Rainforest Vest

This is a Jane Thornley project that i did called by me" hugged by a rainforest"

,i bought lots of balls of brown,greys,green and black and just changed stitches with each colour change.
Its still not quite freeform and i am very neat and orderly with my work,not my house though haha,and it is so warm and soft,it looks better on him than me.

The original pattern.

close up

DRAGONSCALE GAUNTLETS

Made these a few days ago with some help from a you tube video and Knitting Paradise forum women,done in crochet,crocodile stitch which is very effective and clever,and comes out very thick and warm.
It took me a couple of goes to "get it" but when i did it was easy and fun tv cochet.
I bought the pattern from ravelry.

SCHARF

I bought the pattern for this from Etsy,its a small shawl/scarf and was easy to do.Th yarn was from a lot i bought from MADELINE TOSH, merino light,in colour Jade.
I saw a Stephen West scarf named Creekbed,free ravelry pattern and loved the colours so much,not my usual range at all,and included jade in my order,so glad i did.
The little beauty is soft and light,warm as toast and very easy to make.
I used my cicada brooch as a shawl pin and it goes very well!

GAIA SHAWL

Free pattern from ravelry the gaia shawl was designed for Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn,with you deciding when to change to the lacey row as the colour changes come through.I find Kureyon rather rough,even silk garden feels rough to me.Pics are unblocked 1 ball,and blocked 2 ball size.

The pattern calls for either 1 ball as a shawlette,2 balls makes a generous size shawl,i enjoyed making this so much,real TV knitting,and also found the yarn in australia so didnt have to wait weeks for it to arrive.
The oz shop i used was Yay for Yarn,and both times the ball arrived quickly and easily,price wise seemed about the same as in the USA.

STASH

Helpful to have when knitting is a good stash of yarn,which i didnt have,after reading Jane Thornleys site i found myself buying orphan balls,single balls of silk/mohair,bags of yarns from Spotlight,Lincraft,bargains from Ebay,specialist spinner and dyers from Etsy,and anything i could afford and get posted to oz!!!

KNITTING PARADISE

One of the smartest things i did this year was to join the forum Knitting paradise,never have i met so many clever,witty,intelligent ,crafty women,ready to help with patterns,yarns,illness,kids,and life in general with all it throws up.(Apart from my dear friends on BeadDreamz!)
The owners of the forum have very cleverly designed it so you can off topic chat to youre hearts content as well as put up pics,patterns and rescources.
If you are going to knit and crochet do youreself a favour,sign on,introduce youreself and youre away,they are the best!
Pics of fingerless mitts,one for me,one for pinkcyberfaery my friend.

CLEOPATRA

This is my granddaughter Cleopatra,i made her this dress,pattern Tropical Lilly from Ravelry and i made her this pink hat,she is the light of my life and i am going to make her a lovely star blanket next.For xmas last year i made her a swarovski star in pink crystals and she shyly sang "twinkle twinkle "to me!

WELCOME

Hi this is the blog of the barefootbeader at Crystal forest,this is some of the stuff i made in winter,when the lure of all the new yarns and bright colours got me back into knitting and crochet,in a big way.
Buying more yarn than i can ever use, in colours from tropical fish to Kaffe fasset designed autumn colours,kettle dyed in chile peruvian wool,patterns free and paid for,and being bewitched by Jane Thornley and her style of freeform knitting.
The first thing i made was a pair of gauntlets,often called fingerless mitts,i am hopeless with DPNS,set of 4 needles to knit in the round so i crocheted mine,and added beads to make them more special.
I used Cleckheaton 4ply bamboo,bamboo is so soft,i just added and subtracted chains so they fit my arm,so there is no pattern,and i wove some shirring elastic in the upper arms to keep them from sliding down.
I enjoyed this so much,and they are so soft and warm and a little gothic,just my style.