Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Versatility with Beads


Versatility with Beads
Originally uploaded by Project Pictures
Success, I think! The bobbles are gone and I'm pretty much back to where I was before giving up on them.

I'm really pleased with the beads. They are a nice visual element to take the place of the textural element the bobbles provided. Since I did not completely frog the project, I couldn't string the beads on the yarn. But then again, I never planned to do so.

One of the wonderful people in my knitting group did a gorgeous shawl and shared a small trick with us for placing the beads. Rather than pre-string them on the yarn and fiddle with them for the whole project, she found a very (VERY) small crochet hook. She explained that whenever you got to a stitch that needed a bead, simply drop it off the needles and pull the whole thing through the bead with the crochet hook. Then place it back on the needles and continue knitting. This has an added advantage of centering up the bead on both strands of the stitch, rather than on one side. If you can't find a crochet hook small enough, a thin strand of wire folded in half can also work to pull the yarn through the bead.

It's a very handy trick and saves the time and energy of struggling with all those pre-strung beads on your yarn.

2 comments:

Rhiannon said...

How do you find the weight of the beads so far? Are they making the scarf very heavy?

It is a very cool look. I was debating on whether I wanted the bobbles or not, but find I don't like those that are being knit with nothing at all. Yours is very nice!

TinkerTots said...

Actually I find it gives the project a nice heft so far. Not too heavy, just substantial. I'll comment again if that changes!