A New Beginning, of Sorts

It seems 2014 has suffered the same fate as the mythical October of the previous year.  It just won't exist on this blog.  Somehow, I managed to go the entire year without posting. I thought about it now and then.  I even seriously considered posting several times.  In fact, just before midnight on December 31st, I tried to post something just so that there would be one post for the year... but then my computer had a nervous breakdown in the middle of my attempt, and all was lost.

I suppose it isn't quite the same as the month that I keep mentioning, and then crossing out as a stupid joke, because that month was miserable.  I am not about to claim that all of 2014 was equally miserable... quite the contrary, I had plenty of fun and worthwhile experiences throughout the year. Highs and lows, successes and failures, completed projects and abandoned efforts.  I just... didn't end up posting about any of them.  I think this is largely because I haven't been sure what the purpose of this blog is.  I'm still not sure. And along with all the times I thought about posting, there were times I thought about deleting the whole thing.  I guess until I decide what in blazes I'm doing and what I want to get out of it, I'll just keep posting stuff... because spending a whole year not posting in it certainly didn't help me figure anything out.

Enough dramatic musing! Here's a necklace!  I finished this last month... I think.  I discovered spiral bead crochet quite by accident last year, and after a few false starts just to test the waters, I designed and made a beaded rope to match an opal and brass pendant I had made previously.  I didn't like how the pendant looked on chain or ribbon, and the beaded rope proved to be the perfect solution.

 

You really can't tell, but there is a pattern on it. The antiqued brass colored beads, of which there are actually three different shades, form little curly vines and flowers that are supposed to match the flowers on the pendant.  No, really.  They're there.  It's just that they're rather lost in the random mix of four other colors of beads that are supposed to match the opal.  Yeah... my first original bead crochet design is not entirely successful.  I mean, it turned out really pretty, and it matches the pendant perfectly... but considering the time I spent planning out the pattern and putting all those tiny beads on the thread in exactly the right order... well, we'll just call this one a draw.

 

I've started another one with a not-so-original design (found the pattern online) that has fewer colors, more contrast, and a wider circumference, so we'll see how that one turns out.  Hopefully, the branches and flowers on it will actually be visible!