*** File last modified on May 30, 1994 *** This file was originally compiled by Martha Underwood (ddancer@netcom.com). Please send updates to Emily Way (spamily@io.org). *** The following are three posts to the knitting list about knitting with beads. <1> From: Lise [er@balkis.bellcore.com] Knitting with beads is sort of a pain, but it looks wonderful when you're done. First you decide where in the fabric you want the beads to appear (say, with three stitches between beads, rows of beads staggered, two rows between bead rows, which would give you something like this: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Then you figure out how many beads that is, and string them all onto your yarn (Start this process with a full skein of yarn BTW, because when you get to the end of a skein you have to slide off all the beads you didn't use and restring them on a new skein). Slide the beads down the yarn and knit as usual till you're ready to place a bead. Slide the bead up the yarn to the needle point. In your next knit stitch, loop the yarn on the left needle over the stitch AND THE BEAD, which holds the bead perfectly in place. WARNING: You absolutely MUST work a substantial gauge swatch before you start this. You want to make sure that the placement you have worked out looks the way you want it to, and beads in place look very different from beads in a container or even spread out on the actual fabric. I've found myself that for my taste the beads can be sparser than I'd expected to get a good effect, you may find the exact opposite. Also you'll want to practice with the the little things, to see how they actually lie when you've knitted them in--there's always a bit of an offset, and a bit of a twist, and you can't quite predict it <2> From: Rosemary [rbrock@prosaix.com] Several years ago (6, 7?) when they held the World Black Sheep Congress in Eugene, Oregon, I attended it with a friend. I do not now, or ever want to, raise sheep, angora goats, llamas, or alpacas. Well, maybe alpacas... I was there to help my friend stop feeling like she was an old woman and perhaps she should move in with her son. (It worked, she's still at home raising animals.) IN ANY CASE, there I was, surrounded by a bunch of people talking about sheep genetics. I looked at the conference workshops and they were pretty slim for non-sheep growers. I ended up taking a workshop on creating beaded yarns from L. Mintzer (sp?). First of all, let me say that I like traditional yarns. I consider a lot of 'novelty' yarns as examples of bad spinning. Sort of like when programmers say something is a 'feature' as opposed to a 'bug'. My idea of fun spinning is true worsted-prep'd, worsted-spun yarn. Now that I have identified myself as highly opinionated and rather a grump, I will proceed. The class was taught by a lady from New York. She sells these designer yarns that have semi-precious beads spun into them. A 20-yard skein sells for ~$40. I will describe the technique as she did it first. She starts out with a 25-yard length of beading thread. She has about a 45" leader w/o beads. The beads are then individually knotted about every 4". This is done with an overhand knot. As she creates this piece with beads, she winds it onto a niddy-noddy. She then plys this beaded piece in with two other singles, usually of a luxury fiber like silk or alpalca. (You need to do this with a wheel with a fairly large oriface.) As you ply your yarn, the poor niddy-noddy bounces around on the floor. That is it. The beads do need to be knotted onto the beading thread--otherwise they will travel through the plying and distort it even more. This yarn is not meant to be the only yarn used in a project (esp. at $40/20 yards). It is too heavy. It is used as an effect yarn, around necklines, whatever. I asked why she was only making a 25-yard length of beading thread. And she said that it was all that could be done. God, I hate absolute statements. Well, since I didn't want to attend the lectures on the finer points of sheep breeding, I sat around and played with the technique. If you take a small spool of beading thread, and wind off about 2 yards, DON'T cut it. Put a half hitch at the spool so that it doesn't keep unwinding. Then put a bunch of beads on the thread. I mean, hundreds. If you want to use different kinds of beads in a special order, than you need to put them on in that order. Leave ~1 yard as your leader, then knot in about 18-35" of beads (last on, first knotted). This can be done with the overhand knot, by dropping the spool w/extra beads through the loop. When you need more bead thread, undo your half hitch and wind it out, then redo the half hitch. So I was able to do a 150-yard skein w/o much trouble. The semi-precious beads can be acquired through most beading shops. I have also done this with the little tiny beads. They actually don't need to be knotted in. It is not my favorite technique (see above). But if you want beading in a sweater, you might think about it. <3> From: LMACCARY%CCC.WHI@hub.fhcrc.org (Laura J MacCary) I gave a copy of the FAQs to my friend Kathy who also knits, and she asked me to send her response to the beading FAQ to the list. She says: If you write back to your mailing list, you might want to mention that the beading technique I used worked very well and didn't require knitting in the bead or knotting the yarn. In stockinette stitch, you just knit up to the stitch before the beaded stitch, bring the yarn and the next bead to the front of the work, slip the next stitch, and return the yarn (but not the bead) to the back of the work. Knit the next stitch fairly firmly, and then continue knitting. On the return row, purl the slipped stitch. The slip stitch will never show because it has the bead sitting in front of it. This sounds very simple to me, and her velvet jacket with the beaded sleeves is really lovely, so I thought I should share.