April 2009: A necklace idea
News:
Want to make a scarf to ward off the spring morning chill and adorn your spring coat? Want it to be interesting both to crochet and to look at? Try my Scarf Collection, three three-dimensional scarves (see the first three photos at left): 1 – Andlau, 2 – Yzeron and 3 – Montech, all in one single pattern.
A necklace idea:
This necklace was inspired by a scarf design from La Droguerie – a French company with stores in several cities. At La Droguerie, you can buy yarn, patterns and materials for making accessories and jewelry. You can also look at their designs and get really, really inspired.
So the inspiration for this necklace was a scarf worked from spool-knitted cord and store-bought felt circles and flowers. In my mind, it became a necklace (though nothing would stop you from making a scarf by making it larger) – and all crocheted, of course.
I realized that this could be a fun spring project that could use up a little of my crochet thread stash. I used leftover balls of no 3 crochet thread (mostly DMC’s Senso), which corresponds to a fingering weight yarn, in orange, rust, blue and off-white. All parts of the necklace were worked with a 3 mm crochet hook (between US sizes C-2 and D-3).
I started out by making five crocheted cords in different lengths, varying approximately between 1.1 and 1.4 meters [43″ – 55″]. For each cord I made a long chain, then worked back over it with a slip stitch in every chain stitch. My tests showed that the slip stitches made my initial chain shrink about 10% in length, so to make a 1.2 meter [47″] cord, I crocheted a chain a little longer than 1.3 meters [51″].
You don’t need to be very precise about the lengths of these cords – they’re supposed to vary. Also, measure instead of trying to count stitches, because counting endless lengths of chain stitches will take all the fun out of the project.
My next step was to crochet little circles. I needed these circles both to link the cords to each other and to finish off their ends. For each circle, I chained 5 and closed to a ring with a sl st in the first chain. Ch 1, work 10 sc into the ring, and close the round with a sl st in the first sc. For the necklace shown here, I made a total of 21 circles in 3 colours (10 blue, 5 orange and 6 off-white).
Still inspired by the scarf I had seen, I also wanted to throw some small flowers into the mix. I found a lovely, simple little flower in Suzann Thompson‘s wonderful book Crochet Bouquet. This is a fantastic book that I truly recommend. It is filled with very original crocheted flowers – many of them far more complex than this little one.
To make a flower, ch 5 and close to a ring with a sl st in the first ch. First, make the center: ch 1 (does not count as a st), work 9 sc into the ring. Close the round with a sl st in the first sc.
The petals are formed on the next round: ch 5, 1 sc in 3rd ch from hook, 1 hdc in next ch, sl st in next ch, sl st in next sc in the first round. You have made the first petal. Repeat 8 times to make a flower with 9 petals. Close the round with a slip stitch at the base of the first 5-chain.
I made three flowers – one blue, one orange and one off-white.To assemble the necklace, I folded all the cords in half, so I would know where their center was. I marked the centers with safety pins and laid them out on a table with the centers aligned.I laid out circles between the cords, where I thought it would be suitable to hold them together, without striving for regularity.When doing this, I rapidly realized that the closer together I put the circles, the wider my necklace became. Since I wanted this to be a necklace rather than a scarf, I spaced out the circles.I sewed the circles to the cords, using a sewing needle and matching sewing thread. I used three different sewing needles, each threaded with one colour of thread (orange, off-white or blue) so that I always had the colour needed on hand.
Once I was happy with the circle arrangement, I proceeded to decorate the ends of the cords with flowers and more circles. I left a couple of cord endings unadorned, just for the fun of it.
The necklace can be worn with a simple knot or a loose double knot (which will shorten it a little and secure it more).
Another way to wear it is to fold it in two, pass it around your neck and pull the ends through the loop.
See you soon!
