Crochet With Wire

The most popular question any person who sees a design made using beads crocheted on either wire or fiber is: How did you get the bead in the stitch?

The second most popular question is: How do I take what I learned from my mom (or my grandmother) and translate it into crocheted wire jewelry?

If your plan is to work with a favorite bead, then wire and hook will be chosen with the bead(s) in mind. Choose any type–glass, stone, crystal or pearl. Choose any shape–smooth and round or textured and misshapen. All that counts is that the bead sits in or on the wire stitch.

Hook Size

Determine the size of your stitch with the hook size. For example, an aluminum ”F” hook gives you a stitch that approximates a 6mm opening. So a 6mm bead will sit on and take up much of the wire stitch. If you are working with a 9mm potato pearl (freshwater) you might want to work with a ”G” or an ”H” aluminum hook. These will create a larger stitch to house the bead within it. Nuggets and chips look great clinging to their little wire nests which are worked with smaller steel hooks that are labeled by number rather than letters.

The type of wire and gauge of wire are important in two ways. The type of wire you choose should be soft and malleable to form in the hook yet strong enough to carry the bead. The wire should also be firm enough not to stretch out.

Ideal wires are fine silver and colored copper. They meet the need to stay malleable and are not work-hardened by the metal hook. Sterling silver, gold-filled and niobium wires can be crocheted also, but are not as malleable because they are alloyed with other metals and can work-harden, giving you less control over how you form the stitch(es).

And, oh yes, how DO you get the bead in each stitch? Well, you just string all the beads onto the wire before you begin stitching with the hook and then you work them into each stitch as it is being formed. Now, who would have thought of that?