The last couple of months I've been busy designing and creating my new line of "fiber fantasy necklaces and earrings".
I thought it might be fun to show how the above pair of earrings started out and ended up as shown in the photo above.
In the photo below you will see the "makings" for one earring. I have knit the section of ribbon yarn that I will use for this earring. It consists of 5 stitches using a size 5 needle, and is a straight knit stitch. It is 5 stitches x 6 rows in size.
As you can see in the above photo, the other materials I used for 1 earring is a gold plated filigree bead cap, gold plated earwire, and a gold plated eye pin, to which I've already added a tiny gold plated leaf bead
This photo shows that I have folded the tiny handknit section of ribbon yarn in half and have started to sewn in closed along the one side. I use a very tiny needle and clear 4# test fishing line.
The handknit ribbon yarn section is now sewed down the one side. I thought it looked rather like a colorful little catapillar!
The next step is adding whatever bead or embellishment I've decided to use before adding the handknit section of the earring. In this case, I've used an 8mm Swarovski crystal. Now is when things start to get a little tricky.
Once the head pin is slipped through the center of the handknit piece, I start sculpting it into a bead, again using the clear 4# test fishing line and a very tiny needle. It is rather difficult to hold the head pin in place and stitch the knit piece, and this is what takes the most time when creating these knit beads.
I keep stitching, in and out, and around about, until I feel I have the knit piece in a shape to which I can now add the top bead cap, so that I can also add whatever other crystals to the top and create the loop for the earwire. Once this is done, I can finish sculpting the bead without it slipping around too much.
You can see in the photo above how uneven the knit bead still is? It still needs a lot of stitching and shaping. This pair of earrings took me almost 2.5 hours to create. Some go a bit faster, but basically they average about 2 hours. It is also rather difficult to find bead caps that work with the handknit beads that I create. I spend a lot of time searching for just the right cap that will work. I've found that there isn't a lot of variety in bead caps for my purpose. If anyone knows of a good source for unique caps, I'd love to know about them. I buy on Etsy and also through several bead catalogs.
I've found creating these one-of-a-kind fiber knit earrings a challenge, but also great fun! I love all the different yarns and colors! Below is a photo of the finished earrings along with a matching handknit flower necklace.
