For some time now I've been fascinated with
Heather Collins' designs using Cubic Right Angle Weave. She even has a
Youtube video showing how to work single needle CRAW, which made it very easy to learn. I already knew how to work two needle CRAW, but it was a time consuming process frought with tangles and it severely tried my patience. I started makeing some CRAW ropes, intending to see What Else Can You Do With a Beaded Rope? but I discovered that without some kind of embellishment the CRAW showed a LOT of thread which, for me was not acceptable.
Then I remembered a Youtube video that I'd seen showing how to work
Chenille Stitch by Sara Spoltore. It looked like it would work up as fast as CRAW, so I reviewed it then set out to create a Chenille Stitch rope. It is very supple. Flexible enough to do some inventive things with, but there's one problem. It starts with a ladder stitch in the first color. This might be OK if you're going to make it into a necklace or bracelet. Just finish off with a similar stitch and add a clasp and all will be well, but it was too rigid to work with my What Else Can You Do With A Beaded Rope project.
Time to rethink. The start of the Chenille stitch is similar to Herringbone or Ndebele start and I remembered Jennifer VanBenschoten had written an article for Beading Daily about the
Traditional start for flat Herringbone . I went back and reviewed that, made a few adjustments and came up with a borderless start for my Chenille Stitch! Now it's time to get busy and see What Else. . . Yellow and purple are going to be very "warming" to work with. It's cold here and I'm sooo ready for spring.
