The making of one crochet necklace

I found on a tutorial for crochet necklaces online (and then another) and I thought this was such a great idea, how come I didn’t think of it, I will make ten of those and you will never see me without one hanging around my neck. I had to start making them right away. You see, I enjoy long strands of beads that reach below the waist. I find them playful and elongating (I like to imagine this last part). Also, I am a bit worried about my necklaces these days when the baby pulls on everything and promptly takes to his mouth, and the crochet method seemed safer–these necklaces don’t look like they will break easily, especially since I decided to make mine with silk thread (the tensile strength of silk is similar to that of steel).

So I made one quickly hoping to wear it the same day. Of course, I was kidding myself, because the first one didn’t work for me. It was OK, but it could have been better (more large beads, less space between them, more space between them, now less large beads–apparently, I am becoming a hopeless perfectionist in my old age). So I modified the necklace about a million times until it reached a form that really pleased me.

This is the problem with things that you make yourself: you feel like there are infinite possibilities of slight adjustments, and I, at least, cannot stop myself from trying every single variation. I modified this necklace until I got sick of it. It also didn’t help that in general when I look at these things that I have made myself, I only see the imperfections, those details that could have been altered with a little more time and patience.

Now I would like to make another necklace, but after making and breaking the first over and over and oooover again, I feel sick just thinking about starting a new one. It’s not going to happen soon, which is okay, I guess, since I haven’t even worn this one enough times to justify the need for another. My glamorous life, you will be shocked to find, does not have much space for dressing up in jewels, even when it is such a modest, “casual” thing, like a crochet necklace. However, I do like very much this one that got made, and even if it will never have a twin, I think I’ll be fine with that. Or maybe I will change my mind and take up the crochet hook again, once I forget what a pain it was to make this first one.