My Prize Winning Marseille Crochet Necklace

I am happy to report that my Marseille Necklace won 2nd prize in the Crochet Guild of America's Annual Design Competition, held at the Knit and Crochet Show in Manchester New Hampshire.
I set myself an interesting challenge for this project. I really wanted to put the necklace together by working in a freeform manner, and I didn't want to have any preconceived notions as to what it was going to look like. I have a large bag of scrumbles and unused pieces from old designs, so I decided that I would limit myself to using pieces from that bag first and then only crochet bits to fill in, if needed.

I emptied the bag and set to work sorting out pieces that I found interesting, and that I thought went together. Next, I got out my necklace form and began manipulating and pinning pieces in different combinations until I had a pleasing arrangement. Then, I spent a few days looking at it and experimenting with different ways of embellishing it. I even tried beads and sequins on it, but found that they didn't add anything to the look.  I decided that all of the embellishment would be made with yarn in embroidery or surface crochet. My favorite experiment and discovery, was the edging I put on the center medallion and sides of the necklace. I was ripping out one of my pieces to reuse the yarn, and since it had been blocked previously, the yarn became marvelously squiggly. I stitched it to the necklace with invisible thread and it made a nice delicate edging.  

I had all the blue and green pieces pinned together, but I still thought it needed another element. On a whim, I picked up a piece of lace from the bag and pinned it above blue and green pieces. I wouldn't have planned the necklace with lace on top, so I was surprised at how much I liked it!  Suddenly all the pieces fell into the right places, just in time for the deadline!  I was so glad, because I really wanted to participate in the competition.

Here is where the pieces came from:

The blue pieces were from made to go on my Geometric Splash shower curtain. I made them to use on the curtain, but in the end I didn't need them. They began as odd shaped strips, and I coiled up for the necklace.

Geometric Splash Shower Curtain

The Spiral squares were from a necklace that I had planned on making, but never did.

The ring on top of the medallion was left over from my film recycling crochet project. I covered it with thread, which gave it a plaid effect and added another level of texture to the necklace.

The lace was leftover from a baby sweater I made for my niece. I like that it is lacy and modern at the same time.

Niece's Baby Sweater

Necklace Fastening

The only pieces I had to crochet to complete the necklace were; the strip I wove through the lace, the blue ring that holds the film ring, and the bobble that acts as a fastener for the necklace. It was a really enjoyable project and a nice break from pattern writing!

If you would like to see the rest of the winning entries in the competition see Doris Chan's blog post.