How to Make A Crocheted Copper Bracelet

  crocheted wire bracelet in afghan stitch

My Hungarian grandmothers decided I should learn to crochet, at an early age. So, I did. But I was never taught the Afghan stitch, it is made so that you can do a counted cross stitch on the panels, there are the rows, with each stitch showing as a vertical line. It is a very uniform, stable, easy to do stitch, gives a loomed look to your piece.

First, practice on yarn, then hit the hardware store and get copper wire. Jon has long since discovered he can not take me with him to hit Home Depot, nothing is safe there is wire there. silly man.

26ga, 28ga and 30ga are the easiest to work with. Working with 24gauge and heavier, well, you will get the feeling back in your fingers after a couple months. but it's pretty.

first step, start your foundation row with chain stitches, depending on how wide you want it, I like using about 6 chains, that will give you a
working row of 5 active, those will be worked off the hook, then picked up and carried on the hook. the hooks are short, so you more or less have a limit of 15, those would end up a squished amount to use, but wouldn't show in the finished work.

Step 2

For the first row, insert hook into first chain, work like you are doing a single crochet stitch, but do not to the final step of pulling thru that last loop. you want to leave the stitch on the hook, like knitting. Continue across, and take a breath, you did the first step!

BIG TIP: do not stop a row mid stitch, you will never be able to get the tension back, so unless there is copious blood, and a small child is standing in front of you holding an arm, it can wait till you get to the end of the row.

Step 3

To work off the row, catch the wire, with the hook, the lead wire off the spool. pull the wire thru the first loop only. then, do it for the next stitch but pull it thru 2 loops and continue on pulling thru 2 loops. When you finish you totally finished the first step and now, you just have to keep doing it, till the bracelet is as long as you want it.

Step 4

chain enough stitches at the end, to attach it to the other side of the same end, that is part of the clasp. You are almost done. on the other side, use a piece of 22ga wire, weave it into the piece, end with a circle using round nose pliers, top and bottom, end with round nose pliers, make a circle, and catch top of each side.(first and last stitches of each last row)
use a c clasp and attach at the middle. or, you can make a hook, either will work well.

you could also use magnetic, if that is how you want to go, use the 22ga wire on each end, then attach the magnetic clasp on each end.
they do work.

Things You'll Need: crochet hook, f, g, h aluminum not plastic copper wire, 26 ga is best. DON'T FORGET