Recently I was showing some friends the bag handles I’d crocheted for an, as yet, UFB (unfinished bag). I got this technique from a marvellous u-tube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnX4t8ypGtc

The comment was “that rope would make a great neck piece”.

So….

I’d been given a skein of “bamboo silk” in a gorgeous coral/orange colour at Christmas by my friend Julie. I used the twisted rope technique to make a necklace which I trimmed with an interesting wooden bead my mother had given me.

The closure loop is a 10 chain loop over worked in dc, then reverse worked in crab stitch.

Matching earrings are not essential usually but this thread is such an unusual colour that I thought they’d be handy.

I had a marvellous synthetic yarn bought somewhere in Asia on a trip. It looks like the result of four very fine strands of yarn zigzagged over with a fine black thread.

I decided to use this yarn in a finer version of the bag handle cord. It looked so good that I did a much longer length so as to give me options for wearing it. And, of course, I added earrings!

I had my mother staying while I was experimenting with these cords and of course, she wanted a silver one!

Finally I tried silk ribbon in a variegated reddish-purple colourway. It’s a (now discontinued) 100% silk ribbon called Silken Straw made by Alchemy Yarns. An alternative is unfortunately not easily available. (See https://yarnsub.com/yarns/alchemy_yarns/silken_straw for a list of suggested substitutes). I’d love to be able to buy more silky ribbons/tapes to crochet.

I also couldn’t resist using some of my bead stash as the tape was fine enough to allow small beads to be threaded onto it easily. I stirred up a “stew” of small and larger, matt and shinier beads in the range of colours featured in the ribbon.

This cord was trickier to work because instead of the spiral cord I decided to make one with a horizontal striped effect by working double crochet stitches into the front loop only. A tube size of nine stitches meant that inserting the hook only into the front was difficult.

Next, I’m planning to relearn/recall some macrame techniques to see what potential that has for jewellery.