This cheerful Christmas “rocket” ornament is a classic Czech decoration worked in bead crochet. You’ll string a color pattern of 10/0 PRECIOSA rocailles with sparkling 6/0 accents, crochet a tapered tube, add caps and eye pins, lightly stuff, and finish with a dangling bead. We’ve kept bead sizes in metric/aught, and for all lengths (thread, ribbon, etc.) we now include metric + inches for easy reading.
Materials & Tools
- PRECIOSA Rocailles 10/0 White Pearl (R10a)
- PRECIOSA Rocailles 10/0 Pink 16A26 (R10b)
- PRECIOSA Rocailles 10/0 Red 16A98 (R10c)
- PRECIOSA Rocailles 10/0 Orange 16A91 (R10d)
- PRECIOSA Rocailles 6/0 Brown 08A19 (R6) — 2 pcs
- PRECIOSA Rocailles 6/0 Silver 01700 (R6f) — ≈144 pcs
- Crochet yarn (smooth cotton) Working length: prepare a long pre‑strung spool and keep a comfortable lead of about 1.0–1.5 m (40–60 in) between beads and hook as you stitch. Leave starting/ending tails of 15–20 cm (6–8 in) to weave.
- Hook: 1.25 mm crochet hook
- Findings: 2 eye pins, 2 end caps, hanging cord/ribbon 40–50 cm (16–20 in) — add link
- Filling: a small pinch of hollow fibre (polyfill)
- Needles & tools: Big‑Eye needle or fine beading needle; scissors; flat/round‑nose pliers
Difficulty: ●●○ Technique: bead crochet Time: ~2–3 hours
Step‑by‑Step (Overview)
- String the pattern. Pre‑string 10/0 beads on your crochet yarn per the color chart. Tip: divide rows with bits of paper to avoid mix‑ups. (The design builds from Row 1: 6 beads up to a max of 36 beads around, then tapers back down.)
- Start the base circle. Make an initial loop, chain 2 without beads, then crochet 6 single crochet into the first loop to form a circle. (Leave a 15–20 cm / 6–8 in tail.)
- Add beads & build rows. Work into the back threads (the “V”s), sliding 10/0 beads into each stitch. Increase evenly until you have 12, then 18, then 24, 30, and finally 36 beads per round; add 6/0 silver accents as indicated to create the spiral ribs. Crochet straight for the middle section, then decrease symmetrically back to 6 beads.
- Cap & hang (top). Reduce at the tip, insert an eye pin, add a 6/0 brown bead and an end cap, and roll a matching eye. Attach ribbon/cord cut to 40–50 cm (16–20 in).
- Fill & finish (bottom). Lightly stuff with polyfill; continue decreasing to 6. Add the second cap and eye pin, then hang a small bead or bead dangle from the bottom eye.
Row Counts at a Glance
Bead counts (per round) as the tube grows and tapers:
- Row 1: 6 • Rows 2–5: 12 • Rows 6–9: 18 • Rows 10–13: 24 • Rows 14–17: 30 • Rows 18–32: 36 • Rows 33–36: 30 • Rows 37–40: 24 • Rows 41–44: 18 • Rows 45–48: 12 • Row 49: 6
Tips
- Keep tension even; rotate the work after each increase round to keep the spiral neat.
- Hold a comfortable working lead of 1.0–1.5 m (40–60 in) between beads and hook; slide more beads forward as needed.
- When forming eyes on pins, keep them the same size and in the same plane so the ornament hangs straight.
Design/photo credit: Preciosa Ornela / Alexandra Lysenko. Instructions adapted and paraphrased for clarity for the Shipwreck Beads blog.
