May I present, Iggy, the i-cord reptile, sunning himself on my front steps:



He's got little Indian brass bells for his rattle...and his tongue is huge, which is probably why his mouth is so wide open (that's what I get for using random scraps of yarn, even when I know they're not the right weight)...oh, and the yarn is 100% acrylic Bernat in the camouflage colorway.

For bracelets worn on the upper arm? I don't think armband is right - those are usually cloth...

I've been obsessed with wiggle eyes lately, and I blame it on fellow craftster member, Bigmouth!

Anyway here are two pair of earrings I finished this morning:



The pair on the left is my salute to flying red eye flights. The pair on the lleft has clear seed beads on the jump rings, although it's hard to tell from the camera phone photography.

Just like to hear your gut reaction:

Hand painted worsted weight wool, about 200 yards.

Let's pretend you're at a craft fair, & you love the colorway...

What would you pay?

I really want to make my own french hooks, and from info I've been looking at it looks like 20 gauge wire is an appropriate thickness - wondering who all here has done this sort of thing; what you like/don't like about it, etc.

I threaded memory wire thru some icord and got these bracelets:



This might be my current favorite use for scrap sock yarn!

I got a great deal on a pretty long strand of skull beads and had a bunch of fun making these:



They haven't yet decided what they want to be (keyrings, necklaces, etc.) so for the time being they're just hanging out in my glass cupboard...I also can't quite decide what to call them (I mean as a group - I'm such a dork they all already have individual names)....Day of the Dead Buddies? Skeleton Pals? Baby's First Nightmare?

Suggestions?

Okay, I've been trying various ways to incorporate knitting into jewelry, and this is my favorite attempt so far: 



It's knitted icord, with memory wire threaded through it. I added beads and end caps for a more finished look.

What do you think?

Swap-O-Rama Rama and Trashion Show

Just saw this posted on the Scrap Exchange website:

http://www.scrapexchange.org/calendar.php

Who's up for a swappin' good trashion time? I'll organize a pre-meeting/food meet up ...let me know if you're interested!

Okay, I'm trying to come up with ways to make a weighted stand for a beach-type umbrella that won't cost as much as buying them. I've got easy access to decently made, modestly priced umbrellas - but they're all designed to stab into the ground. I want to use mine on the back deck - wooden planks, basically. I thought about filling a coffee can with gravel and sticking the umbrella in that, but the base really needs to be wider (for stability) and the coffee can would only provide a couple of inches to sink the stick into, so I'm pretty sure the umbrella could be blown out of that anyway.

So, ideas?