drainage. Do NOT punch holes in your lid - this will be the drip tray that goes under the planter to catch drained water.

6. Plant something in your beautiful new planter and enjoy!

Crossed Double Crochet Sun Hats - Pattern Modification

Now that the sun is starting to be up longer and hotter every day, I wanted to make some a brimmed hat to keep my eyes shaded. I found this free pattern on The Lavender Chair (or check it out here on Ravelry), a wonderful site with tons of free crochet patterns for kids and adults. The hat is so cute! BUT the adult sized pattern is a bit too big for me so it blows off in the wind. And the child sized pattern is way too small for me.

Here are my pattern notes to size down the adult pattern. You'll still need to visit The Lavender Chair for the actual pattern though!

Fit: head circumference 21" with 1" negative ease so it holds onto your head

Abbreviations:
- st/sts = stitch/stitches
- hdc = half double crochet

Pattern Modifications:

Round 1: Hdc 9 in magic ring

Rounds 2-6 follow pattern instructions (round 6 ends with 54 sts)

Adjust round 7 to end up with 64 sts:
2x (2hdc in next st, 1hdc in next 5 sts)
3x (2hdc in next st, 1hdc in next 4 sts)
2x (2hdc in next st, 1hdc in next 5 sts)
3x (2hdc in next st, 1hdc in next 4 sts)

Follow pattern instructions for the rest of the hat. Here's another pic of the finished product (made in Bernat Handicrafter 100% Cotton).

Tutorial: Chainmaille Jewelry Made From Paper Clips

I love the look of chainmaille jewelry but wasn't sure if I was patient enough to make it -- especially because I didn't want to buy jump rings so I'd be cutting thousands of pieces myself. At the same time, I had LOTS of paper clips in cute colors, and I don't have that much paper to clip together. Well.... paper clips are made of wire.... and so are jump rings.... so I thought I would try out paper clip chainmaille.

I really love how my paper clip chain necklace turned out! I love it so much, I want to share how I made it so you can make your own :)
Difficulty level: 2/5
Time commitment: 3/5
Happiness with result: 5/5

On to the detailed instructions!
Step 1: Gather your materials. You will need lots of paper clips (my 30" necklace was made of jump rings sized such that I got 3 rings per paper clip, and I used ___ paper clips from a 1000-pack from Staples), good wire cutters, and a mandrel (I used a cheap bic ballpoint pen). This size of paper clip and mandrel gave a good jump ring size and inner/outer diameter pairing for the chain I made (full persian, keep reading for more details).

Step 2: Flatten each paper clip into a long, straight wire, then coil it around the non-writing end of your mandrel (pen). Try to get as many full circles around the mandrel as you can with each clip.

Step 3: Using your wire cutters, snip between the loops of the coil to create full circles (i.e. jump rings). I was able to get 3 jump rings per paper clip, with only a little bit of waste wire on both ends. Steps 2 and 3 take the majority of the time in this project.

Step 4: Weave your beautiful, colorful jump rings into something that makes you happy. I'm not an expert on this part, but I used a full persian chain tutorial from The Bead Man, which I found to be very clear and easy to follow. After adding a few rings, you get the pattern pretty quickly and the chain comes together pretty fast. Note: most chainmaillers will advise that you use flat pliers to open and close your jump rings. I used my fingers -- not the best strategy, but when I tried pliers they tore the rubber coating that gives the paper clips their color. Also I found that paper clips are soft enough to coil into rings and open/close by hand, but hard enough to hold their shape while being worn -- perfect!

M's Baby's Blanket

The baby wave has started for sure -- all my friends are having babies faster than I can turn out blankets! Here's the latest little blanket to come off my needles.

Made using Bernat Handicrafter Cotton (white) and Knit Picks CotLin (whisper)

Thanks to Ravelry designer Mary Jane Protus for sharing the beautiful free pattern!

Sea-Colored Turquoise Necklace

I just got back from a trip to Barcelona, where I was inspired by the beautiful beach to visit a bead store and pick out some sea-colored beads to make this necklace. It's nothing fancy, just some brown seed beads, larger turquoise faceted beads, and contrasting square crystals at the transition points, but I thought I would share a couple quick pics.

Here's my beautiful sea-and-rock necklace that reminds me of the beach. (I didn't have scissors so didn't cut the ends off yet)

Here's a closeup of just the turquoise part so you can see the transition beads better.

New Knit Finished: Comic Artist Wristlet!

I finished my comic artist wristlet (finally!) this week, so I have something to wear to prevent my tablet from thinking my palm wants to make squiggly lines all over the bottom of my comics.

More project pics and yarn/needle details are listed on Ravelry here: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/vixxyn/comic-artist-wristlet. Leave a note in the comments or send me a message on Ravelry if you want the simple pattern to make a wristlet or two of your own!