April 26, 2006

Bead Crochet has Arrived

When you see examples of bead crochet jewelry at Target I guess you could say that the technique is popular. While shopping in Target yesterday I ran across 4 different bead crocheted items. Ball necklaces; plain ropes with adjustable chain clasps; a looped chain necklace and a multi-chain, chained stitch necklace.

The large looped chain necklace is made with rather crude 10/0 beads and the individual invisible closures are not very invisible. However it is an idea that you might want to try with your own patterned or colored closed loops.

The bronze multi strand necklace is a rather neat idea if you can't get beyond crocheting beaded chains. It has randomly crocheted 8/0 bronze beads and drops done with a bronze metallic thread. It is 10 strands gathered into cones at the ends and has a chain & hook adjustable clasp.

Here is a detail of what the individual strands look like.

If you used brightly colored beads with some leaves and flowers interspersed in the strands you would have a great Summer look. It should make up very quickly.

4 comments:

  1. It never ceases to amaze me what Target turns up.

    I do worry about the dirt cheap wages someone is making in some Third World country, though I suppose it's more than they'd have without the job. Still, it would be nice to have some assurance that Target is practicing something like Fair Trade in acquiring these inexpensive handcrafts.

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  2. Just goes to show this is another store I will boycott. You won't see me in a Target shopping. It really makes me angry to see that. Guess I will sit down and write Target a letter.
    Hugs
    Bevvie

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  3. I got to see the chain link crochet necklace in Target last night. On looking at it closely, I realized a change they made to the basic stitch to make the work faster.

    On each stitch, instead of placing one bead, they placed four. On the next round, the new stitch was placed between the second and third beads of this loop.

    This would have greatly sped up the process, as well as added flexibility. Which was probably desirable when they were turning circles tight enough to be chain links. Might be worth experimenting with.

    I won't get into the political ramifications of designing the process so their third world labor could turn out even more pieces in less time. Politics is for stronger souls than mine.

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  4. can you show us how to do this?

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