The Story Behind... Peacock Pearl Necklace

Here is the story behind a very special piece - the Peacock Pearl Necklace.

Last week we had a mini summer - temperatures nearing 80, no humidity, brilliant sunshine - perfect weather for being OUT. So the kids and I went to the zoo, the park, and played outside as much as we could. On one of our zoo expeditions, my littlest became fascinated with the peacocks. They are allowed to roam freely at our zoo, and frequently hang out around the pavilion area looking for crumbs, standing around, and being gorgeous. Sometimes a male will make his tail stand up, but that doesn't happen too often.


During our lunchtime she kept running off to where several peahens were pecking and wandering around. She was almost dancing when the male of the group showed up. (gander? gathering? flock? What are a group of peacocks called, anyway?) Even with his tail down, he was still shimmering with all kids of color, making the poor peahens seem positively drab by comparison.


Cameras started going off and a crowd gathered when the male made his tail feathers fan out. He stayed that way for several minutes, probably agitated by the crowd, the cameras, and the babies who reached out and touched one of his feathers. (My daughter was guilty of that one) Check him out protecting his group! (Herd?)

Peacock at the Pittsburgh Zoo

Look at those colors! I'm in love with jewel tones, particularly the rich teal color of Mr. Peacock's neck. Then there is emerald green, more blue, even hints of purple and gold in the feathers. I went home that day and couldn't get this guy out of my head, and then I remembered my small collection of peacock pearls. (deep teal dyed pearls, with hints of purple and green)  I didn't have very many, and I loved them, so I knew that whatever I did with them needed to be extra special.

Peacock Pearl Necklace

 Peacock inspiration and peacock pearls. What a perfect match! I decided to make a short necklace, just over 20" long, with a look influenced by the short pearl strands seen on  Mad Men. Mad Men is a TV show about an ad agency and set in the 60's. This is one of my favorite shows and I'm very grateful to NetFlix for suggesting it. Seeing Betty look elegant and put together with her impeccably tailored clothes and pearls, even while relaxing at home, has spurred me to put more effort into my appearance and ditch the sweats a little more often. (I'm a SAHM with two toddlers. It gets messy around here!)

One of my friends has called this piece "The Floating Necklace" since it rests so delicately around my neck, and it truly feels like it's floating. In fact, it's so light that you can barely feel it at all.

Well, there you have it: The story behind The Peacock Pearl Mad Men Floating Necklace. Now that's a  mouthful!

birth of a necklace

Here is the birth of my new bauble, in pictures. *Warning: LOTS of pics!*

First, the centerpiece in progress... over 100 silvery bugle beads strung on black wire and knitted:

Here's the finished piece:

Next, I used a ribbon yarn in shades of blue and knitted a thing cord approximately 42" long, then doubled it, threaded a silver toggle clasp onto it, and connected the ends.

Finally, I threaded the centerpiece onto the doubled cord. It's easily removable, so you can wear it with or without the centerpiece.

Finally, here's a modeled pic:

The knitted cord has various shades of blue, ranging from deep indigo to pale silver, which sets off the silver beads nicely. I'm envisioning this in other colors as well, perhaps silver or gold wire, earth toned and neutral beads, and perhaps a luxury fiber for the actual necklace. Silk or cashmere, maybe? I'm putting this up for sale on my Facebook site. Get it here

Lariats... not just for cowboys

I've been thinking about how to make one of these for awhile and I finally got around to it last night. This lariat necklace is so feather light I forget I'm wearing it. It's knit out of nubby cotton, so there's lots of great texture. Right now I'm wearing it with an otherwise boring shirt. I think it would also look great with a tee, tank, or a light summer dress. This one was done in cream cotton, and I think I'll do some in spring green and taupe. Gentle, earthy colors.

In other news, I finished my crooked eyelet scarf. I need to block it a bit, but it's super snuggly and it matches my coats and hats.


If you're interested in purchasing something, check out my Facebook page ------->
If you're looking for a pattern, they are available under the tabs at the top of the page. I'm working on setting up a virtual shopping cart, so eventually everything will be available right here.

There is SO much that goes into an online business, more than I anticipated, but it's a lot of fun and I'm enjoying the challenges involved with trying something new.

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