Crochet Necklaces

Crochet Necklaces

After a very hectic year, I am finally taking time to post again!    My recent crafting passion is crocheted jewelry, with necklaces a particular focus.  I'm finding it's just as easy to crochet with metallic thread as wire with practice.  It's very easy to crank out a chain-stitch necklace, and with a little practice, it is equally enjoyable working on larger pieces, like the green-bead wire and the abalone wire necklaces toward the bottom.

Double stranded crocheted crystal on metallic thread

Close up:  two chain stitched strands twisted together on metallic thread

After creating several single-stranded crocheted necklaces, I was planning to make a two- or three-stranded necklace.  But then I started to twist them up and discovered--voila!--I like it even better! 

Sometimes I spend a lot more time gazing at the creations of others on the internet than I do creating my own.  Luckily, it not only leads to inspiration, but it also leads to finding cool tutorials.  I made the two necklaces below with wire based on the tutorial by Johanne Brunet for the Shiny Tide necklace.  The green version is the width the tutorial gives.  The abalone is the wideth minus one row.  Both are fabulous and I was impressed by the fact that even though I can't really crochet, I could still manipulate the wire and beads well enough to make them passable.  In fact, before starting, I could only chain stitch.  I looked up on You Tube, learned basic crocheting, practiced on a piece of scrap yarn, and I was ready and raring to go!

Original pattern with cheap green beads and wire



Abalone and wire crocheted necklace

 These are fun to make and exciting to add to my jewelry collection.  Once you've made one, you'll want to make many more.  Consider it as addictive as any other fun jewelry making process!















Check out http://www.bijoudecameleon.com/ if you are interested in this or other crochet tutorials!  As a beginner, I love this one!

Two other sites I learned about during this journey:
http://www.allfreecrochet.com/ and http://www.allfreejewelry.com/.

Some great Youtube vidoes:  Check out Mikey's crochet tutorials on Youtube for Curtzy Crochet Hooks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCTaJavtoVQ&feature=relmfu.  He has a series of 24 lessons, including working with wire and beads for jewelry making.

I wouldn't necessarily select these beads, but I do like the concept, and the product.