Playing Dress Up

When I was little, my mom used to have a dress-up box for us to play with.  It had some old formal gowns that she had worn in college, and some costume jewelry.  My favorite piece of jewelry was this glamorous beaded ring.  It had jet black beads and a band of stretchy gold.  I am pretty sure I never let my sister wear it.  I loved it so much.

Click HERE for the Boutique Ring pattern

I was probably in high school before I realized that the ring had been crocheted.  I haven't thought about it in years, but the other day I had a dream about it.  I woke up wondering if I could find a pattern for a 60s-70s crochet beaded ring.  Google Image Search to the rescue!  I found exactly what I was looking for here.

6mm glass pearl beads and .5mm silver elastic cord

After I made a handful of rings (aha! no pun intended) I was talking to my dad about them, asking him if he remembered mom's glamorous beaded ring.  He did remember her beaded ring, but he remembered another one she had that was red, white and blue.  Apparently she had worn it out to dinner one night, back when they were still dating.  He noticed it, and asked if he could look at it.  She handed the ring over to him to inspect.  He looked at it and frowned slightly, and then took another ring out of his pocket and said that she should wear that one instead.  It was an engagement ring.

I knew that my parents had gotten engaged at a restaurant, but I had no idea that a crochet ring was involved!  Now I'm extra excited about my rings!

I got really excited about the rings, so I experimented with some other beads to see what other looks I could achieve.  The glass chip rings turned out awesome!  They were also sooooo big!  I ended up leaving rows 5-6 off and only using 15 beads for these rings.  They are very bold.  My inner 5 year-old adores them.

I will say that the big, 70s style cocktail ring is quite a statement piece.  I am not entirely sure how many glamorous events that I will be wearing mine to, although I am thinking that they will be playing a large part in any princess-themed birthday parties I throw, as well as any upcoming bachelorette parties.  Well worth keeping in my crochet arsenal.

I do like chunky rings, though, so I've updated the idea.  I wanted something a little smaller, and more of a fun, everyday piece.  It's still chunky, but totally wearable (in fact, I wore one today!), and dead simple to make.  The hardest part (by far) is getting the beads on the elastic.  After that, it's a piece of cake.

Again, I used the glass beads, which make me think of sea-glass (ooh! Sea glass would be awesome for this ring!).  I liked that they weren't perfectly round, or perfectly perfect.  I think it made the ring look more modern.  You can make your ring to whatever design aesthetic your heart desires, though.

The Updated Crochet Cocktail Ring
Fits a ring size 7, but will stretch for larger sizes
Supplies:
5 beads (I used Seabreeze Mix Cracked Glass Large Chips, but any 6mm bead will work)
.5mm Silver elastic beading cord (I got a giant spool for $6.  I've made 10 rings so far, and it doesn't look like I've even made a dent in it... if you were wondering...)
Size D crochet hook
Tapestry needle (optional-ish)
Bead Reamer (optional-ish)
Scissors

Load all of your beads onto the elastic.  This is, by far, the hardest part.  **I ended up putting the elastic through the eye of a tapestry needle and using that to thread the beads on.  It was not easy.  If the hole in your beads is super small, like mine were, another option would be to use a bead reamer and open the hole up a little larger.  If I could have found my reamer last night, that's what I would have done/what I will do in the future**

R1: Get a magic loop ready, leaving a tail of 12-18" of elastic at the end.  Ch 2 at the start of the magic loop to get it started.  Slide a bead up and sc into the loop.  Repeat until all of the beads have been used. Sl st into the first sc to close the round.  Pull the loop tight. (5 st)
R2:Using the magic loop tail AND the working thread, chain 20 (add more stitches for a larger ring, leave some off for a smaller ring).  Sl st to the 3rd sc of R1 (or whatever stitch is on the opposite side of R1 from the chain).  Fasten off.  Weave in ends (which there isn't much space to do, I just tied it in a surgeons knot and used my crochet hook to weave it between the beads a little.) Snip off any extra elastic.  Admire your awesome new ring!

If you're going to make a bunch of rings, I highly recommend loading all of the beads on the elastic at once.  I cannot emphasize enough that loading the beads is the hardest part, so if you get that done right at the start, the rest of the project will be fun.  Maximizing fun is what we're all about here at Crochet Dynamite, so heed my cautions!!!

xoxo

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