Objects and Elements – New Blog, New Design Team

Art Jewelers Susan Lenart Kazmer and her business partner Linda Larsen ; owners of Objects and Elements webstore, have been busy the last few months. They’ve been updating the store with all kinds of unique goodies you won’t find anywhere else like Ancient Roman Glass beads, antique African Dougan, unique bezel settings and cast bronze Ammonites .

I’m a big fan of ICE resin and it’s what I use in my jewelry work. You can buy that online at the Objects & Elements store . There is also lots of unique bezels, fibers, resin molds and tools for your art jewelry making needs.

In addition to searching out great jewelrymaking supplies, they have just revealed a new blog and a new Objects and Elements Design Team.

The Objects and Elements blog has just gone live and will soon have lots of content such as jewelry by Susan Lenart Kazmer and Linda Larsen, design team jewelry inspirations, updates on new store items, guest artist features, reader challenges and more. You don’t want to miss out on any of the fun, so be sure to add the RSS feed to your blog links or add to bloglines or Google Reader

I am extremely happy to announce that I am on the Objects and Elements Design team. The other Design Team members are: Jen Cushman, Deryn Mentock, Kristen Robinson, and Jane Salley . In the coming weeks, you’ll be able to see the design teams creations on the new Objects and Elements Blog. The team wil be creating some lovely projects using the amazing supplies from the Objects & Elements store, along with various found objects, beads, wire, etc… to inspire you to create your own unique jewelry.

If you are unfamiliar with Susan and her work, please check out her amazing jewelry work, check out her blog , get her book “Making Connection” or look at her workshop schedule to take a class with her.

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You probably know by now if you’re a regular reader (and if you’re not, welcome!) that I love a knitting pattern that’s a little silly or a little different from the usual. Classic patterns are great, too, but sometimes you just want to make something with a bit of whimsy. And when it’s super functional, too, that’s even better.

That’s the case with the Bananen-Socken pattern from Susanne Shahin. These banana socks are one of those patterns no one seems to be totally sure where it came from, and this free pattern on Ravelry explains how she makes them based on how she learned it.

It’s a sock that’s curved and when not on a foot it looks rather like a banana. There’s no heel, and you can use whatever number of stitches you need to make it fit your foot. If you’ve knit enough socks to know how many stitches you like you can just use that number, or the pattern notes include sizing charts to help. (It needs to be multiples of 2 for the ribbing.)

After working a traditional cuff, the body is made with ribbing on the back and welts (or what the pattern calls horizontal ribbing) on the front, which is what gives it the curved shape. There’s no heel, but there is toe shaping, but for the leg and the foot you just keep working the same pattern as long as you like.

I’m a little skeptical about how these socks will feel with ribbing on the bottom of the foot, but I’m definitely intrigued and will probably give them a try.

The pattern notes are available on Ravelry in English, German, French, Italian and Spanish. If you head to the pattern page you can see a photo of what it looks like on a foot, and it just looks like a normal sock.

Have you ever knit banana socks or do you want to now? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

[Photo: Susanne Shahin]

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