Yarn Necklaces are Pretty

I posted this to my family/personal oriented blog, but considering the amount of crochet talk I poured into that entry it needed to be shared on my project blog as well.

Tonight my niece turned 15. We got her a pretty off-white linen dress with a thin leather belt, but I felt like something was missing. Being without wrapping paper, I quickly sewed a bag our of white fabric with black flowers and a red ribbon for a tie. Hmm.... tied up all pretty and still, something was missing. While searching for the fabric to make the bag I had run across a couple of balls of a very deep purple Pima cotton lace weight thread so when I finished up the gift bag a lightbulb went off in my head.
BING!! (yes, it made the sound)
I had seen a crocheted necklace somewhere, at sometime, I couldn't remember the details but I loved it. Basically it was lengths of chain with a small section of single crochet at either end, each chain length is a little longer than the last. A button on one of the single crochet ends and a button hole on the other, then some flowers sewn to the lengths off center. It was much simpler than it sounds when I explain it, I promise. So I whipped up a necklace and a bracelet.
Here's what I did, though you can change the weight of the yarn and number of stitches to suit yourself.

Necklace
With two strand lace weight cotton, doubled and a size 10 hook:
Chain 161, turn, sc in 5 ch, chain 170, sc in the last 5 ch.
Turn, sc in 5 sc, chain 180, (sc, chain 3, sc) in last 5 sc.
Turn, (sc, 3 sc in chain 3 space, sc), chain 190, sc in last 5 sc.
turn, sc in 5 sc, chain 200, sc in last 5 sc.
Turn, sc in 5 sc, chain 210, sc in last 5 sc.

Attach a button to the single crochet section without the button hole. Weave in ends. Crochet 2 flowers and attach them to two strands together, wherever you think they look best.

Bracelet

Same materials and hook as for necklace.
Chain 56, turn, sc in the first 5, chain 45, sc in the last 5.
turn, sc in 5 sc, chain 45, sc in 5 sc.
Turn, sc in 5 sc, chain 45, (sc 1, chain 3, sc 1) in the last 5 sc.
Turn, sc in sc, 3 sc in chain 3, sc in sc, ch 45, sc in 5.
Turn, sc in 5, chain 45, sc in 5.
finish off, weave in ends. attach button to the side without a buttonhole, make a flower and sew it to two strands together wherever you think it would look best.

Flower
with single thread, chain 4, join into a ring. chain 1, *sc, hdc, dc, 2tc, dc, hdc, sc* Repeat til there are 5 petals, join to first sc and finish off.

She seemed to like them. Her favorite colors are purple, black, and red and I managed to add those all to her present AND she has a thing for buttons but she also admitted that she's the type to smile and pretend to love it even if she hates it. She's 15 and I'm not sure what teenagers like or if it was really dorky. Oh well, *I* thought it was pretty so I think I'll be making one for myself tomorrow.
If you make this, it's fast and easy, just 3 tips - 1) try to make sure that the button isn't so heavy that it pulls the necklace down the back of your neck 2)take the time to stop and organize the strands of chaining every so often in order to keep it straight and even 3) sew the flower to 2 strands to keep the flower from twisting backwards.
My skirt is coming along nicely as well, but it's in a boring stretch where I just keep repeating the pattern over and over and over and... see it's not interesting in the least. 2 more inches and I'll start making some decreases for the waist, that will involve some thinking at least. I'm not sure what I'll do for the waist bad and tie, but I love the look of the motifs on the hem and I can't wait to get the edging on it to see the finished look.