French Knitting...Jane's way

My silversmithing class restarts tomorrow and with all my Christmas posts last year I did not have time to show you the last 2 projects I completed in the autumn term. One is a rather interesting chain made from square wire which I will save for another time but the other is my French "knitting".
Before I show you this I must just update you with my little daffodils on my kitchen side as yesterday I came down to see this...

My heart really does skip a beat to see my first daffodil. As you all know they are my favourite flowers and to me they signify the coming springtime. There are more flower heads coming up and I will photograph and show you as they appear.
So, back to the French knitting.

I bought 2 French Knitters, one is the bee and the other is the Wonder knitter made by Clover. I soon decided that the bee knitter produced a chain that was too fine so I decided to use the Wonder knitter and experiment. I first used some copper wire. After some practice I used silver plated wire and also added small beads.

The chains produced by this larger French knitter are gorgeous. The are almost web like in appearance. I made several and of course my darling daughter snapped one up and wore it a lot over Christmas. They look really spider like and perfect with "Little Black Dresses". In the summer I plan to make some with lighter coloured beads.
For my own Christmas parties I made 2 different length chains and attached them together to form a double strand necklace.
It is so hard to photograph but I have tried..

You can just see here that I have joined the two strands. These are tiny black Czech glass beads I have added. You thread all the beads onto the wire before you start "knitting" and then bring them in every 4-6 "stitches". I love the way they look suspended within the wire.

And here is my pot of daffs used as a handy prop. The chains are not suited to bracelets as they would get too crushed but as a necklace they are quite a talking point.

My challenge card today is a cheerful birthday card using a Penny Black Betsy Bluebell image. It is for sale here in my Etsy shop I still have my winter sale on, just enter the code WINTER2012 to receive a massive 25% off (not applicable to shipping costs).

I coloured her with my Promarkers and highlighted using Prismacolor pencils. The backing papers are some sparkly First Edition papers and also a download from yonks ago. My birthday sentiment is LOTV and I used some gorgeous blue satin edged organza ribbon.











I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Stamping for the weekend anything goes
Crafty Catz Anything goes # 164
Cute Cards Thursday  Something new #250 my new is my ribbon.
Pan Pastels anything goes #1
Totally Gorjuss anything goes with ribbon
Penny Black Saturday Blues
Stamping sensations friendship
Penny Black and More Love is in the air
Bearly Mine something old something new #67 My old are the backing papers, my new is the ribbon
Simon Says Stamp new something my new is my ribbon.
Ooh la la Happy Birthday #121
Make it Monday Linky Party #122
A and T Emerald Faeries Celebration #39
Forever Friends Monthly challenge Birthdays

We are still in dire need of some sunshine here in the UK, despite the forecast at the weekend for some sunshine it certainly didn't happen in the south. At least it remains mild for the time of the year. Our dancing class returns tonight and I think it is the turn of the rumba for our next 3 weeks. I do love this "dance of love" ;0)

Have a good week,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x