I crocheted a beaded bracelet for my granddaughter.
The pattern is from the book, "The Art & Elegance of Beadweaving," by Carol Wilcox Wells. She has a group of patterns in her book by Martha Forsyth, Pat Iverson, and Kathryn Black, who own the company Beads Without End. Martha and Pat learned to do spiral (also called tubular) bead crochet in Bulgaria in 1994. They note that there are 5 pattern families, which include Dots, Diamonds, Flowers and Line, Sawteeth, and Eye Beads. Within each family, there are variations.
I used Czech beads from Joann's in size 6. The beads weren't all uniform in size, so if you can find beads that are consistently sized, it is helpful. I used size 10 DMC crochet cotton and a size 7 (1.5 mm) Susan Bates crochet hook.
Bead Crochet isn't easy to begin because the beads can get jumbled together, which can make it difficult to know which bead to crochet into. I used a piece of cord to set into the beginning of my bead crochet to help stabilize it for an inch or so. I used engine starter cord size 4, which is about 1/8" inch in diameter.
Lablun's Stitch Art on Youtube shows how to begin with a piece of cord in the center: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiKASqS7fOg
Closing a bracelet with an invisible join takes some practice, too. Susan Goldstine on Youtube has a good video showing how to join the two ends: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENPNdh5SIQ4 Another video is from Bead and Button Magazine here: http://www.facetjewelry.com/fiber-cord/videos/2016/05/create-an-invisible-join-in-bead-crochet
With this pattern, it is important to end with a complete pattern that will join seamlessly with the beginning of the bracelet.
My notes: End with 1 green (highest bead on end). Begin with 1 blue, so green is lowest on beginning side. Beginning tail on blue. Attach 1st blue to blue other side. Then blue to pink. Pink to blue. Blue-pink, pink-blue, blue-blue 4 times, blue-green, green-green. Used beginning tail. Hide end tail first. Sew from beginning side to ending side, under thread of 1st blue, flip bead to right as if crocheting. Then to beginning side again threading from top to bottom toward yourself. Hold beginning side in right hand, ending side in left hand. 7" for K. 16 repeats. About 48 inches of beads on thread. 1 blue, 2 pink, 2 blue, 1 green. 1 blue, pink, yellow, pink, blue, green. 2 blue, 2 pink, blue, green. 5 blue, 1 green. Always ends round with green. 6 around.
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