Bead Crochet 101: Beachy Little Bracelet #3

Ready to do a little more quick and easy bead crochet?  Here's the third Beachy Little Bracelet.  We've already made Sea Glass and Shells.  This one is called Waves.  It's the middle one in the picture below:

Here's what you'll need to make this bracelet:

Some No. 10 crochet thread (I used DMC Baroque), a large-eyed sewing needle, three colours of  6° beads or E beads, a button, and a crochet hook.  I used a Size F hook, but you can use whatever works best for you.  A D or E hook would probably work just fine.


Note:  Thread is held double for this project.

Let's make Waves!

String your beads on the double thread, 3 of each colour at a time.  Figure on about 9 beads per inch of bracelet, or 3 of each colour bead for each inch of bracelet.

Make a slip knot, leaving a 4" tail.  Chain 4.  Join with slip stitch to form loop:

Slide your first 3 beads down close to the needle, and chain 3, one bead in each chain:

Notice how the beads are at the back of your work?  Watch what happens next.

TURN, and make 1 half-double crochet in the chain-4 loop:

Now the beads are sticking out to one side.  Pretty cool, huh?

Slide the next 3 beads down near the hook, and chain 3 again, 1 bead at a time.

TURN, and make 1 half-double crochet in the space between the last bead chain and half-double crochet.

That's it.  Chain 3 beads, half-double crochet in space, TURN, and repeat.  Your bracelet should be looking like this in no time:

Little waves of cheerful colour

Keep repeating the above steps until your bracelet just fits around your wrist.  It will stretch a bit with wearing, so make it snug if you like.

When your bracelet is long enough, remove the crochet hook and go back to the beginning.  Thread the 4" tail onto a needle, and sew your button to the chain-4 loop:

It doesn't matter which side you sew the button to.  This bracelet is reversible.

When your button is sewn on, remove thread from needle and tie the 2 ends in a very snug knot.  Tug on the thread ends a few times, then cut them about 2 millimeters from the knot.

Now your bracelet has a front and a back.  The back is the side with the knot.

Go back to the other end of the bracelet.  Cut thread, leaving yourself about a 12" tail.  If you have any leftover beads that didn't get crocheted, slide them off.

Pick a bead colour for your button loop, then string 6-8 beads of that colour on the thread (if your button is really big, string a few more).

Slide the beads down and chain enough to slip snugly over your button.  For this sample bracelet, I needed 7 beads:

Slip stitch the bead chain to the last half-double crochet, and check to see that the loop will go over the button.

Remove hook, slide unused beads off thread,  and pull thread end through loop.  Make sure thread tail is on the back side of the bracelet.  If not, pull it through to the back.

Run the thread end through the next stitch over.  Tie the ends in a knot right next to this stitch so the ends can't pull out again.

Trim your thread ends, and you're done!

Button on your new bracelet and head outside to catch some rays.

The Beachy Little Bracelet family

Happy crocheting!

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