[Nfb-krafters-korner] abacus bracelet

[Blindhands at aol.com]

To find _abacus  bracelet_ 
(http://www.etsy.com/search/handmade?q=abacus+bracelet&view_type=list&ship_to=US&show_panel=true&spelling_accepted=abicus+bra
celet) .  bracelets go to 
Etsy, 
 
and do a search for , 
abacus bracelet 
 
They have over 200 of them listed there.  
 
Here is the person I had gotten mine from originally.  They are made  very 
good and attractive.  I would wear it as a bracelet and leave it on  until I 
was finished with my knitting project.  I recommend them.
 
_http://www.etsy.com/shop/HIDEandSHEEP_ 
(http://www.etsy.com/shop/HIDEandSHEEP) 
 
Joyce  Kane
_www.KraftersKorner.org_ (http://www.krafterskorner.org/) 
Blindhands at AOL.com   

 
In a message dated 8/13/2011 12:49:55 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
amcarr1 at verizon.net writes:

You can  find abacus bracelets through various websites.  I had gotten  mine
through Joyce who had them as a fundraiser or something like  that.  Someone
else had recently posted that either they or someone  they know makes them.

They are pretty simple, so if you know anyone who  does beading, they could
make one pretty easily.  You would  need:   

- a length of wire or cord that would be the length  of twice your wrist 
plus
a few more inches.  
- 2 sets of 10 beads  that differ by size, texture or shape.  
- 2 additional beads that are  different from each other as well as 
different
than those in the 2 sets of  10.  
- 1 bracelet closure.
- a small piece of elastic cord.
-  Some small beads to be used on the elastic cord.  


I do not  know anything about beading, so from here I will describe the
bracelet so  that someone who knows about beading can figure out what to do.

You  will have 2 strands of wire going around your wrist.  One will hold  
one
set of 10 beads and the other will hold the other set of 10  beads.  These
wires need to fit around your wrist loosely.  The  sets of 10 beads need to
be able to slide freely from one end of the wire  to the other end.  Leaving
approximately 1 to 1.5 inches of wire not  covered by these beads should
allow enough room to slide the beads from end  to end for counting.  

The 2 remaining beads that are different  from each other and different than
the 2 sets of 10 will be placed at  either end of the bracelet holding the 2
wires with the 2 sets of 10  beads.  These beads will be used to help you
identify the opposite  ends of the bracelet.  Some bracelets use some type 
of
charm or  dangling item at one end of the bracelet instead of the  different
beads.

The small beads will be placed on the elastic cord  to form a ring around 
the
2 wires with the sets of 10 beads.  This  ring will be used to pass each of
the beads in the 2 sets of 10 through for  counting.

To use this type of abacus bracelet, you will identify one  set of 10 beads
to represent the ones digits and the other to represent the  10's digits.
Slide a 1's bead through the ring to represent the row that  you are working
on or the row that you just finished.  Once you have  moved all 10 ones 
beads
through the ring. Move one 10's bead through the  ring and slide all 10 ones
beads back to the other side of the ring to  prepare for row 11.  Now
continue moving the ones beads to indicate  row 11, 12, 13, etc.  So one 
10's
bead plus 1 ones bead equals 11  rows, plus 2 ones beads equals 12, and so
on.  Once you have completed  rows 11-20, you will slide another 10's bead
through the ring and all of  the ones beads back to the other side of the
ring.  Now your beads  indicate row 20 by having only 2 10's beads on the 
one
side of the  ring.  

You can also use the bracelet to keep track of rows in a  pattern and the
number of repeats along each row.  One set of 10 beads  represents the rows
and the other represents the repeats along a  row.

Let me know if you have any  questions.

Annette




-----Original  Message-----
From:  nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org]  On Behalf Of vlondon
Sent: Friday, August 12, 2011 6:26 PM
To: List for  blind crafters and artists
Subject: [Nfb-krafters-korner] abacus  bracelet

Hi Annette,

Where would one find an abacus  bracelet?

Vickie
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