I made a cool thing today. It’s a necklace that is used for keeping track of both REPEATS (the dark beads) and ROWS (the light beads). The beads and “barrels” are wood, so the entire thing is like a feather around my neck. The barrels are only there to emphasize the 5-bead sections. The more elaborate “centerpiece” focal bead is also wood…and it serves no purpose other than marking the left and right of the necklace.
[B]ABOVE: [/B] the [B]“counting beads”[/B] are the beads that you see [U]on the red part
of my t-shirt[/U]. The smaller upper beads (that lay on my skin in this photo) serve
no purpose other than only to cover the beading wire. I didn’t want the beading
wire next to my skin. I made the necklace long enough so that the "counting beads"
are visible to me when I glance down.
[B]ABOVE:[/B] the “counting beads” are placed in 5-bead sections for easy counting. There is 1-oval bead section (5 blonds & 5 mahogany) on each side of the “centerpiece bead”…and 3-sections of round beads (15 blonds/15mahogany) on each side.
[B]ABOVE: [/B]See the round rubber ring? There is one ring in on each side.
In the blond section, it used to “mark off” what row I’m on.
By looking at this picture, I would be working on Row 6. (the barrels don’t count)
(5 ovals and 1 round are marked off)
[B]ABOVE:[/B] This black rubber ring would be telling me that I’m on REPEAT 6.
When I’m done with REPEAT 6…I will roll this black rubber ring over the next(7th) mahogany bead.
The [B]black rubber rings[/B] are purchased in the plumbing section of your hardware store. They come in several sizes. [B]Chose the size[/B] that allows you to [U]easily roll the rubber ring[/U] over the bead…but not so loose that it will flop over a bead when it’s not supposed to!
A girl at our Knitting Guild made some [U]bracelets[/U] with a similar use.
[B]Her bracelets only keep track of ROWS. [/B]
The basis of her bracelet is [U]like an abacus[/U]. You count Rows on the blue beads from 1-9…and when you have reached the end of the line…you move the rubber ring over 1 on the red beads. The red beads keep track of 10’s. And of course, you start over with the blue beads.
I personally don’t need to keep track of [U]Rows Only[/U] as much as keeping track of[B] Repeats and Rows[/B]. But if I did, my wood necklace could be used.
Anyway, I might make a bracelet, too…but I have an immediate need for the necklace. Those Katcha Katcha counters are always falling down…and drive me nuts. I have been using one Katcha Katcha to keep track of the Repeats…and another Katcha Katcha to keep track of the Rows. Oy.
I hope you like these ideas! I’m gonna run right out now and work on my Keelin Cardigan…which has Repeats and Rows! Charts A & C are [U]12 row repeats[/U]. Chart B is an 8 row repeat. That’s entirely another conversation…
