Crochet Spider Web Necklace

Years ago, I decided to crochet a spider web necklace for Halloween. After failing to figure out how I wanted it to look, I gave up. Each Halloween since I have thought about it, but have never come up with a design. This year, I finally figured it out. It is pretty basic, but I love how it came out.

You can add an extra special touch with my Tatted Black Widow Spider. Use a jump ring to attach it right to the spider web necklace or put it on the end of a chain and attach a pair of them to earrings!

Supplies List:

• Size 5 /1.90MM Crochet Hook
• White Size 10 Crochet Thread - I ended up using 2 strands of size 10, but you can also just use 1 strand of a larger size such as Size 3.
• Small Jump Rings
• Necklace Clasp
• Chain (optional) - You might need this if you make the necklace too short and you need to add length to where you clasp it.
• Scissors
• Fray Check (optional) - I'm horrible at weaving in and hiding my ends so I used this kind of like glue after I tied and wove in my threads to make sure things wouldn't come back out.
• Iron (optional)
• Spray bottle with water (optional)
• Spray Starch (optional)

You can really do whatever you want with this necklace. I think there is a lot of room for improvements and variations. I'll try to give you as detailed instructions as I can but remember that results may vary based on how tight or loose you crochet. I am a tight crocheter. Also, the lengths are more important than the chain counts, so pay more attention to the measurements than the numbers.

Start by making your necklace base.

Do a chain stitch until you have a chain that reaches all the way around your neck and leaves a little room (you will want to account for the space the clasp and jump rings take up). My chain was about 13 1/4" long. Once your chain is long enough, chain another 3 stitches then turn and do a double crochet stitch in the 4th chain from the hook. Now continue all the way across doing a double crochet in each chain. Tie it off when you are done and you have the base of your necklace.

I apologize ahead of time about my directions. It is a lot easier to probably just look at and imitate than try to follow written directions.

[I tried to make this a little easier with the measurements in the first image.]

Now that you have the base of the necklace, find the middle and mark it.

Taking your two strands of thread, start another chain, go until it is about 2.75" long (I think that was about 24 chains for me).

Now going through the front to the back, slip stitch into that center you marked. Continue your chain for another 2.75" or 24 chains. The important thing is it hangs down the same length as your first chain.

Do this one more time right next to your first chain, connecting into the same spot as the first (the center of the necklace).

Lastly, go between these two chains and starting from that center stitch, slip stitch and chain until it is 2.75" long.

You should now have 5 chains hanging down from the center of your necklace base. Tie off and hide all your strands so you don't have a mess. I recommend doing tiny knots, weaving in the strands, then using fray check to hold everything in place. Once that dries, trim off the ends and you can move on.

Now it's time to connect these chains and make the web design. When doing this part of the necklace, I find it helpful to hold the necklace up to your neck like you are wearing it once in a while because you don't want the necklace to look good flat, it needs to look right when it is sitting on you and it will be curved.

Start by slip stitching into your necklace base about 1 1/8" or 9 stitches from the center.

Start your chain and do about 1" or 8 stitches (you want this to droop a little like a spider web, you don't want it to be taught). Slip stitch into the right side of the chain of the first strand you come to about 1" or 8 stitches down from the top (after experimenting, I found slip stitching into just the right side gave me the results I wanted, you can try both strands and see if it works better for you).

When deciding where on the first strand to attach, try to plan ahead where your other 2 strands will attach. You want to have them about evenly spaced and leave just a little (maybe 2 stitches) of the bottom of the strand hanging out.

Chain about .75" or 6 stitches and slip stitch into the next strand. Continue with these counts to each strand.

When you get to the other side, chain about 1" or 8 stitches and slip stitch back into your necklace base about 1 1/8" or 9 stitches from the center.

I recommended leaving a few inches of thread and then cutting it off. Right now just pull your thread through the chain and leave it. If you just leave it for now, you can always go back and redo this row with more or fewer chains depending on how the necklace looks at the end.

Do this two more times.

For the second strand:

• Start about 1.25" or 10 stitches from the last chain on the necklace base.
• Slip stitch and chain 1.75" or 16 stitches.
• Slip stitch in right chain on the first strand (go down about .75" or 6 stitches down from the last chain).
• Chain 1.25" or 11 stitches and slip stitch in the second strand.
• Repeat for each strand.
• Chain 1.75" or 16 stitches and slip stitch into necklace base about 1.25" or 10 stitches from the last strand.

For the third and final strand:

• Start about 1.25" or 10 stitches from the last chain on the necklace base.
• Slip stitch and chain 2.75" or 24 stitches.
• Slip stitch in the right chain on the first strand (go down about .75" or 6 stitches down from the last chain, you should still have about 2 stitches left on the strand at the bottom)
• Chain 1.75" or 15 stitches and slip stitch in the second strand.
• Repeat for each strand
• Chain 2.75" or 16 stitches and slip stitch into the necklace base about 1.25" or 10 stitches from the last strand.

You can skip this first part if you want, but I find it helps to try to give your necklace structure.

Start by laying down a towel (I would say to go with white since your piece is white and you don't want it to get dirty or have colored fuzz stick to it). Shape and move parts of the necklace until it looks how you want. Since it will sit curved against your neck, I but the strands up in a "V" shape and made sure all the strands sat just how I wanted them.

Now, lightly spritz your piece and then fold your towel over the top. Carefully iron. Don't directly iron the piece. You'll just push it out of shape and could damage it.

After I gave it a quick iron, I laid it out on a clean piece of cardboard (the inside of a cereal box) and sprayed it with some spray starch. I did a light layer to the front and back and then laid it on a dry piece of cardboard to dry.

Once it is dry you can attach a jump ring to one end of the necklace base and a jump ring and clasp to the other side. If you need to add more length, put the clasp on one end and use a jump ring to attach a small length of chain to the other end.

Now you are done!

Wear your necklace by itself or find some fun extras to accompany it!

Tatted Black Widow Spider

I actually made one necklace and it looked nothing like a spider web (I wish had drawn it out first, I thought it was going to work but after it failed I started sketching designs and I could see it was obviously not going to work that way). But I'm glad I tried again! Never give up :)