Engagement Gift

I've been working on a lot of long-term projects lately that are intended to be surprises, so please excuse my lack of recent posts. I can't risk spoiling the element of surprise in the gifts by posting them all over the internet, after all!

But I can't quite excuse how late this post is, since this surprise gift was given back in July.

The gift was for my brother's fiance, Susan, in celebration of their engagement. Here is a picture of the happy couple:


At the time I was working on a crocheted lace project (no more details! That's a reeeallly long term project that is still a surprise). I used some of the thread from that and grabbed a string of beads from a nearby store in Houston on purpose to make a beaded lace necklace from the following pattern I found online.

I used white thread and faux turquoise beads, which were irregularly shaped and gave a much less regimented appearance once all assembled.

I had to think a good long while about how to make it work, and I eventually realized that I had to string all of the beads onto the thread ahead of time in order to successfully crochet them onto the necklace.

The crocheting itself took me around six hours, and I have to say I was quite pleased with the results! Here are some pictures of me modeling the finished product.



Now Susan probably has a much smaller neck than myself, so it won't be so much of a choker on her. I haven't had the luck to see her wear it, but she let me know how much she liked it. As soon as I have a picture of her wearing it, I'll add it to this post, but in the meantime here's a picture she took of it on a statuette she sent to me:


I'm expecting to do more beaded crochet pieces in the future, as this was a very successful first try!