Remaking a Crocheted Chain Necklace.

 

These photos are terrible, they were taken in 2011 with a potato. Looking back, all the photos on my old blog would have been this fuzzy. Yikes.

About a hundred years ago I made a couple of crocheted chain necklaces. They were by way of an experiment really, just a single strand with a bead every few stitches. They came out pretty long but I figured that I could wear them doubled up. Then I didn’t wear them at all. I was making that much stuff back then that it was just piling up. I tried selling some but had no takers so it all got packed up into a box.

I have posted previously about the box and unpacking it and dismantling most of the stuff I’d made. I liked these necklaces though and left them in one piece. I was going out the other week and, feeling a little whimsical, I put a bunch of my handmade necklaces on including these two, wrapped around twice. The pink one was fine but the dark one is a little shorter and after a while became decidedly scratchy. I decided to make it longer.

I'm not sure about that bronze fastener, I wasn't sure about the silver one on the original but it may have looked better than this.

 

Taking these to bits is really simple; once you’ve found the right end it’s just a case of pulling the wire and it all comes undone. I obviously had to add some more beads in and I obviously didn’t have any more of the little flower ones but I had some other fairly similar ones and used those.

 

It is a bit longer than the pink one because I’m either rubbish at maths or just can’t count. Both probably. But it isn’t strangley any more which is the important point.

 

It Never Rains But...

 

I nicked this from Tumblr but originally it's from a Neopets forum, I know nothing of Neopets but I know a good meme.

What a couple of weeks I have had.

First the car had an issue, it wouldn’t start, just made a ticking sound but all the interior electricals were still working so wasn’t sure if it was the battery or starter motor. Luckily, the garage I use is only a couple of minutes’ walk so I went round and the lad came back with me and jumped started it. He then took it away to see what the issue was. It was the battery which he replaced and two hours later, 80 quid lighter I went on my way.

 

I cannot find a source for this but it is my favourite meme ever.

A couple of days later the postman brought an unexpected gas bill and the road tax bill. A couple of days after that the fridge freezer stopped working. I managed to get some stuff into a friend’s freezer so didn’t have to bin everything but it has been a very expensive month so far. I still have to get that 2TB hard drive sorted but that is definitely on the back burner for now.

Nicked from Tumblr again. Cannot find a source but someone is selling stickers of it, Sir, that is not your work to profit from.

 

The weather has improved though, the majority of the country has had a heatwave, it has even reached the north west of Wales. It has been glorious, though I did overdo the gardening on the hottest day of the year and came over a bit peculiar. Honestly, I do it every time, there’s a bit of hot weather and all the tools come out as I try to do a weeks’ worth of work in one day. Garden looks better though.

I found some wild geranium growing, I think this is a cranesbill.

 

My Bluesky account went in the bin, (oh Lord what is she like). I decided to migrate my account over to Eurosky, oh, it’s easy they said, so straightforward they said, the work of mere moments. Reader, it was not. It started well, only wanted a code to input to let Bluesky know it was indeed me. I requested, received and input the code. But it couldn’t be completed, the code had expired, I should request a new one. I did so and a few seconds later the same message. This went on for 20 minutes, my inbox was full of useless codes and I was getting incredibly frustrated with it. So, as is typical for me, I binned it all off and started again from scratch with a brand new Eurosky account.

 

My face when.....

I found though, that the Eurosky portal has a whole host of apps, that only require that one sign in. There is an Instagram-like app called Flashes which is made in the EU. There are no ads, there is no algorithm, there is no Meta. There’s an app which allows you to build your own website (Blento), there’s a blogging app (Leaflet), there are loads of others, both social and professional all using the AT Protocol (I don’t know what that means but somebody will I’m sure). This is from their FAQs: “The Atmosphere is the name for the growing ecosystem of apps and services built on the AT Protocol. Your Eurosky account works across all of them. Think of it like email: one account, many apps. You can use Bluesky for microblogging, Flashes for photos and video, SIFA for professional networking, Leaflet for blogging, Tangled for code collaboration, and many more — all with the same identity and data.”

Anyway, I like it, everything is in one place and that place is in Europe, with GDPR, so no shenanigans (well, hopefully 🤞🏻).

That’ll do I think, we’re starting to get rambly, as usual, random pics to follow (hopefully a tiny video if I can get Blogger to play ball).

The peace lily is getting another flower. Insert "Sir, a second [....] has appeared" meme.

 

 

Two different cotoneasters in blossom.

A bronze fennel frizzle.

I've been outside around 10 every night watching bats flittering around. After filming for about 10 minutes I managed to catch one for 3 seconds.

Another I pinched from Tumblr but originally it's from sexyandiknowknit on Instagram

 

 

April Catch-Up

 

The inside of my brain currently.

I thought I would make a little catch-up post (I know it's May now but it was April when I started it), though it’s a collection of woes to be honest. Currently I have tennis elbow in my left arm and a frozen shoulder on my right. As you can imagine this is a little trying. I have anti-inflammatories which are not very effective and some exercises which are not fun. It’s a work in progress.

I have a 2Tb external hard drive on which I store all of my craft and art references, my downloaded patterns for knitting, crochet and all kinds of needlework, my videos, e-books, inspo pics for all kinds of everything and, you’ve guessed it, it’s borked. Fine one day and then clanking and stopping the next. I’m kind of beside myself about it to be honest. I think I could send it off to a specialist who could get all the data off it but it would cost a few hundred quid and I am after moving back up north so it’ll have to wait and I will have to manage. It’s hard though, I had no idea how much I relied on that drive. Oh yeah, and my blog posts were on there too, for some reason when you download your blog from Blogger you only get the pictures back but not the actual posts which is weird. Luckily I do have my photos backed up in about five different places as I’ve lost them before.

My mental health took a bit of a nosedive and took my motivation with it so I’ve not made much stuff. However, I have made a few phone wristers and keyring/charms. So I haven’t been completely out of it.

Three phone wristers, the one on the right is mostly natural materials.

 

Three new bag charms.

Also I started playing Stardew Valley a few weeks ago and I’m a little obsessed with it so that might have contributed to my lack of motivation to do anything else ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

I have finally binned off Instagram. They persisted with the ads in the following feed and I just cannot deal with them I don't know how other people just scroll on by and can ignore them, they drive me insane. I am posting a few pics to Blue Sky until people get used to me posting a bit more often and then they can have the full spectrum of sycamore photos. 

Speaking of, here she is in full bloom, a magnet for bees at this time of year.

 

Right, that’s it, pity party over. It is May! My favourite time of year, everything is so green and the days are getting longer, it is the run up to my birthday but I’ve not yet been disappointed by it so it’s still potentially good. I know they say birthdays are for kids but they also say that about Christmas and frankly, people who say such things can get in the sea.

Free plants from the universe. I was cutting the grass and found a fern and a tiny holly seedling that had planted themselves. There was also a primrose which had planted itself at the front but I didn't get a picture of that.

 

I am expecting a little box of treats ordered from DirectCosmetics which will be a little cheer up, I’m excited about that even though I know what’s in it. (Massive GIF alert)

 

via GIPHY

I might fire my sewing machine up and finally put together the things I cut out last year (why am I like this?) and hopefully get a couple of other things made. 

I also need to cast on another Rowan project as the current one is just too big and warm for knitting in the summer months. I’m thinking maybe Stella, which is a little cropped ribbed jumper knit in DK weight yarn.

Hopefully summer coming in will bring my motivation back with it, in the meantime though, I’ve got livestock to feed and crops to plant 😊

Thanks for listening! Here's a bunch of catch-up pics.

I found an unmoving bee on the path, I gave it the tiniest of pokes and it waved a little leg at me so I got it some reviving honey and it went on its way.

 

 

I have had this peace lily for 20 years and it has never flowered since it was new. I turned it the other day and look! A massive flower! I couldn't believe it, it smells amazing too. I have chosen to take it as a good omen.

 

My box of treats has arrived! Perfume minis, tinted lip balms, a notebook, and the wee pot has some cactus seeds with it, there's also an Elizabeth Arden tote at the bottom which was a pound. One pound!