Attempting Beaded Crochet

Hello, my darlings! Today's been a very drab day here in England, so methinks a shot of zingy colours is in order. Well, I have just the thing for you.

Yesterday I went to a crochet workshop in my local area. But not any kind of crochet... Beaded crochet! Now, that's a technique I had never properly tried my hand at, and I very much enjoyed it. It is a little - actually, quite a bit - fiddly, but the result is definitely worth it.

The workshop was held at this bead shop in Kingston town centre, and we had a young and lovely teacher who very patiently explained to us the concept of crocheting with beads. This is what things looked like before any crocheting happened:

All beads had to be threaded on crochet thread, of which there was a scrumptious selection at the store. I ended up setting my heart on this lovely turquoise number:

Once all beads were threaded, we could start crocheting in spirals using slip stitches. I could not finish the project during the actual workshop hours but dutifully completed it once I got home... and this is the finished result:

Isn't it a sweet little thing? The 1.25mm crochet hook pictured above is the one I actually used to make this bracelet. I had never used such a small size before. It wasn't the easiest, but it's definitely needed to go through between the beads and the thread, as the gap is so small!

I really like the colourway I went with. I normally would have gone for purples or pinks, but I decided to go out of my comfort zone a little bit. You should have seen all the pretty colours our teacher had experimented with. And that's not even mentioning the different patterns and varying bead sizes!

The clasp was simply glued on both tips of the spiral. I didn't touch it for 12 hours to make sure it was absolutely secure. The good thing about craft glue is that it dries clear, so you don't have to worry about excess amounts.

So there you have it, my first attempt at beaded crochet. Relatively simple once you've grasped the concept, but still a little fiddly. This pattern is quite forgiving, so even if your tension is not completely even and some of your beads sit a little bit askew, it loses itself in the general pattern.

Have you ever tried beaded crochet? What did you think?

Take care, folks, and thanks for reading! xxx