it is done. / by Katherine Hajer

Some things you start, you work on them, and then they're done. Short stories often work that way for me. Small knitted items do too, as well as some double-strand necklace patterns.

The above beaded collar was my first foray into beaded netting, and it did not go quickly. It's been on the thread since before I got my first beading board, so it's been over a year and a half. Although it's a three-colour pattern (hard to see in the photo, sorry, but this was the pick of a bad lot), the netting itself wasn't difficult. The hard part was wrangling the thread. It seemed like the stuff was always either tangling on itself or breaking on the blue beads. I guess they have sharp edges, but it did get frustrating.

Now that it's finally done, the collar is a little shorter than my usual (although it does measure the regular length on a beading board). It's meant to be almost choker-style, so that's all right. It definitely fits comfortably.

The pattern was a freebie from Interweave if you're interested, from (who else?) Rypan Designs. I used the same colours as the necklace in the pattern, but used one size smaller beads.