Beaded Crochet - Tips and Tricks

Beaded Crochet - Tips and Tricks

Beaded Spiral Crochet

These are some handy tips to keep in mind as you do beaded crochet ropes. It can be a bit tricky at first and I have found the following tips handy to keep in mind whenever I do beaded spiral rope crochet, especially if using small beads and fine threads.

My Jewelry Gallery has some pictorial examples of crochet jewelry to give you an idea of what beaded crochet jewelry looks like.

• The first 1-3 rows are the trickiest. The work is not "stable" yet. Do keep your tension taut even from the start to ensure you have a clean tight rope that will go with the rest of the piece. You may be tempted to be a bit gentle and hence have a looser tension at the beginning. Don't. Keep tension taut.
• If just learning spiral crochet, it is handy to use larger beads and threads so that you can better see what is going on and it will be easier to handle. Use lighter thread as well for better visibility. Use different colored beads in a specific sequence for each and every row. This will help a beginner to see which bead is to be hooked into which bead - especially in rows 2 and 3.
  For example, if you are making 5 beads per row, then have Col 1, Col 2, Col 3, Col 4, Col 5 ... each and every row while learning. This will make it much easier till you get the hang of it.
• Always have on hand a hook size that is several sizes smaller than the hook you are working with. This is of immeasurable help if/when you drop a stitch.
  The stitch will be on the inside of the rope and because the tension is taut, when you drop a stitch, it will be very hard to see. Because it is on the inside and because the needed tautness will cause the dropped stitch to try and shrink, a fine hook to "catch" that drop stitch is essential.
• Have a light source and a magnifying glass on hand for dropped stitches. A hands free magnifying glass will be of great use. It makes a world of difference as to whether you can see and catch that dropped stitch or whether you have to unravel the whole thing and start again.