Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Beaded Knitting How To

I didn't find a lot of instructions for beaded knitting when I was researching it. So I've written a description.


Bead Knitting, worked from a chart
© Jane McLellan 2018

Materials
Knitting needles size 2mm, beads size 8, perle cotton no 8, bead needle, grid chart. Here I'm working with chart from Family Knitting by Kaffe Fassett and Zoe Hunt, page 43:

Threading the Beads
Follow the chart from the top right hand corner, working right to left. So first of all thread 12 white beads onto the thread
Then thread 1 black bead, 9 white beads, 2 black beads. Work downwards on the chart, right to left, row by row.



Knitting
Abbreviations: K knit; Sl slip 1 purlwise, B slide bead into place

Cast on 3 more stitches than there are squares on the chart, in this case, 15 stitches.
Knit one row (right side)
Wrong side row: Sl 1, *K1, B, repeat from * until there are 2 sts left, K2.
Read the chart from the bottom left hand corner, left to right, to check that beads are correctly strung.



Right side row: Sl1, K remaining stitches.

Continue in this way, sliding a bead into place after every stitch on the wrong side and knitting the right side rows.
When chart is complete, cast off loosely.

Working From A Larger Chart
It's not a good idea to string too many beads onto the thread. They become unmanageable, and can damage the perle thread. If you're working from a bigger chart, you need to divide the chart into sections, thread each section from right hand corner, right to left and work each section from chart bottom left hand corner, left to right:


















C




























































D




































A




























































B


















So if this chart was divided in half, begin threading at A, working at B. Then cut thread and begin threading from C, work this section from D.

A Few Tips
To help slide beads along the thread, put the ball on the floor – gravity!
Shallow jar lids work well to hold beads of different colours. It helps to put everything on a tray when beading.
At first, sliding beads into place feels awkward, but it gets easier with practice.

I'll make a PDF version and put a link on the sidebar, so that I can find it again. 

7 comments:

  1. That's an excellent tutorial, thank you Jane :))))

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for taking the time to write this tutorial! I don't knit myself, but I'm sure people who do will find it very useful.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, Jane, this is so clear and you make it look very very easy !!! And you always wow me with the range of your new learning ! Thanks for sharing this - hope I find time to try it some day.
    Hugs

    ReplyDelete
  4. Very nice pictures your beading covers many different fiber arts🌹❤🌹

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've done beaded crochet, but not beaded knitting. I've bookmarked your tutorial for future use. Thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  6. thanks so much for this! I now see what it is and it actually looks do-able, even for a rubbish knitter like me!

    ReplyDelete