Thursday, April 22, 2010


I have it! I can do the bead crochet! At the top you can see the usual 'bunch of grapes' I made with my attempts. Over and over I tried to follow directions and nothing worked. I tried following different person's directions. At one point the crochet thread loop pattern was on the outside of the beads. Then I realized that somehow that the working thread had to be laid above the bead instead of below it.
I did some crocheting of the thread, without beads to get a good idea of how that worked. Then I added beads and got the first taste of success with the second sample.
By evening I was able to do the lower sample. I used six beads for one round and changed color with each round so I could tell where I was and to catch my errors. Occasionally two beads would slip into place.
I must say that holding the working thread above the bead being added to is a lot easier than the normal position of the working thread coming from below the work. Now to see how to 'add on' and to find thread that makes a better match. It does have a tendency to show, at least with big beads.
I found I did not need the toothpick to stablize the beginning if I crocheted a couple of rounds with just thread. Next time I will do more and let that be a natural ending.