My friend Sylvia made me a gorgeous bead crochet necklace. Bead crochet is something I’ve done a couple of times with size 8 beads, and while I understand the basics of a very simple rope with slip stitch, I find it difficult. My tension is very tight, and I don’t get a lovely supple rope like she does. So I am grateful for her expert work, and am making something for her in exchange. She said she likes turquoise, so I made this sample of a 4-sided peyote rope, and showed her this picture.

The light color is a very light pearl pink, the turquoise is matte, and the corner beads are a reddish-brown ab true cut. Sylvia likes the stitch, but would like different colors with the turquoise. So, I sent her a couple of pictures of color ideas, and we’ll figure out better colors for her.

I learned the stitch from Kelly Lightner. She was the teaching assistant for Joyce Scott when I took a Split Rock Arts class with Joyce, and on the last day of class, taught this stitch. We called it “The Kelly Stitch…”