Thursday, February 23, 2012

Crochet Plastic Beads


Yes, I am one of those people that wear a Lanyard. If I don't, I will forget my badge, and that my friends is a very uncomfortable feeling for me. I was thinking that I would crochet some beaded necklaces or straps in different colors to go with my attire. As I am fumbling for my thread size needles, I ran across a bag of those plastic mardi gras bead necklaces that my Mother won while playing bingo.

I opened the bag and, wow, I couldn't believe it, I could still smell her. Granted, I did go ahead and cover one of the necklaces, but I think I will probably place it back in the bag, and keep the presence of my Mother.

I am very much impressed with how it turned out. You could use this with the plastic beaded garland as well. This is the basic pattern I used to make this.

I used a cotton tread size 10 and a US hook size 6.

My philosophy on the hook size is what you feel comfortable with and what works for you.

The plastic bead necklace is of your choice and they just need to have a gap in between them to be able to single crochet.

Keep in mind, this is very basic, so you could always continue around and add a more dramatic border.

Slip stitch in between two of the beads.
Chain 3
Single crochet between the next two beads
Continue to do this until you finish completely around the necklace.
What I found is once I finished around the necklace it naturally just rolls and you can continue the process and complete the other side of the necklace without ending off.
Once you have completed both sides, slip stitch in between two beads and fasten off.

Depending on size of the bead and your tension you will chain stitch so that it covers half of a bead so that you are able to single crochet between the next two beads.

I am real simple, but you could use your imagination and continue on with this process once this base border is establish and create a more dramatic border.

Any of you out there that attempts this, let me know it these instructions are clear and concise. This is the first that I have written and I want to start writing some tutorials to share.