Cranberry Delight - In Progress

According to my project page on Ravelry, I started this project on November 25, 2010.  Yes, 2010.  It has been sitting in my bead project box waiting patiently for me to return to it.  Well, this weekend I finally did.  I pulled it out, and did some more stringing of beads, and started in on the crocheting.  I was having a devil of a time starting out the spiral bead crochet, especially with the small drops, so I finally gave up and strung several rounds of the size 11 seed beads and started out with a plain bead crochet rope.  Once I had that established, it was easy to transition into the spiral.  I did have to do a little improvisation when I discovered that I had somehow missed a bead on a previous round in the plain bead crochet and I was a bead short.  I did an increase and you can't even see it now.

I was also having a heck of a time maintaining tension while crocheting.  Between the thin thread and the fact that it is silk, it just was not cooperating.  I finally solved that problem by setting the spool on the floor by my foot and letting the beads hang down and pool on the floor next to it.  The weight of the beads tensions the thread perfectly, and it is easy to lift the strand and feed out more thread.  The entire project is sitting in one of my beading boards.  They are great for laying out beads for stringing, but they also work to corral components.  The metal tool at the bottom of the picture is one of my dental picks.  They are great for snagging the loop if it accidentally slips off of the crochet hook.  The strand of leaves are carved tourmaline, aren't they swell?  I love the colors, the cranberry drops and the gold size 11 beads really catch the light, while the olive lined with purple are so solid.  I love the puddle of strung beads with the champagne gold silk.  The crochet was too tight to get a strand of Soft Flex through, so I am going to have to come up with a new design for the assembly, but I have some ideas.