Beaded Jewellery and Cancelled Orders

I hope you all had a great Christmas and have a brilliant New Year.

On the run up to Christmas I got bombarded with beaded jewellery orders from my local Knitting Stitch’n’Bitch Group.

I did panick that I wouldn’t get them all completed but as you can see, I did manage it and had them all in the recipients hands a month before Christmas which left me plenty of time to work on the headband order.

The only problem with getting all the necklace orders out of the way was that I then had to concentrate on the dreaded headbands….I managed to get 7 knitted and posted in time for Christmas…but then disaster struck…I had an email from my customer informing me that the French police had closed down the shop that they were planning on opening and therefore did not need any other headbands.

I was very annoyed once I digested the email as I was relying on the money from the big order, also I had all the yarn left which I did not have a use for. On top of this I had also completed 3 other headbands.

My customer had paid me upfront for 10 headbands and the postage for the first lot of headbands to be sent to France, so I was not stuck with the headbands but would be left with over £20 worth of acrylic aran weight yarn.

After considering my options I decided that I had no option but to invoice my customer for the cost of the remaining yarn as I could not afford to swallow the cost of it myself. Luckily my customer agreed to pay for the yarn and now wants me to post it all to him in France. This is going to cost me at least £17 and I need to get this done this week but am trying to decide whether I should get the cost of the postage upfront and before I post the yarn. What do you think???

I have a knitting order to complete for my cousin’s mother-in-law and then some cabled cardigans for a gentleman in America. The order for my cousin’s mother-in-law is a machine knitted lace shawl which shouldn’t take too long to knit and I definitely need to get started on that soon.

The gentleman’s cardigan is totally another matter. I need to find patterns for cabled, crew neck cardigans with a finished size of 48″ chest!!!! So far I have not unearthed any crew neck patterns and don’t feel comfortable trying to convert a jumper into a cardigan as all of the jumper patterns I have seen has a cable down the centre which would be a nightmare to cut in half and would not look the same if I totally omitted it.

If anyone has any ideas on where I can find a pattern then please do email me at knitterscarlet@aol.com or you can contact me through my Etsy store at http://www.knitterscarlet.etsy.com

:wave::wave::wave::wave::wave:

Ill Health (again) and Knitting Orders

Yet again I begin this blog with an apology. I know I said I would blog more regularly but my back has had different ideas. Yes, you guessed it I pushed my back too far and it went again (twice)…I have now learnt my lesson and am taking it really easy as I would definitely like it to be healed by Christmas…

Backs are funny things (not literally)….you don’t give them a second thought until you hurt them and then it is all you can think of. Every move I make hurts and sometimes even breathing hurts…Every couple of days I wake up during the night and am in agony, so have to take my strong painkillers which means that I sleep through most of the next day and nothing gets done….

Take last weekend for instance, most of the weekend I felt okay…had to take the Ibuprofen but not the stronger painkillers…On Monday I had to go out and do some grocery shopping as we were running out of most things and hubby was working, so I got dressed, took some Ibuprofen and went out.

Everything went okay until I pushed my back too far (again). I went to Wilkinsons to get some Christmas shopping then to Morrisons for the grocery shopping. Poundstretchers was next as I was in search of a baby doll to be a model for me (will blog about that next time). I then had to call at Farm Foods to get something for my tea as I had decided to have pizza and don’t really like the ones pre-made in Morrisons.

By the time I had left Morrisons I should have really gone home as my back was hurting, but no, I pushed it further and continued shopping. I then had to call at my parents as I had some photos which I had printed out for my father. He had just got home and had bought a new tumble dryer so I stayed to show him and my mum how to use it. Of course then my mum asked me to show her how to use her laptop (again) and then had to stop at hubby’s work to drop off his food for tea. Whilst there my mum phoned me up as she was having problems with the laptop (again) and I had to call back there to show her how to sort it out.

I had left the house at 3pm and did not get home until 9.30pm…A looooonnnnngggg day……

The rest of the week has meant that I have been resting my back trying to get it to heal. Backs are slow healers.

My Stitch’n’Bitch meeting was this evening so I had to get the four necklaces which had been ordered before my back went five-six weeks ago completed. I had only done one of them and after sitting there trying to get my head round the complex beading patterns decided to give two of the ones I had pre-made and were up on Etsy for sale, this only left one. I had major problems getting my head round the patterns and eventually found a really easy one and made that up over the course of two days, just in time for tonights Stitch’n’Bitch. The good news is, the lady who had ordered them loved them and totally understood the reason it took so long for her to receive them and I got paid.

Why is it when you are ill you get loads of orders all at once and when you are healthy there are none. Just before my back went I was asked to knit 50 headbands, 2 dog sweaters and the 4 beaded necklaces…since then I have also been asked to knit a 48″ cabled cardigan and of course the requests of baby cardigans off of my mother and sister.

I got the two sample headbands knitted and they were approved and now need to knit 25 of them before Christmas….one of the dog sweaters is completed and I have started on the second which is a complex four sets of cables pattern and finished the beaded necklace order…Oh I have also completed one of the baby cardigans for my sister.

All I have to do now is get the cabled dog sweater finished and knit all 25 headbands before Christmas…the rest can wait until the New Year…

I have now got a new Laptop and that took some setting up as I had a million and one programmes to install on it. The first few days was a nightmare with it as for some reason everytime I ran the Windows Update it would mess the laptop up totally, which meant resetting it all back to the Factory Settings. Finally I sorted it out and it is working brilliantly.

Next time I blog I will post some pics of what I have been working on and hopefully will have good news about my health, until then wrap up warm – preferably in something nice and woolly…

Beaded Jewellery

As those of you who have seen my Etsy shop will know, I make and sell beaded jewellery. For those of you who don’t then you can check some of the jewellery I make in my Etsy shop at http://www.knitterscarlet.etsy.com

A month ago, I decided to take some of my jewellery to my “stitch’n’bitch” knitting meeting to try and sell some of it, and I was shocked to not just sell a couple of the necklaces, but to also get commissions.

I duly made the necklaces and here they are for you to see.

Once I had finished these I began a new design, but realised half way through that I did not have the correct beads, so undid some of it and this is what I left as I thought it looked really attractive. This necklace you will be able to find in my Etsy store soon.

The customer’s were so happy with their necklaces that they decided to commission some more and also other ladies were so pleased with them that they have also ordered some.

There are also going to be commissioned shortly as I have been requested to take in my beaded jewellery catalogue next time and also some other designs which I am able to make.

I am really glad that some of my jewellery is selling as it seem like an age since I sold one and was beginning to think I was going to have to give them as Christmas gifts to relatives….

Stitch Markers Part Two

As promised here are the latest Stitch Markers which I have made.

I have had great fun making these and they are really addictive to make once you get started.

Stitch Markers are really useful if you are a knitter especially if you do a lot of intricate knitting and want to keep track on your stitch repeats etc.

Over the next few weeks I am going to be posting more items which will be put up on my Etsy store as well as some excellet Knitting DVD reviews which I have been promising you for months.

Infertility and Knitting Updates

Firstly I will update you on how my ICSI Consultation appointment went on Monday.

I thought we would have seen a proper consultant but yet again it was a nurse we saw.  She was really nice and helpful and we discussed our last ICSI cycle.  She said she was really surprised it had not worked as the embryo we had was a Grade A embryo and was 8 cell which was one step below being a blastocyst.

She recommended that our next ICSI cycle be done using higher dosages of medication as we had a few eggs but some were unripe and some were over-ripe hence why we only got one fertilised into an embryo.  During this discussion I got a bit upset and felt really embarassed about crying, but she was really nice about it and fully understood how I was feeling.

Since we did not have embryos to freeze we have to now go private.  We saw one of ladies who deals with private treatment and she gave us a “quote” for our treatment, are you sitting down???  It comes to nearly £5,000 for one cycle of ICSI treatment.  This does not include travelling expenses, hotel expenses etc.

As I do not feel ready to continue with another cycle just yet (I am physically and mentally drained) we have decided to telephone them on day one of my next cycle to arrange it all.  At that point we will need to pay the £5,000 before the treatment can be started

Onto some good news, I have been asked to machine knit some garments for a company who is going to be part of London Fashion Week in February.  I am really excited about this and can’t wait to get started.  The company I am going to be doing the work for is still waiting for the yarn to be dyed and then it will be forwarded to me. 

I am beginning to panic a bit as the Fashion Week is 16th of February which is only a month away and in this time I have to wait to receive the yarn and then to post the garments back to them, so may as well say there is three weeks.

For now I am still busy making things to put up into my Etsy shop, so please check back often as there will be a lot of new things being added over the next couple of weeks.  You can either click on the link on the top left of this page or go directly to it http://www.knitterscarlet.etsy.com

Stitch Markers

A new path to my beading career is to make beaded stitch markers for knitting.

They have been really fun to make and look absolutely gorgeous and I have really enjoyed making them.

They have a 9mm jump ring so will fit upto a 9mm knitting needle which is larger than I knit with, but I am sure there are plenty of knitters out there who knit with needles that big.

The stitch markers come in a lovely gift box and come in sets of 4 or sets of 5.

You can find more information on them by clicking on the link at the left of this page which will take you directly to my Etsy shop or you can go directly to it via .

This is going to be a short and sweet post as I need to try and get some sleep as I have to be back in Liverpool Women’s Hospital for my IVF Consultation appointment in the morning so will have to be up really early to make the 2-2 1/2 hour drive up there.

I will of course post and let you all know how I get on along with some very exciting knitting news I have.

Knitting, Beading, Crocheting and Tatting

The past week has been spent sorting out books and folders ready to put them back on my new bookshelves. I am an avid reader and my books tend to come in four categories:

Stephen King
Infertility
Dieting
Crafting (knitting, beading, tatting, crocheting etc)

I have a lot of books, magazines and the like so I am still in the process of going through a pile of folders which are still scattered around my bedroom floor :crazy:

Whilst going through some of the folders I came across some pictures of baby garments which I knitted over ten years ago and couldn’t believe some of the intricate patterns I had knitted into the cardigans etc.

I also came across loads of books on beading, crocheting and even tatting. Now beading and crocheting is no problem to me but tatting did beat me. I could get the knots fine but they were not the correct knots and they were not in the correct places :??:

Going through the books pricked my curiosity on how much I would remember if I picked up the beading needles again or even the crochet needles. I have a beaded necklace which I started a few years ago and never completed so maybe I will dig it out and complete it. I also purchased some crochet cotton a fair few years ago to crochet a circular tablecloth, perhaps I will dig that out and have a go!!! B)

You might be wondering why I am up so late, the reason is that yet again I have an upset stomach and am feeling really lousy. The flu which had me bedridden most of last week is still lurking and again is making me feel equally lousy. I am waiting for my “Nytol” to kick in along with the “Imodium” and the “Metoclopramide”, yes I know I sound like a chemist but believe me these things are what makes my life that little bit more bearable. :**:

I have been working on hubby’s jumper the past few weeks as I want to finish it for his Birthday in April. I have completed the back and am now upto the neck opening on the front. It is made out of “Sirdar Denim Sport Aran” in “Shade 502” which is a denim type shade. The pattern is from January 2008 Knit Today Issue and is entitled “Denim Stripe”, it is a 9×1 rib and looks quite good.

If I am feeling upto it tomorrow I will scan in the pics of the baby garments I have found and the pic of the jumper I am knitting.

Until then I am off to sleep :zz:

:wave:

Spring Cleaning

Whilst tidying up the dining room this afternoon I came across a box of beaded necklaces which I had made and had not sold.

For a limited time I am going to be offering for sale here at a reduced price (excluding postage) and then will be advertising them on Ebay.

If you want any further information on them you can either leave a comment or email me.

Below are the necklaces up for sale:

The first necklace is in red and black which stands out beautifully and would be quite a talking point at any party. It is 17″ long and is priced at £19.99

This necklace has some really lovely colours in it and shows all the different colours off lovely and in different ways when the light hits it at different angles. The necklace is 19″ long and is priced at £19.99.

This is one of my favourites, it is a lovely necklace with lovely crystal type beads hanging from it. I have named it Orchid and it is 18″ long and is priced at £9.99.

This one is rather festive/fun. I personally think it is cute and is 17″ long and priced at £6.99.

This is a traditional type netted beaded choker and is a 15″ length and is priced at £14.99.

This necklace and earring set is again quite traditional in the gold colour and the matching earrings set it off lovely. The necklace is 20 1/2″ long and the set is priced at £19.99.

All the necklaces come in a silver gift box with a silver bow on top which makes them a perfect gift for mother’s day or as a gift for yourself.

Go on treat that special woman in your life with a one off beautiful fine beaded necklace!!

Beaded Jewellery

First of all the good news is that my fleece hat turned up safe and sound (darling hubby in a once in a lifetime bout of tidying up kept it away in the bottom hall drawer).

Last night I switched on my main desktop computer for the first time in around 6 months (we have been using our laptops) and thought I would copy over all the pics I had on it and have a look at them, a true trip down memory lane.

Amongst the pics was a folder full of pics of the fine beaded necklaces/earrings/hairclips I had made a couple of years ago (still have most of them safely boxed up).

I thought you might like to see them so am going to post them here for you to see. As I mentioned above I still have a lot of them so if you are interested in them please let me know.

These necklaces were made out of tiny czech (I think they were czech) seed beads and are of the highest quality (no cheap stuff for me) and took an age to make each one.

Am off to see some relatives up Stafford way tomorrow with my father so will be off to bed early tonight so I am up bright eyed and bushy tailed.

Hope you enjoyed them :wave: