“At the age of 20, we don’t care what the world thinks of us; at 30, we worry about what it is thinking of us; at 40, we discover that it wasn’t thinking of us at all.”  -Author Unknown

I thought I would share my latest project…. a 40th birthday gift for a friend who loves bold jewelry and bright, cheerful colors.  I loved the combination of red, black, purple and green with a few gold accents.  This was such a quick, easy crochet project using a heavy-duty thread purchased at my local bead shop.  It reminds me of a pricey necklace in the recent J.Jill catalog, and it makes me happy to have made it for less, but also to be able to say, “Here’s something I made for you!”  That’s the best part.

It’s so simple….

1. String all of your beads onto the thread.  It takes a lot of beads, so just keep stringing until you have about three feet of continuous beads!

2.  Tie a knot in the end. Start with a little bit larger bead and move it to the end.  Move the rest of the beads over and start a loop right next to your first bead with your very, very tiny crochet-hook (I used 1.75mm).

3.  Chain one, then pull a bead down.  Chain OVER that bead and then chain 3-4 times before sliding down another bead.  Keep going.  My necklace was simply one very long rope.  I then made a couple small little bead chains about 4 inches long and attached them towards the end of each side to make little “tassles.”

4.  The necklace is meant to be wrapped around the neck like a scarf, so no need to connect the two ends.

5.  Wear it with confidence.  (Especially if you are “40 and Fabulous!”)