Another way of crocheting with beads

Rachel at The Life of Riley has inspired me with some interesting ideas! For a non-crocheter, she sure has sparked an attempt at crocheting creativity from me.

In January, she posted a necklace her mother-in-law made around 20 years ago. It was called Crocheted Beaded Necklace, so of course, it caught my eye. Go take a look...but be sure to come back.

After seeing that post and other necklaces made by her m-i-l, I started thinking about ways to make some simple and elegant jewelry that would take a bit less time than the Bead Crochet Rope necklaces that I usually make. Specifically, I had an idea for a necklace that would go with a formal I'm thinking about wearing this spring.

On Tuesday, I stopped in Hobby Lobby to take a look at their beads. I wanted to see if they had anything that matched what was in my imagination. Most of all, I just wanted to find something that I could try as a trial run.

This is what I came up with.

Note it is very similar to Rachel's, but it's not nearly as pretty. As I said, this was my trial, so I just used some very cheapy "pearls" and old green thread borrowed from my mom's stash a while ago. But it was enough to show hubby to see if he liked the concept I was trying to describe to him.

I also found some other great beads for $1. I tried something similar to the above necklace at first, but with less beads, I wasn't sold on the finished look.

Try number 2, I kept them closer together:

I like this a little better, but I'm considering yet another attempt. What if I were to keep all the beads closer together at the bottom of the necklace with fewer chains in between and more chains toward the top and back of my neck? Does that make sense? Would that look better or worse? Or do you need a visual of it like I would?

Now, keep in mind, neither of us are sure that we're settled on this thread, either, but these are so easy to make, I don't mind trying several things before deciding what I want. And I think these beads are SO pretty that I don't want the whole necklace to look cheesy.

Here's a closer shot of the beads:

Earth tones with some golf flecks.

To wrap it all up, let me show you why I developed a Crochet Callous while doing these on Tuesday night.

Notice this hook has a little extender on the end of it? I think I mentioned before that these tiny hooks belonged to my great-grandmother years ago (I just love having a little family history to them!), but I really wish I knew some stories behind them. All I can tell is that the brand appears to be Milward, and it was made in England. Well, that little slit on the extender happens to land right against the palm of my hand under my pinkie (or is it pinky?). It's not always very comfortable, but this is the first time I noticed any "battle scars" from it!

Well, share your ideas with me! I always feel like I can feed off others' creativity much better than trying to come up with all of it on my own. How should I use those earth tone/gold fleck beads?