The Bead Spot

I have to give my 5-year-old some credit on this. I could tell before I even started on the pumpkin that the pony beads would make it too big for a child her age to wear as a bracelet, so I thought of making it a necklace instead. However, once I got the first row complete, I thought it would be too big for a necklace too. But I moved forward anyway and figured I'd decide what it would be when I was completely done with it. It was my daughter who said she wanted it to be a necklace anyway, no matter how big it wound up being. So I told her I would put a string in it so she could wear it as a necklace. I was going to make the chain in all black beads, but she suggested three black then three orange. The end result, I think, looks pretty good. And it really doesn't look as huge as I thought it was going to, so hats off to my little girl for creative savvy. I plan to make more, but I need to buy more beads first. The package of glow-in-the-darks I bought ...

For the first time in a long while, I fired up my Beader's Canvas software to map out a pumpkin in peyote stitch.* In no time flat, I had the basic pattern, and then I printed it off. This is how it turned out. That is a regular-size, 8.5x11-inch sheet of paper, and that printout -- see my tiny little jack-o-lantern in the upper-right corner -- doesn't help much. My husband and I had a laugh over that, and then I remembered that to get it the size I want, I have to save it as a JPEG then print that file out. Hopefully I remember that next time, because I can't afford to have to print everything twice. *I decided to use brick stitch when I started the project .

Glow-in-the-dark pony beads* I've had my eye on glow in the dark beads for more than a year. After getting an Amazon gift card for my birthday in July, I finally got them. Yay! That's the good news. The bad news is that they're bigger than I expected. I knew what size they were -- pony -- when I bought them, but because I work mostly with size 10 and 11 beads, I didn't realize just how big pony beads are by comparison, which is too big to create the patterns I had in mind for a bracelet for a child my daughter's age. So, rather than make bracelets, I think I'll use the patterns for necklace charms and wall decor. Hopefully little girls will still like them. *I tried to have a little fun with my new glow-in-the-dark beads by getting photos of them, but alas, my smartphone camera is not good enough to truly capture them aglow.