The World on a String

Playoff hockey is over two months long. This two months of sitting in front of the television is not very productive. My parents gave me some furniture from my sister's old bedroom and in the drawers of the vanity was a loom. I decided I would learn how to do beadwork to keep my hands occupied and constructive. Here's what I accomplished:

I found a whole bunch of free patterns at this site.

This is the first one I tackled and it was the hardest one I did. It was for Laura's birthday so it was worth the headaches it gave me.

Here is the pattern. You can see the rows being checked off:



This is a close-up in progress:

I sewed felt onto the back:

The finished product took me over a week (hours and hours):

My second attempt:


I was thinking of the Vancouver Canucks with this one. The purple border may have jinxed them:


I wanted to try a more traditional pattern (top) and I'm not too pleased with how the bottom one came out - you can barely see the shape it makes and it reminds me of blood - Being somewhat squeamish, that is not a good thing. (If you want it leave a comment and I'll send it to you):

Another pattern from the free site:

I made this pattern for my guitar strap. Porter is the band I'm in. We're an alt-country/70's country cross so I was going for the Old West style font. It was too long for the little loom I had and too wide for the little needle I was using so it's in two parts and is a bit wonky. A tough one to make, for sure:


You don't have to be a pro to see the mistakes I made but I'm happy with most of the final products. YouTube was helpful with a few "How To" videos. It was fun. Give it a shot.

Hyperinflation Warning for U.S.

Here's an interesting article.