The Little Mermaid

Ok, maybe she is not a mermaid, but I would like to call her one. Ok?

A few days back, I saw this post on Copper Diem's blog: "Sweater Ribbon Bracelet Tutorial"

Totally fell in love with it, and wanted to make one too!

Saturday was my monthly craft meet with the girls (we have been meeting once a month for two years now!), and I decided I will use that time to make my ribbon.

I decided to use a deep purple yarn, hoping to add pink and green beads. I had seen two blog hops that I thought I could use it for. One for making something using purple, pink and green (sorry, I am not able to find a link to this one), and the other for the "Wrapped, Stacked and Layered Bracelet Challenge" hosted by Tracy Statler.

I was hoping to shoot three birds at once, but I think I managed...maybe two of my goals since I couldn't figure out a way to add anything green in there.

Here's the ribbon I made using the "Puff Stitch".



Took me three tries to get this made.

First try: I made a rookie mistake of using the same size hook for creating the base chain that I used for rest of the ribbon. And it was twice the length I needed. End result? A nice edging for a scoop neck top!



Second try: Ripped that one out (didn't want it sitting there tempting me to sew a top to go with it!). Made another about 7 inches long. Used a larger hook for the base chain, and it worked out quite nicely.

Why it failed? I added large bead cones to finish off the edges. That and the clasp added 3 inches! Was making this for a human person, not a baby bear, so FAIL!

Third try: I left the second ribbon and made a new one, 5 inches long. Perfect? Nope. I added the bead cones, and the mermaid and things just did not want to sit right, the mermaid kept flopping around. At, least the ribbon was fine!

So then, I removed the bead cones, and added regular ribbon ends. Works? Nope. Now the bracelet is too short! Its for an adult human person, not a baby human person. But I was quite fed up of making ribbons, so I added chain at the end to get the extra length.

And here is the final, PERFECT bracelet :-)

Here's a close-up of the mermaid:

I had originally attached the mermaid chain directly to the bead cone, which was probably why this did not work. But no worries, in the end, I like it flatter like this, and I like the two chains at the ends.

Not sure I can use this for either of the challenges though, one, since it is missing green, and two, I am not sure what I can layer with this.