Knitting with beads

I met a young woman that had this lovely little bead purse on a chain on her neck and when I asked how she made it, she said that she knitted it.  She used a 0000 needle.  I could do similar things with the peyote stitch, but the knitting interested me.  I cannot find a needle that small.  If you knit with seed beads, please let me know with what size needle and where you get the patterns. 

Thanks,

Pat

Pat - I know that this won't be much help...but I know that I have seen things on this site about crocheting with wire and beads. I am not a knitter but it is not for a lack of trying. For some reason, no matter how much I practice and practice and practice, I cannot keep the tension even for knitting or crocheting. 

You string the beads on the yard or wire first, then you start crocheting or knitting. It would work with whatever pattern you are trying. When you get ready to pull the yard/wire through you slide a bead up so that it fits into the stitch. I know I am not explaining this very well. 

I would suggest getting some bigger needles and a little bit bigger bead to practice with a little. That way you get the hang of it before you start with the little stuff. 

I am sure that were are others that will post more useful information. My dad is a knitter so I may have to tell him about this. See what he can come up with!

Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

 Thanks for the info.  Appreciate the input.  Pat

I would think that any good wool store will have the needles you are looking for. The size is 000 and are often double pointed. I have made myself a neat little evening bag this way and also a necklace from a pattern in Beadwork Oct/Nov 2004 issue. You can use silk thread but I found crochet cotton easier to handle and there seemed to be a wider choice of colours.Both patterns (bag/necklace) were done in garter stitch so no real knitting complications there. It is also easier to transfer beads to a working thread if you buy your beads in hanks.

Fiddley to do but not difficult and it looks so good. Hope you track down the

needles soon. :}

Ok just found a site that offers a couple of free patterns:

http://www.beadladydesigns.com/supplies/freepatterns.html

They also supply kits and tools. have fun:]

Hi Pat,

I have a book at home called "Das große Perlenbuch" (sorry, don't know the title and if available in English) and there are several patterns for knitting with beads. The technique is the same as with crochet. You line all the beads you need on your thread and then you knit your piece, inserting the beads one by one in your pattern. The advantage here is that you don't need 0000 needles. You can knit the piece with needles matching your thread. But that's just the technique I know.

Pam:

 

 

Ok just found a site that offers a couple of free patterns:

http://www.beadladydesigns.com/supplies/freepatterns.html

They also supply kits and tools. have fun:]

The site is down for now; I'll try again later.  [My wife is the knitter -- I don't have the patience for it.]

Pam:

 

 

Ok just found a site that offers a couple of free patterns:

http://www.beadladydesigns.com/supplies/freepatterns.html

They also supply kits and tools. have fun:]

The site is down for now; I'll try again later.  [My wife is the knitter -- I don't have the patience for it.]

Stan the site isn't down. If you look at what comes up in the box. It isn't seeing the dot (.) behind the www I had the same problem and put the dot in and went right to it.

So try putting the dot in the address.

Sorry the site wouldnt load here is the site again and I did test that it would go in.

http://www.beadladydesigns.com/supplies/freepatterns.html

If it wont go just type Beadlady designs into your search engine. Thanks for your imput Sue

 I've knitted myself a short scarf with beads knitted in. I just put a heap of 8/0 size gold silver-lined beads on the yarn before I started - took ages, and quite frustrating at times when knitting cos you have to keep moving them along to free up the yarn! Still end result looks lovely and very cozy to wear!

Pattern I did was a 2 x 2 basket stitch, with a seed bead in the corners of a 3 by 3 area, with one square at the edges ( eg KK B PP KK PP B KK PP KK B PP KK PP B KK) (K = knit, P= purl, B = bead)

THERE is a better way than stringing the beads! It is generally more secure and is much less tedious than stringing beforehand!

I learned it from here:

http://fluffyknitterdeb.blogspot.com/2005/08/by-special-request-beading-made-easy.html

I also posted this link in the crochet/beads thread.

 hi,

i just purchased 0000 double -pointed knitting needles,

but i am worried that the knitting will slip off the other end?

 hi,

i just purchased 0000 double -pointed knitting needles,

but i am worried that the knitting will slip off the other end of the needles?

That's a good idea.  I don't do knitting or crochet, but I can see how that would be a bunch easier than stringing them all beforehand, then finding out you made a mistake in your stringing...

Yeah, I didn't know any other way.

Knittingpatterncentral.com is a nice place for links to free patterns and tutorials.

As for the dpns (double pointed needle) the stitches shouldn't slide of the end ,but a cheap way to temporarily secure the ends is to just wrap a rubber band around the end fo one side of the needle. I saw this tip at knittingpatterncentral, and it was for making knitting needles.