So today was an unusually productive day, for the first time my Little One had a full 6 hours of nursery, which for me was a full 6 hours of fulfilling orders and starting to create some new designs.
In 2 hours I managed to print off some new product labels and business cards, and complete all the orders I had received over the weekend (a fete in itself before today.)
Not long after I was finished and was debating whether or not I should do a little housework, a new batch of charms were delivered by my wonderful postman (he knows how to keep me happy.) Amongst these new charms where a set of squirrel and acorn charms.
They are adorable!! Instantly I knew that housework could wait, its not often I get so much time to myself, why should I waste it cleaning.
First things first, what colour and style of beads would compliment these new charms? After looking through my bead collection I knew a neutral caramel colour would work perfectly, and so began my fun filled afternoon.
These are now ready to buy here.
Or of course you can follow the steps below to create your own row counter.
The supplies used to make these beautiful counters were:
12 x Gold plated eye pins 35mm
10 x gold plated snagless loops
20 x 4mm glass pearl beads
4 x 6mm glass pearl beads in matching colours
Numbered beads 0-9
2 x Diamante spacer beads
1 x 12mm lobster clasps
For the tools all you need are:
Wire cutters
Round nose pliers
jewellery pliers
And lets not forget the 2 charms which are the star of this little project!
To begin making this row counter the first step is to start loading the eye pins, firstly a 4mm bead is threaded on the pin, add a numbered bead and then lastly another 4mm bead.
Once all the beads are placed how you want them use your finger to push the straight end of the pin down so its on a 90° angle. Then use the round nose pliers to grip the eye pin (hold the pin as close to the pliers as you can get), next using your finger bring the wire around the pliers in the opposite direction (the wire should wrap almost around the pliers).
Remove the pliers from the wire and using the wire cutters trim the wire (when trimming please take note of how big you would like the loop to be, try not to cut too short or your loop will be too small to work with.
Again use the round nose pliers and grip the cut end, slowly and carefully twist the wires to close into a loop. Repeat this step until all the numbered beads have been used.
Next complete these same steps using two 6mm beads and one diamante spacer bead. Make two of these, these will be used to attach the charms to the row counter.
Now your ready to assemble!!!
The only tools you need for this part is the jewellery pliers. Its very important to open the eye pin loops correctly to ensure the wire isn't weakened.
The best way to do this is to hold the beads so you can see through the loop of the pin, then carefully using the pliers, pull the wire towards you.
There is no need to open the loops too far, you just need enough space to slip the loops on to the pin. Once you have placed the loops on to the pin carefully using the pliers close the loop by pushing the pin back in the other direction.
To start putting the chain together attach a loop to either side of the pin numbered 1, on one of the loops then attach the beads numbered 2 and on the other side of this another loop. Continue with each numbered bead until 1-9 is attached (its very important during this stage to ensure the beads are all the same way round, the eye pins will weaken the more they are opened and close so try to ensure its done correctly the first time.)
Next place your final loop on the other side of the number 9 bead and attach the beads numbered 0. You should now have all 10 loops and all 10 numbered beads on your chain.
On the other side of the beads numbered 0 we are now going to attach one of the 6mm beads sets we made earlier, on the other side of this we will add the squirrel charm.
Your chain is complete!!!
However we now need to make the progress keep which will be used to track every tenth row on your chain.
To do this take your final 6mm bead and diamante set and using the steps above open up the eye pin on one end, attach the lobster clasp to this end and close. Lastly we just need to open the pin on the other end, attach the acorn charm and close.
That's it!! All that's left to do now is start a new knitting project and start using your chain marker!!
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