Weddingbee Blog

Earlier this week I noticed my e-ring seemed to be snagging my clothes and such, so I checked out its prongs. I used to work in a jewelry store so I know what to look for: a slight gap between your stone and one of the prongs, or a prong that seems to be slightly crooked or angled. Sometimes it helps to silhouette your ring against a bright light in order to see the gap.

Sure enough, one of my prongs is slightly lifted. I’ll be taking it in to my jeweler shortly for repair.

We all know that there are many reasons one of your prongs can go wonky: getting caught on clothing, banging the ring into a solid object, or any number of daily scrapes or mishaps. But from my own experience, I’ve seen more crooked or pulled prongs during winter than in any other season, and a large part of this can be blamed on knit gloves. We put them on and take them off several times a day, and each time you do this you run the risk of snagging your ring and pulling a prong. During the winter you should be aware of this possibility and check your prongs frequently. If you think anything looks “off,” be sure to take your ring into the jeweler for repair: better safe than sorry!

You can’t avoid wearing gloves altogether, but you can do certain things to protect both your hands and your e-ring: knit gloves are worst because of all the fibers which can catch on the ring, so if you wear fleece, leather, or fur-lined gloves you will be *slightly* less likely to catch your ring on the glove. Or, wear mittens. When you put the mittens on or take them off, turn your ring inwards (so the stone is on your palm-side) to shield it from getting snagged.

If you’re always careful and aware of yourself, I recommend getting a small silk or velvet bag to put your ring in when you’ll be wearing gloves: then you can just take your ring off and tuck it in the bag for safekeeping, then stash the bag in a purse or tight pants pocket. The only problem with this is that you might forget where you left your ring or its bag, so I wouldn’t recommend this for the absentminded!

Check your prongs today, and always be aware of your e-ring. Take it to the jeweler if you even have an inkling that something might be wrong. Good luck!