Urban Stripes - Crocheted Rope

I have this triplet of 42" crocheted ropes that I wear together all the time. I have another set in black & white. I was thinking that I needed another set in different colors and did some research around the word Urban.


OK, so I'm going at this backwards.... I picked a name I liked and then started thinking about beads and patterns. Happens sometimes.




Cities, big cities make me think of cement, streets, sidewalks and buildings. My daughter lives on the 53 floor of one of these "Corncob" towers in Chicago. They actually remind me of crocheted ropes.







Then you add in all of the bright, neon primary colors that seem to contrast so well with all that gray concrete.
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That gave me my base bead color. They are a Miyuki 8/0 seed bead #2002 (like a DB307). Then I'm thinking matte black as sort of outline colors, coupled with shades of orange, turquoise, dark red and maybe a touch of chrome yellow. This will be an 8/0 rope in 6-around.






While I was doing some Internet searches of city images I was reminded that graffiti can be an unlimited source of color inspiration.











I've had several people tell me that they would like to make themselves a set of necklaces like mine. Seeing as I pretty much design-as-I-go when I make these, it's hard to turn them into a set of instructions or a pattern. So here is your chance to make one necklace with me and then swap around the colors and make one or two more.

String-Along ~ Urban Stripes

I'll break the 42" necklace into 7 sections of about 6" of finished rope (36" of strung beads) and design a section, or two a week. I'll put the patterns up as PDF's on my web site, and email you to let you know that you can download that week's pattern(s). They will all remain up for the duration of this string-along. After that time, they will be removed and I'll consolidate them into a pattern set that I'll sell.

Want To Join In?
If you have an interest, you have a week to join the fun and pick out your bead colors. You can use the same colors as I am or pick out ones that say Urban Stripes to you. Look at the graffiti inspired palletes. Email me (click for email) to sign up. I'll send you a PDF of my color inspirations, materials needed and anything else that may be important for success.

In return, I ask that you Blog or post to FaceBook about what you're doing and send me a link so we can all share in on how it's going.

See the tag "string-along" under this post? you can click on that to get a list of blog posts that only have to do with this project.

High Tech beading

The programmer, Ken, is beta testing BCPD for the Android tablet. Hmmmm, looks like women aren't the only ones who keep a very messy beading table. Ken says he is out of practice with the crocheting part, but what he designed on the tablet came out perfect in a rope. By this Fall, (cross your fingers) if you have an Android tablet or phone, you should have a portable bead crochet design program. Ken also says that it's very nice not to have papers laying around, taking up space. He strung his flag rope directly from the stringing table on the tablet.

A Summer Sunday

I'm not a morning person, but this morning the birds woke me up at 4:30 AM. Boy, can they be loud at that time of the morning. Now that the sun is fully up, It's a perfect New Hampshire Summer morning, in the 70's with bright sun, a slight breeze and I enjoyed a cup of coffee sitting on the edge of the deck this morning.

The common orange day lilies that I transplanted a couple of years ago have decided to put on a spectacular show this Summer. They are almost as tall as I am this year.



We're going to sort of play hooky today, go for a Sunday drive and enjoy some scenery. The real reason for getting out is to go look at a replacement for our little trailer that got crunched on the trip East this year. It really became a total disaster (kindling?) after the big propane truck practically backed over it a couple of weeks ago. Do you know how hard it is to turn up a small enclosed trailer that a Honda Element can easily tow in this land of snowmobiles, motorcycles and chainsaws.... ?

In between yard, getting a kitchen counter installed, and having half a kitchen piled in my studio, I've been doing a bit of bead embroidery. Small scale bead embroidery is quick and also instant gratification. I started beading with this technique and still enjoy the freedom of letting a design just flow. It's so different from bead crochet, where everything is planned out before you ever even pick up a hook.


Enjoy your Summer Sunday, where ever you might be. May it be as nice as it is here.

Bead Crochet Theorem

A pattern with an odd number of beads in the repeat, crocheted in even-around, will spiral in the opposite direction from a pattern with an even number of beads in a repeat. The same remains true when crocheting in odd-around.

It seems like I have known about this even/odd theorem in bead crochet forever. However, I've had some questions about patterns recently that led me to think that maybe everyone doesn't know this happens.

In the sample above, the right side of the pattern actually has a wider color band "A", but visually you don't seem to notice it. It's the reversing direction of the lighter color band "B" that you notice. It's an easy and fun way to introduce zig-zags into a spiral rope.