Recycled Rose Necklace

I am learning to love big statement piece jewelry.  I have fruit-punch colored hair, people are going to look at me anyways.  I have not always adored such large pieces of creativity, in my blonde/black/brown haired days, I liked simple and plain necklaces.

In fact, this is the toothbrush holder below the medicine cabinet in our bathroom.  I use it to hold Mims and my costume jewelry (the good stuff is squirreled away in hidey-holes).  We've got quite a collection of inexpensive necklaces.  Some of them get worn all the time (like the fimo octopus necklace! Love!) but sadly, most of them don't get worn very often.  Everything bright and fun and silly in the picture belongs to Mims... Humph... 

I decided to take a necklace that didn't get much use and turn it into a (bright, fun, silly) necklace that I would wear all the time.

It seemed like a good idea at the time... Let's recycle it into something fabulous!

If you like jewelry that makes people look twice, this giant rose statement necklace will be right up your alley!

Recycled Rose Necklace
Supplies:
Necklace that you don't want to wear anymore (16-20" long)
Small amount of worsted weight yarn in rose colors (I had a bunch of worsted weight cotton, so I used light orange, dark pink, yellow and medium pink)
Small amount of worsted weight yarn in leaf colors (I used lime green and sage green cotton yarn)
Size G crochet hook
Scissors
Yarn needle

Rose Base:
(make 6 - you need 2 pieces for each rose)
Use the darker of your rose colors (or, if you choose to make all of your roses a single color, just use that color! LOL!!) I made 4 orange bases for my 2 yellow roses, and 2 dark pink bases for my 1 pink rose.
R1: make 8 hdc in a magic loop, pull loop tight and sl st to first hdc to close round (8 st)
R2: ch 1, 2 hdc in each st around, sl st to first hdc to close round (16 st)
Fasten off, leaving an 8" long tail for sewing.  Weave in the center end.

Starting with the base for the center rose, sew the rose bases together, sandwiching the necklace in between the pieces. Stitch the bases together where they touch to make the piece more sturdy. It should look like the picture below (on both sides!) when you're done.  Weave in any loose ends.

Leaves:
(make 7)
ch 6
R1: dc in 3rd ch from hook, dc, hdc, (sc, dc, sc) in last ch sp, continue to the back of the chain and  hdc, 2 dc, sl st to center base of leaf.
Fasten off, leaving a long tail to sew leaves on to roses.  Weave in other end.

Using picture below as a guide, sew 3 leaves to the outer edges of the rose base.

Rose Embellishment
(this is the same technique that I used to make the roses on my Think Pink Lapghan)

For the first petal:
Attach yarn on outer edge of rose base, ch 1, 5 dc, 1 sc

You're going to want to made a circle of petals, so move to the next spot on the edge of the rose base and go for it!

For the 2nd petal (and each additional petal):
sc, 5 dc, sc
Add more petals in the same manner, placing them so that they form a ring. Connect the last petal to the first petal with a slip stitch to finish the first "round" of petals.

Now, add a second (smaller) circle of petals in the center of the outer ring.  There will be a little hole in the center, add a petal right in the middle for the center bud of the rose.

I recommend doing an outer ring of 5 petals, a center ring of 3 petals, and 1 petal in the center.

Repeat with the other 2 roses on your necklace.

Now sew in the remaining leaves, so that it makes your floral arrangement look full and lush!

No one will ever guess that your gorgeous designer statement piece was made out of yarn scraps and a recycled necklace!  Looking fancy has never been this good for the environment! LOL!!

xoxo

For more recycling with crochet projects, see the January 2013 section of my Free Crochet Patterns page.