I am trying to keep all of the jiggly feelings that arise this time of year at a distance. One of the things that can bring them on is preparing for our The Foundry Show. It is always stressful. This year we thought we were set because we had the same booth space as last year. We didn't have to reinvent our booth. No problem. This week as Tracy left the last foundry meeting, one of our fellow artists screamed across the room "Oh, we changed your booth space." Damn it! Back to the drawing board.

I always need a project to do while I watch bad reality TV or a Patriots football game. God forbid I rest and relax. Recently the project has been sewing a lot of Curious Mind and Menopausal Maven pins for the foundry. So to take a break from that, I started needle felting polka dots on beads. I added polkadots to different sizes and colors. Last week I incorporated them in a necklace.

To make the necklace I sewed three pcs of yarn together with a zig zag stitch to string them on. I made enough for three strands. For a wider strand with more texture you need to make sure one of the yarns is bulky.

Give it a try and experiment with different yarns until you get something you like. The rejected ones always get used in another project. I made it long enough so I could just knot the three strands together and still get it over my head and then I didn't have to deal with a closure.

To start building the necklace, I knotted three strands together. I kept adding beads on all three strands at once. Occasionally, I would twist one yarn around the other or string two yarns in one bead. If you give it a try, you need to keep in mind how it will lie around your neck. I gave it a bit of pop by incorporating a strand of black and white "e" beads. To finish it off I just knotted all of the strands together.

Tip: Make your own needle to get the yarns through the beads.  Fold a 12" pc of wire in half, stick it through the bead hole until the wire sticks out of the other end. Put your yarns through the loop and pull them through the bead.

To add another look I embellished the felt beads with seed beads. It makes them look like small lampwork beads.

I used the same technique to make a bracelet only I added a closure.

Voila! ...an ensemble.