Hot Chili Peppers

This weekend I went to the library and found a few bead books to inspire me.  I picked up a book called The Beaded Edge: Inspired Designs for Crocheted Edgings and Trims by Midori Nishida/CRK Design.  Although the only crochet stitch I know is a simple chain stitch, the designs in this book were so dainty and pretty I wanted to see if I could adapt them to make charms and earrings.  The book provides great images and instructions to create fun trims for bags, clothing and  even houseware.  I linked up to Amazon.com but maybe you could find this book in your library or local bookstore.

The first project I worked on was a simple but adorable red hot pepper. The stitch to make the pepper is the Peyote Stitch that is zipped up. The book uses DMC yarn but I used Fireline as my thread and instead of making several peppers to create and edging, I stopped at one pair of peppers.  Here is my hot pepper earrings.

As you can see, I made yellow peppers too.  My yellow peppers will be made into a bookmark that I hope to post later.  I want to work on more of the designs in this book and maybe I'll be brave enough to try it - crochet style.

Check out these links:
- How to Peyote Stitch
- How to Zip Up Peyote Stitch
- The Beaded Edge: Inspired Designs for Crocheted Edgings and Trims
- Red Pepper Earrings, Etsy