Most of my week has been about the Textile Exhibition at Gudhjem Museum. Local crafters are showing their work. It is a show of weaving, felting, patchwork, knitting - and - crochet!
They are perfect for Summer crafts and you can find an incredible amount of fantastic patterns for the beaded crochet ropes.
Learn How To
The first rounds are confusing and they might make you incredibly frustrated. I sometimes start over again and again - especially if I crochet with one color beads. Once you got the first rows, the rest of the beaded crochet necklace is easy to make.It can be difficult to find good tutorials, but I've hand-picked some, that can help you get started. The tutorials I've found are clever and use different colored beads.
Also notice that some tutorials start with a row of regular chains (without using beads yet) and make a circle with this, while other tutorials will get right on to using the beads.
You will need:
- beads (see later about beads)
- thin crochet hook, maybe around 2mm (US 0, UK14) The smaller your beads, the tinier the hook.
- a strong thread in a color that matches the beads (or a contrasting color for the first sample)
- needle to put the beads on the thread
- Optional: end caps and a lock - or be creative.
You can practice with huge beads like HAMA beads for children. It will make it easier for you to see, what you are doing. Use a 3mm (US C/D, UK11) hook or likewise.Animation Tutorial
If you are impatient, I found this simple page on Fiosarterapia that explains the different steps with only 5 animations. The first animation shows how to make the first round of stitches including beads. The other animations show the 4 steps you need for doing sc with each bead:- Insert hook
- push the already attached bead to the side
- make the next bead ready on the loose end
(push the loose end over the already attached bead) - finalize your sc
Photo/Image Tutorials
Fusion Beads has good and lots of images. Just don't get paralyzed when you see the number of images. Step 1-10 is enough for a good start. Step 16 shows how to join the ends of the first row to make a circle, and then you might only need to look at steps 17-19 to know how to do all the rest of the beads.Making Beaded Jewelry got great photos and text. Here is how to crochet over beads (for the first round), and for the rest of the beaded rope, follow the How to Crochet Beaded Ropes tutorial.
Video Tutorials
A great and very straightforward video tutorial is made by Beadaholic. The actual tutorial starts around 3:15.Ann Benson made a detailed youtube video tutorial that starts with info about what you need and a couple of great tips too. Around 3:12 the 'real' tutorial starts by showing how to make the first row of stitches. She uses nice animations as well as short videos to show the details.
Finalize the Necklace
Only some tutorials show how to end the rope. You can do this, just like you would end another crocheted project. Make a slip stitch, cut the thread and pull it through. You decide whether to attach end caps or not. There are many options. Be creative.
About Beads
The more perfect beads you have, the easier to get a perfect outcome. The beads have to be 'perfect' in the way that they should be very similar in size and shape. Because when you are new at this you might crochet pretty tight and then uneven beads will give you a messy looking rope. When you get more advanced, you can mix bead sizes in a controlled way to make more complex ropes.
Useful Links
When you are familiar with the rope technique, I found some good links on biser.info. It is a Russian page, but with lots of great photos. It will bring you joy and hours of work:- A collection of patterns and images of beaded crochet ropes.
- Photo tutorial on how to split a crochet rope into two.
- Photo tutorial on how to make a twisted spiral shape on the crochet rope (use Google Translate to get the whole meaning)
Updated May 2020
Did you ever think about how many different crocheted ribbings there exist? I think most of us just do whatever a pattern tells us - or you find a page telling you 'how to crochet a ribbing'. As in one ribbing.
Being conscious about the different kinds of ribbing is an advantage, if you want to be able to change an existing pattern or make your own design.
So hubby, please bear with me!
I don't like knots or sewing in ends. If I do amigurumi, I prefer to crochet over the yarn ends whenever possible. In almost every other case I prefer the Russian Join. To my experience, It can be used with most yarns and it blends in very well. I also use the Russian Join, if I suddenly find a knot in the middle of my yarn ball.
It takes advantage of the natural curling of a crocheted work and it will also help you prevent the rolling of the rest of your work.
You probably start with a slip knot and pull it tight. Then you have a little hard knot in the corner of your work. It doesn't add anything good to your work and can be difficult to hide - even if making a border - as it is always trying to run away and stick out.
www.stonegnome.com is getting a new look. The old template had different issues, I wanted to solve. Hopefully the new one will give you a better experience. At least for mobile users, it should be an improvement.
I'll probably be working on fixing bugs the next week or two, but if you find any major issues, let me know anyway! Minor issues might disappear within these two weeks. If not, get in touch.
You can contact me here or on facebook.
You can contact me here or on facebook.
It fits a variety of sizes and will keep your upper chest warm under your jacket.
Go have a look. You can find the free pattern at LoveCrafts and on Ravelry.
