Beads

I'm thinking of trying beaded knitting, but have never bought a bead
in my life. I have no idea where to look, what sizes are appropriate,
etc. What I'm interested in is natural semi-precious stones. The
sites that I've looked at sell the beads by the strand. Is that
normal? Do you get a strand then slide them off? Anybody got a
source they just love?

All this and any other info or opinions you're willing to share is
greatly appreciated.

Hesira

On Nov 5, 12:58 pm, hesira wrote:
I'm thinking of trying beaded knitting, but have never bought a bead
in my life.

I LOVE knitting with beads. I'm not saying it isn't a bit slower than
regular knitting but I love the little sparkle. I knit with seed beads
on the whole. Of course they only really work with laceweight, you'll
need something larger if you are using a thicker yarn.

I don't like to thread all my beads on the yarn first, I've done that
for cast on rows when I've wanted beads at the very edge, but I prefer
to add them individually after that. I generally use what's known as
the "crochet hook method" but I don't use a crochet hook (it's a pain
finding one small enough and it's fiddly), instead I thread some beads
onto some non-fraying thread (with a beading needle attached), then
take the needle through the stitch, through the bead again and slide
the bead on.

There is a handy Knitty article:
http://www.knitty.com/issuespring06/...edbybeads.html

VP

Although I have yet to try it, I think Knitting with Beads by Jane Davis is
a good resource.

--
Jan in MN

"hesira" wrote ...
I'm thinking of trying beaded knitting, but have never bought a bead
in my life. I have no idea where to look, what sizes are appropriate,
etc. What I'm interested in is natural semi-precious stones. The
sites that I've looked at sell the beads by the strand. Is that
normal? Do you get a strand then slide them off? Anybody got a
source they just love?

All this and any other info or opinions you're willing to share is
greatly appreciated.

Hesira

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and advice. Whew! I can see how
people get involved in beadwork! What gorgeous stuff! I'm thinking
small: Beading the fringe for a Montego Bay Scarf. I don't remember
if that's part of the pattern or I just got it in my head to do it.
It's a simple net scarf with a fringe & I thought it would look nice
with some beads dangling from it.

I need to go upstairs and fish out that issue of IK to see if it's
called for and has directions, or if I have to figure it out for
myself.

Thanks again ya'll!

Hesira

I've seen it spelled both ways. I think the ya'll spelling indicates
less of a division between the y sound and the rest of the word. I
pronounce it the way everyone else around here does: YAWL or YAW, one
syllable. I think Texans have a different drawl than Mississippians
and Alabamians (I don't know if that's the right term). They may draw
it out into 2 syllables. I don't really mind how it's spelled, but
what irks me is when someone uses it as a singular rather than a
plural.

I am a born and bred Mississippian, but still get called a Yankee
because my mom is from Pennsylvania. My dad's folks are from Texas
and Okalahoma, but that doesn't count, I guess

Hesira


On Nov 4, 9:31 pm, Wooly nobody@nunya wrote:
hesira wrote:

ya'll

Y'all. You + all. Properly pronounced - which I can't do since I'm not
from here and didn't learn how to speak here - by a good old boy in a
dirty Stetson and beat-up Ropers it sounds more like yuh-awl only run
together.

Sorry. I always confuse its and it's (always have, always will) but
y'all is one contraction I know well, as my father-in-law who called me
a Damned Yankee until the day he died spelled it for me my third day here

As in, All y'all damned Yankees get on home now, y'hear?

On Sun, 04 Nov 2007 15:58:14 -0800, hesira
wrote:

I'm thinking of trying beaded knitting, but have never bought a bead
in my life. I have no idea where to look, what sizes are appropriate,
etc. What I'm interested in is natural semi-precious stones. The
sites that I've looked at sell the beads by the strand. Is that
normal? Do you get a strand then slide them off? Anybody got a
source they just love?

Hesira

In The Prolific Knitting Machine, the woman who wrote it suggests that
if you are using beads on a sweater to make sure the beads are closer
to the top of the shoulders than around the bottom hem. Beads can be
heavy and distort the fabric when hanging off the bottoms if they are
really large. I'm sure this applies to HK items as well.

For an all over beaded look, there are many books about knitting
beaded purses. Threads Magazine published a book with a collection of
their knitting articles, and it includes working with sequins and
making beading purses. They recommend silk thread for their beaded
purses, as it doesn't get abraded as easily by the beads.
www.baglady.com has a few different books on knitting and crocheting
with beads that might be helpful. I have just picked up one of her
books and have a beaded amulet purse in mind. Her method involves
slipping strands of beads rather than having 1 bead = 1 st as the
article in Threads focuses on.

For threading beads, for really fine ones, they suggest either a
beading needle or you can apply a bit of glue on your thread, rolling
it to a point and allowing it to dry/harden, and then using that to
thread your beads, re-applying glue as needed.

HTH

Leah

hesira wrote:
I'm thinking of trying beaded knitting, but have never bought a bead
in my life. I have no idea where to look, what sizes are appropriate,
etc. What I'm interested in is natural semi-precious stones. The
sites that I've looked at sell the beads by the strand. Is that
normal? Do you get a strand then slide them off? Anybody got a
source they just love?

All this and any other info or opinions you're willing to share is
greatly appreciated.

Hesira


Depending on the size of your yarn, you will need to be careful that the
hole is big enough. There are beads called "pony" bead that have a
larger hole. You may have quite a hard time finding the semiprecious
stones with large enough holes, unless you are happy to do very small
beads and very thin yarn.
There is bead knitting, where you fix a bead with a twisted stich, and
beaded knitting, where you sting the beads first and then do straight
garter with beads on the right and wrong sides. The little beaded purses
are made that way, and you can use crochet cotton and seed beads. I've
done two of those.
Madelaine

On Nov 4, 10:21 pm, hesira wrote:
I've seen it spelled both ways. I think the ya'll spelling indicates
less of a division between the y sound and the rest of the word. I
pronounce it the way everyone else around here does: YAWL or YAW, one
syllable. I think Texans have a different drawl than Mississippians
and Alabamians (I don't know if that's the right term). They may draw
it out into 2 syllables. I don't really mind how it's spelled, but
what irks me is when someone uses it as a singular rather than a
plural.

I am a born and bred Mississippian, but still get called a Yankee
because my mom is from Pennsylvania. My dad's folks are from Texas
and Okalahoma, but that doesn't count, I guess

Hesira

On Nov 4, 9:31 pm, Wooly nobody@nunya wrote:



hesira wrote:

ya'll

Y'all. You + all. Properly pronounced - which I can't do since I'm not
from here and didn't learn how to speak here - by a good old boy in a
dirty Stetson and beat-up Ropers it sounds more like yuh-awl only run
together.

Sorry. I always confuse its and it's (always have, always will) but
y'all is one contraction I know well, as my father-in-law who called me
a Damned Yankee until the day he died spelled it for me my third day here

As in, All y'all damned Yankees get on home now, y'hear?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I've seen "ya'll" a number of times, including printed on a T-shirt.
It is a misspelling. And the way Hollywood comedians use the
word...they do not know that it is a plural, never a singular. They
seem to understand New York's "youse"; why can't they stretch their
minds just a bit farther and accept Southern/Western idiom?

Alabama and Mississippi do have different accents than Texas does.
Texas has five different ones!

Cece

In article . com,
hesira wrote:
I'm thinking of trying beaded knitting, but have never bought a bead
in my life. I have no idea where to look, what sizes are appropriate,
etc. What I'm interested in is natural semi-precious stones.

The sites that I've looked at sell the beads by the strand.
Is that normal? Do you get a strand then slide them off?

I don't do beaded knitting but I've been to bead shows and yes,
it is normal to buy beads by the strand. The strand is on a thread
that is just strong enough to hold the weight, so you can't just
add a clasp, you have to slide them off and string them properly.
Natural semi-precious stones will vary in color, which makes the
strands of beads kind of a run-of-the-mill thing. If buying by
mail I would get an extra strand so you can weed out any slightly
different ones. If you're at the show you can pore over the
strands to choose which ones have the most of the kind you like,
but you still can't unstring them and pick only the good beads!

=Tamar