Viking Knit set with green pearls

Here are the Viking knit pieces that won me First in Jewelry at the Amish Acres Arts and Crafts Fair, as I posted earlier. The necklace came first, and I originally intended to have all the smaller, darker green pearls to the outside and the larger, lighter green pearls together in the center of the piece, a graduation in size as I usually do with white pearls. Before I began weaving, however, the pearl strands sat around on my work table and while absentmindedly playing with them I saw the alternating size/color option and decided I might like that better. And I sure do like it better!

The bracelet also represents the first bracelet of this type. I have never liked bracelets made using the Viking weave, mostly because the weave naturally wants to stick out straight at the ends, making it extremely difficult to operate any kind of latch or hook. This open weave is a bit more forgiving, and the large "signature" hooks that I make allow one person (me, as the resident product tester) to hook the bracelet with one hand. It is definitely a bit trickier than my other bracelets, but still doable. These look nice on the arm and -Bonus!- the hook looks cool too so it doesn't really matter which side is showing.