Friday, February 24, 2012

Growing Pineapples

It's been a rough week, one of those where you see your time and your sanity circling the drain to disappear forever.  But after sleepless nights spent trying to figure it out and endless days spent explaining and discussing I think my feet are finding marshy ground again....not solid ground, I've learned not to be so trusting and that's it's better to sleep with one eye open.
After two false starts to a personal day I finally managed it yesterday and by the evening I was actually fit to bead.

One of the things that I found relaxed me was drafting a bead lace pattern, this time one of my favorite crochet patterns, Pineapple Lace, and Wednesday night I did just that. The thing about bead lace is you have to draft the pattern first, then try it out, see the issues, make changes to the draft and try it again. Repeat as needed.
This is the first draft I did Wednesday night....I do the beads to scale thinking that will make it work...lol...not necessarily!  But you can see the progression and the possibilities and it all looks pretty enough but the test is if it works and where the heck you do the thread path.


Here you can see the testing process with a couple of scrapped false starts (there were more!)  What looks good on paper will not always work in beads and adjustments and compromises have to be made.


Last night saw me changing the draft with what I had learned (more beads here, less beads there, change the connection completely) but progress was made and I can see this being very pretty when I have it done.  And it has so many possibilities. I love lace :)

I'm hoping to get back to business today and edit the Urchin Wings tutorial that has been sitting on my desk since Tuesday. Fortunately I tested it as I went so once edits are done I can actually list it....hopefully later today.
Then I can feel good about getting back to beading this lace.

Hope everyone has a great weekend :)

11 comments:

  1. I crocheted doilies many years ago using crochet cotton, so I am very familiar with the pineapple lace design. What you are creating with it is just fabulous!
    I noticed that your "go to" beads are black, is this just a personal preference, or is it that it shows more shadow and depth than another colour?

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  2. Thanks....I love lace in all forms and I make it in crochet, knitting and tatting so it makes sense I translate it to beads.
    I lean to the Gothic, my personal style...well, I'm told I'm "Gothic Lite" or "Gothic Grown Up"...though I tend to think it's more "Gothic Granny" these days :) I always have everything I need for a design in black so that's why things tend to show up that way. I do have a more colorful version in mind once I work things out.

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  3. I am totally loving the feel of this design Mikki! Get it worked out cos I think it will be a winner. The single row of scallops/pinapples lend themselves beautifully to a all out gorgeous necklace - GO GIRL!!!

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  4. Love it Mikki! I love lace also. You also tat? I I have been trying to get the knack of it again after many many years and I am finding I get stuck. Put it away for now, but hope one day to get passed the issue.

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  5. Thanks Heather...yep I think it has many variations and as you and I know that makes a pattern successful :)
    I learned to crochet when I was about 8yrs old and immediately started making lace things to wear. My Mom was a knitter and tried to teach me for years but knit1, purl1 was boring as heck to me. I finally learned after seeing a gorgeous pattern for a Gothic lace sweater, bought supplies, went home and asked Mom to show me how to cast on :) She laughed her butt off that I couldn't knit and had a very difficult pattern...I got the last laugh because it turned out perfect :) The tatting comes from my aunt...she taught me some basics and then years later I picked it up again. It's tricky to get the hang of but so worth it.

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  6. You are onto something with endless possibilities here, Mikki. Brava! :D

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  7. Looks like another winner in the works!

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  8. Just beautiful. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

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  9. I love it! You are really onto something with this beaded lace...there are so many directions you can go with this!

    I have a loomed cuff that I have been working on for my sister and I have added fringe and ripped it off 3 times now...then I got your Lace Cufflette tutorial and that was the answer.

    I just adapted your lace edging for this cuff (it has a straight edge as opposed to the curved edge of the herringbone cuff) and it worked beautifully!

    And good for you that you were finally able to get some time to yourself and relax...beading always does that for me. Hopefully you have many many more days of 'Mikki Time' in your near future!

    Looking forward to the new Urchin Wings & more beaded lace tutorials!

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  10. Oooo...Tia, I would love to see! And yes, the lace is a great way to finish a loomed or flatwork cuff. Definitely would make it different from so many out there :) Actually I have thought of doing a whole collection of edgings for loomed and flatwork beading.

    About to go list the Urchin Wings....finally happy with the tutorial :)

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  11. oh MAN! this looks lush in black! i have visions of a gradient of colors radiating out from the center round throughout the netting (does that make sense at all? lol)

    i must ask, what did you use to make your pattern in the first pic there? is that just Illustrator, or something else? i dream of testing out my pattern ideas on something other than pencil and lined paper.

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