eNewsletter
May 2012
Knitting and Crochet with Beads
One of the fun techniques in both knitting and crochet is incorporating beads into your work.
The easiest way that comes to mind is sewing beads after you finish your work.
However this technique is not only tedious, but it might not always create good results.
Another way of working beads into your work is by threading beads onto the yarn and knit/crochet the beads as you go.
With this technique you can create pictorial scenes or place beads randomly across the fabric.
If you are using a few beads, threading them with a beading needle makes sense.
But if you have a lot of beads to thread maybe using a device called "Bead Spinner" would be of help.
It looks like a bowl that has a spindle in the center which can spin the bowl around.
It comes with different gauges of wire needles and a base that the bowl can easily spin on.
To make it work, fill the bowl with beads to about half full. Place it on a flat surface covered with a towel.
The towel catches any beads that fly off the bead-spinner. Thread your wire-needle. Then shape the end of it into a hook.
Hold the needle in one hand, and with the other hand give the bead-spinner a twirl so the beads spin toward the needle.
Dip the needle into the bowl making sure it does not touch any of the edge. The beads start climbing on your needle.
No, the beads are not crazy! We force them to jump on to the needle because of centrifugal effects.
Working with the bead-spinner needs a bit of patience and practice, but it is worth the time.
You can watch the video on using it by following the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uMQkYWsBJI.
A third way of working with beads is to work them in as the work progresses.
In this technique there is no threading involved.
However, the process of working with beads this way is more time consuming.
To introduce you to knitting and crocheting with beads, Needlecraft University offers several classes.
Check them out and choose the one you prefer.
Nazanin S. Fard
Needlecraft University