Crocheted Bead Garland

Gold Beads with Red Cotton Thread with Gold Flecks

I am beginning to feel a bit beaded out. It will be temporary, I can assure you, but after many weeks of beaded ornament hangers, snowflake ornaments, diamond dangles, button whimsies and the like, my brain is in bead overload.  Now you might be thinking ... "hey, those look a lot like beads"  and it's true they do, but the difference is that I didn't string them.   No beading required!  This is a project for the crochet category. So, for a beading break, my work in progress is to finish up some of my garland to crochet.

Gold Beads with Green Cotton Thread with Gold Flecks

I start with already strung garland that you can purchase inexpensively for decorating your Christmas tree.  Sometimes it comes in a gigantic spool.  Mine came in 18ft lengths wich I decided to cut in half.  I find around 9-10 ft to be the ideal length for dressing the tree - enough to drape sections nicely, but not so long that it starts to attack you in the process.

The process for this garland is very simple - just chain over the beads (3 or 4 chains or whatever feels comfortable) and single chain in between them working both sides of the garland.  At the ends just add more chain stitches to go comfortably around and then continue up the other side.

Red Beads with Red Cotton Thread with Gold Flecks

My cotton thread has gold flecks which add a little sparkle and I am experimenting with different colour combinations. Red/gold cotton thread with gold beads, and with red beads, and Green/gold cotton thread with gold beads.

I have tried fancier versions of this concept introducting additional rows, scalloped edges and etc., but I like a garland that drapes and I find the more complicated crocheted bead garland tends to work more like ribbon on the tree.  Both are lovely, so it just depends on your preference.

In Victorian times Christmas Tree garland was very much in fashion and the style was to decorate using a multitude of styles.  I really like this concept and think some of these would mix well on a traditional tree.

So feeling pleased that I have a break tomorrow from teeny tiny seed beads, AND that I managed to remember to post something for WIP Wednesday I'm going to go and look at what other crafty folks are up to at Tami's Amis.