Hello, I'm a Beadaholic and my name is ...

As a very young child I always loved when my mother decided to clean out her jewelry box as she would pass the treasures she no longer wanted to me.  Usually this meant pierced earrings with various beaded assortments relevant to the then fashion trends.  Being one of the few kids on the block without pierced ears, this would mean that my Barbie dolls would inherit them.  I'm not sure what happened to all those treasures mom gave to me, but I do recall all the many hours I spent adorning my dolls with them -- not just their ears, but in hanging them off various garments too.

Through the years, that fascination with bling-y bead stuff never left me.   In all seriousness, I can understand why Manhattan sold for $24 worth of beads; I think I would have sold it for the beads too.  Today, I still collect Barbies, and  I still love playing with beads -- just not together (Barbie has enough stuff thankyouverymuch!).  Now I pass on the tradition of cleaning out my own jewelry box, handing down various items I no longer want to my own kids: Mini~Dee and Dee Jr. 

Sometimes items from my jewelry box never make it to their eager hands -- did I mention that I like to crochet with beads and sequins?  I do!  I will get my pliers out and enjoy a little cannibalism.  LOL  (Apparently I'm not alone in thinking various jewelry components will look great on my crochet!)  I think adding beads and sequins to crochet projects adds a little zip; a little glamour to the intended project.  Of course, from time to time I will cut corners and buy pre-beaded, or pre-sequined yarn, such as Deborah Norville's Fashion Jeweltones to save a little time ...

Recently I started to make my own beaded stitch markers, such as the ones above.  In fact, I brought two sets of my stitch markers to show at one of my Chapter meetings recently and the members all "ohhhh'd" and "awwww'd" over them. This month is Part I of our Chapter's 10th Anniversary, and next month is our Part II of the Celebration; I decided to make three sets of stitch markers:

Our CGOA Chapter is represented by 3 colors: Purple, Silver and Gold.  Purple for our passion for crochet, Silver for making new friends, and Gold for keeping the old.  I wanted to avoid creating "cliques" with the stitch markers  and encourage them to mingle, so I mixed the three sets up.  (photo credit: the hook in both pictures is a Graydog crochet hook.)  Each set is on a ring so they can be worn while working on a project (preventing the sofa from gobbling them up!)  Come this time next month, three lucky HHCC members will each win a set (hook not included).

What about you?  Do you look at your jewelry with cannibal eyes?  Does your bead stash demand nearly as much shelf space as your yarn?  If so, you're a beadaholic too!  :)