• Bead Up Your Knitting

Bead Up Your Knitting

As if knitting isn't fun, creative and challenging enough on its own, someone came up with the brilliant idea of knitting with beads. Adding beads to your knitting can be done in several ways, and a brief explanation of three methods follows.

Choosing Yarn & Beads

The most important thing to consider when knitting with beads is the size of the chosen yarn compared to the size of the chosen bead. Be sure the bead will slide easily over the yarn. Three sizes of seed beads are used for most knitting projects, and the larger the bead number, the smaller the size. Here's a general outline of comparative sizes.

• Lace-weight yarn works well with size 11° seed beads.
• Fingering yarns works well with size 8° seed beads.
• DK and sport-weight yarn work well with size 6° seed beads.

Getting Started

Photo 1: String your beads onto the yarn before you begin knitting.

Photo 2: Slip-stitched beads peek out from the center of cables.

Photo 3: Slip-stitched beads enhance a plain stockinette stitch background.

Photo 4: Beads lie between stitches of a reverse stockinette stitch column.

Photo 5: Beads are placed between garter stitches on both right- and wrong-side rows.

Photo 6: Beads are pre-strung following a chart and then knitted or purled into every stitch.

Photo 7: Beads are pre-strung following a chart and then knitted into certain stitches also following the chart.

Photo 8: The swatch shows a plain pattern repeat at the bottom and the same pattern repeat with beads at the top.

The methods of knitting with beads presented here require that you string beads onto your yarn before you start knitting. You can use either a big-eye beading needle or a dental-floss threader to accomplish this task. Place your beads in a small bowl or on a cloth surface (Vellux, terry cloth or felt work well). Thread your yarn through the needle and then use the needle to pick up beads (Photo 1) -- don't pick up a bead with your hand and place it on the needle, or it will take far too long. Once you have several beads on the needle, push them down onto the yarn. The beads will wait there until called for duty.

It's a good idea to rewind your yarn before you string the beads. A knot in the yarn will get in the way of your work, and it would be a shame to string hundreds of beads and then find the knot. Better to know beforehand and work around it.

Slip-Stitch Bead Knitting

With this method, you leave a bead or beads lying in front of a slipped stitch or stitches. Knit to the point where you want a bead, bring the yarn forward, slip a stitch, slide a bead up to the needle and bring the yarn to the back, leaving the bead in front of the stitch. Work the next stitch to secure. In Photo 2, beads are slipped over one stitch in the center of double-crossed cables.

You can also work from the wrong side of the work by bringing the yarn to the back (which would be the front of the work), slipping a stitch, sliding a bead up and bringing the yarn forward. This will leave a bead on the right side in front of a slipped stitch. In Photo 3, two beads were slipped over two stitches on both right- and wrong-side rows to form small squares.

Beaded Knitting

This method is the easiest to use -- you simply leave a bead or beads lying on the thread between two stitches. Work to the place you want a bead, slide a bead up to the needle and work the next stitch. That's it! If you place a bead between two knit stitches, it will lie on the back of the work. If you place a bead between two purl stitches, it will lie on the front of the work. The pattern in Photo 4 has a column of two reverse stockinette stitches between the cables, and a bead sets between these stitches every few rows. Beads may be placed on either right- or wrong side rows.

This method is often used with garter stitch and a varying number of beads between the stitches. When working this way, you place beads on both right- and wrong-side rows (Photo 5). This technique is often used to make beaded purses.

Bead Knitting

Different from beaded knitting described above, you knit or purl a bead right into the stitch with this method (Photo 6). To knit a bead, insert the right needle into the stitch on the left needle as usual, slide a bead up to the needle and pull the bead through the stitch on the needle as you complete the new stitch. To purl a bead, insert the right needle into the stitch on the left needle as usual, slide a bead up to the needle and push the bead through the stitch on the needle as you complete the new stitch, placing the bead on the right side of the work. Use this method for pictorial knitting where you string the beads following a chart and then work them into every stitch.

You may knit a bead into every stitch or into only some stitches. In Photo 7, the beads are strung according to a chart. Because you're only working them into some of the stitches, you'll need to follow the chart as you knit.

Adding Beads to Existing Patterns

Once you get the hang of how to work with beads, you can spice up many patterns. For example, let's look at the free pattern, Easy Does It by Kim Guzman, in this newsletter. The pattern is lovely as is and doesn't need further embellishment. However, since when is our knitting about need? This pattern is particularly well-suited for beading because it has a central knit stitch in the pattern motifs. The swatch in Photo 8 shows beads added with the slip-stitch method.

Here's the pattern stitch.

Rnd 1: *K1, ssk, yo, k1, yo, k2tog; rep from * to end of rnd.

Rnd 2: Knit.

Rnds 3 and 4: Rep rnds 1 and 2.

Rnd 5: *K1, yo, k2tog, k1, ssk, yo; rep from * to end of rnd.

Rnd 6: Knit.

Rnds 7 and 8: Rep Rnds 5 and 6.

Rep Rnds 1-8 for pattern.

Here's the pattern stitch with beads added. SS1B means slip stitch 1 bead.

Rnd 1: *K1, ssk, yo, k1, yo, k2tog; rep from * to end of rnd.

Rnds 2 and 4: Knit.

Rnd 3: *SS1B, ssk, yo, k1, yo, k2tog; rep from * to end of rnd.

Rnd 5: *K1, yo, k2tog, k1, ssk, yo; rep from * to end of rnd.

Rnds 6 and 8: Knit.

Rnd 7: *K1, yo, k2tog, SS1B, ssk, yo; rep from * to end of rnd.

Rep Rnds 1-8 for pattern.