Tubular Bead Crochet

Over Christmas, my social media feed was filled with all the things everyone surely must want and need for the holidays. I’m sure you remember if you were online at that time. Normally, I ignore all that hype but, since I was without a doubt a magpie in a former life, I got hooked by the bead bangles made in Nepal. The colors! The designs! The sales! That one got me. Big time!

I bought way too many of them before it occurred to me that I was a crafter and could probably make them myself. After a bit of research, I discovered tubular bead crochet. I made a few purchases (naturally) and waited eagerly for the larger sizes of beads (to practice with), the tiny ergonomic crochet hook and the Cecelia thread to arrive. I also added two more books on tubular bead crochet to my craft library. I’m sure this comes as no surprise to those who know me. I like my books.

My first attempt was dismal and it took me 5 or 6 attempts just to get the thing started. My second attempt was going just fine until I tried to pop an extra bead resulting in this:

Once you break the string, it’s over. I think. I’m not sure if you can finagle a fix. But I’m ahead of myself…

There’s math involved to determine how many beads you’ll use, depending on the size of the beads and how many beads are in a round and how long you want the tube. There’s also math involved in deciding how much string you’ll need. But once you figure all that out, you need to start stringing. All the beads are strung before you even pick up a crochet hook.

My second attempt was a super simple pattern I made up. I fired up an Audible book and started stringing. Finished, it would be a simple spiral of white and a mix of light and dark blue, light and medium green, and dark purple. But first I had to string over a yard’s worth of size 11 beads. Fortunately, it’s a really good book.

Tension plays a huge factor in an even, neat crocheted tube. The tube got better and better as I went and I learned to see when a bead was too loose and needed to be snugged up a little. Because of how near-sighted I am, I see best close up and I learned sitting at my crafting table, hunched over my crocheting, was killer on my back. I shifted to a comfy chair in the living room and things went much better.

I can’t tell you how long it took me to crochet 7 inches of tubular rope because I did it in fits and starts over about 4 or 5 days. It took a while. If you see any of the beaded bangles sold by Lotus or Aid for Trade, trust me when I say they really are worth the $15 or $16 bucks they’re selling them for. They are fair-trade businesses in Nepal and the bracelets are made wholly by women who are paid for their time and skill. If you don’t feel like shelling out the cash I recommend the book The Encyclopedia of Tubular Bead Crochet by Ann Benson. Your best bet though, are YouTube videos. There are quite a few and that’s how I learned. The book helps with the math of how many beads and how much string but the videos let me see how you actually do the crochet. The book also has lots of patterns.

Once I had crocheted the requisite 7 inches of rope, it was time to finish. There are two ways to finish your bracelet/bangle. The easy way is the glue the ends into bead caps and attach a clasp. I don’t like wearing bracelets for one simple reason: the clasp. Not only do I have to struggle to get the darn thing done up one handed but once it’s on, the clasp inevitably ends up on top of my wrist and I’m constantly shifting the bracelet around so the clasp on down and you can see the bracelet properly. I wanted a bangle!

A bangle meant sewing the two ends together. It takes practice like anything else to see where you need to thread the string to marry the ends. Again, YouTube is your friend! My join is kind of messy because I got all excited that I was finally at the right length and I didn’t finish crocheting the round. This made one end uneven and trying to marry the ends together was difficult.

It’s not perfect but I’m pretty proud of it all things considered. I learned a lot and while my crocheting is probably a tiny bit tight, it’s better than too loose where the beads are flopping around and looking messy. It really isn’t that difficult to do but like anything new, there’s a learning curve that you need to get behind. By the way, the blue bangles above were two that I bought. Only the spiral in the middle is mine. Not that I couldn’t make the blue ones now. Heh.