The highest form of flattery

I signed up to Pinterest quite a while ago and never really did anything until a few weeks ago when I thought ‘I’ll have a go at a wee bit of pinning and create a board’. Feeling in a colourful mood I put together a board that would inspire me  in terms of colour and texture, things that would lift my heart and make me smile. One of the images I pinned is one of the most truly beautiful objects I’ve ever seen. You’ll probably know that I have a bit of a thing for beads anyway,but what could possibly be better than a bead in a great colour? A beaded bead in 2 colours!

Brick Stitch Geometric Beaded Beads byjeanpower.com

I have absolute no idea how you would even start to make something so perfectly stunning but coming across it made my day so I added it to my board. As it turns out I wasn’t the only person to be inspired by it as I got a lovely tweet from Helen who runs Ripples Crafts telling me that my Pinterest board, and in particular this image, had inspired her to create a new colourway for her Silk /Merino 4ply yarn. The result is…..

Ripplescrafts Silk/Merino 4ply sh name - Jeanette!

Thank you Helen for paying me such a HUGE compliment and naming the shade after me. The yarn is available from www.ripplescrafts.com and should you want to create your own beaded bead ( and who wouldn’t?) you can buy the instructions as a download from www.jeanpower.com

Pyjama Case, Knitting issue 87, March 2011

All’s been a bit quiet on the blog front for what seems like quite a while now. That’s because I’ve been busy with the final amendments to the book , ( more on that next week )  more work for the lovely folk at ‘Knitting’ magazine as well as making some changes to the website. I’m hoping that all that will be ready to upload next week but I’m also in the midst of packing to move house – again.

My latest published design is in the March issue ( no 87 ) of ‘Knitting’. It’s a pretty pyjama case knitted in Knitshop‘s gorgeous Mulberry Silk / Merino Wool. This DK weight yarn is a 50/50 blend and has a very soft twist which actually makes it more like roving in terms of it’s construction and the silk content gives each of the colours has a wonderfully lustrous quality. The case combines a beaded rib structure dotted with tiny ‘nupps’ and a central panel of twist stitches and eyelets.I’ve used 2 different colours of beads ( from  my lovely friends at The Little Bead Shop ) which echo the colour of the yarn.

The case is just the right size for storing your favourite pair of PJs or even your prettiest nightie and the front opening is finished off with 4 small knitted buttons.

Every boudoir should have one!

On The Pins

I’ve normallygot SO many ideas running through my addled brain that sometimes it means nothing actually gets done – not this week though. I’m trying to be super productive having had a large on/ off / on / off  project finally confirmed as OFF last week which meant I didn’t really achieve anything. So this week I’m working with lots of lovely twinkly beads for a wee project to be launched next month, enough hints, here’s a pic and I’m off . . .

Bling on the pins this week