Crochet fun

I have a book out of the library called Crochet Jewellery, 40 Beautiful and Unique Designs, it's a collection of projects from seven different designers. This is the link to the book, on Amazon....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/reader/1844482545/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link

I like the idea of completely enclosing a bead with crochet so I thought I would have a go. I bought 16 wooden beads for 20p from the car boot sale last week, they are the ideal size, 2cm in diameter. There is a pattern in the book, but I don't understand crochet patterns, they are like a foreign language to me, so I made it up as I went along. The end result was just as good as the book. If anyone wants to try this I found a free pattern here....

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3238/3144313837_538e55f889.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.flickr.com/photos/made_by_beag/3144313837/&h=470&w=500&sz=142&tbnid=RjEMkhdLclwutM:&tbnh=122&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcrochet%2Bbeads&usg=__O5pUE1oSvPZLbuVbUQgo-fIH7sY=&ei=fBrrSvJdoNuNB7rZxaAN&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=5&ct=image&ved=0CCMQ9QEwBA
Then I thought about covering something bigger using the same principal, start with 4 chain stitches, make into a circle, increasing and decreasing to fit the contours. I had a stone (6cm's across) in my drawer which I picked up off the beach when I visited Spurn Point a few months back, so I started in the same way, round and round. Finally got it covered, what do I do with it now? It needs some decoration, so I found a few pearl beads and stitched them on. Hey presto.....a paper weight.


I am going to cover more of the beads in different colours and string them together to make a necklace. This has set me thinking about covering all sorts of objects with crochet, because you can increase and decrease the stitches to fit, not like knitting, where you have to start with the right amount. When I get really profficient in it I might attempt to cover a damaged ornament of a sitting cat, I could stitch the markings on afterwards. Now there's a thought.