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.