KnitWerk

Got back from vacation to a lovely surprise from a grumpy friend:

Pretty beads for knitting:

And some really beautiful beads for jewelry or stitch markers. The pink quartz ones will need to be made into earrings immediately… there are some gorgeous carnelian beads, as well as glass and stone beads in other blue and pink shades. Just beautiful. Hmmm, time to get out the jewelry tools…

I can’t wait to try my hand at knitting with beads—haven’t done that before. Included in the package is a groovy needle with a big hole in the middle that you can use to string the beads on the yarn.

It just so happens that I’ve been collecting bookmarks about knitting with beads. Here are a few that I’ve found helpful or inspirational:

• Beaded Knitting – This link shows threading beads, as well as a few different ways to place them in your knitting. Included are links to a few projects.
• Knit Your Own Jewelry – This Knitter’s Review article shows knitting wire bracelets and necklaces with beads.
• By special request, Beading Made Easy! – FluffyKnitterDeb’s great photo tutorial on using beads in your knitting without stringing them on your yarn beforehand. Very cool!

Thank you, thank you, Grumperina. This will be very fun!

Does anyone have any favorite beaded knitting projects to share? Until I saw the pretty beaded cuffs that Grumperina added to “Karen’s Mia shrug pattern,” I haven’t paid much attention to the technique. I’d love to hear your picks for best beaded projects.

Confession: I originally started a different pair for my Sockapal2za exchange using the Alpaca gifted me by last winter’s awesome secret pal, Chrissie. I loved the Cable Rib Socks from Spring ‘05 Interweave Knits, and was able to squeeze gauge out of the alpaca – it was awfully dense, but it worked. For some leg/ankle shaping, this pattern uses bigger needles on the legs, then switches to #1US for the ankle and rest of foot. Just as I began to worry about the fabric being too dense as I was turning the heel, Husband started pouring on the hints about how he’d love socks like these.

This man does not, normally, yearn for knitted items.

(I made him a wool sweater years ago, but it’s too warm for him in just about any climate. He’s been able to wear it happily only for a few short weeks—when he was on assignment in Siberia during the winter of 2000. Since he has no upcoming trips to the Russian front planned, more wool sweaters are right out.)

Reading back over my entries, I have to note that the first thing out of his mouth when he saw the yarn in March was “This would make me a great pair of socks.”

Clearly, I’m a slow learner. After calculating upcoming knitting time against deadline, and realizing that really, the socks would be better on bigger needles with a looser gauge—OK, Husband gets the socks. I promise to heed any future interest he might indicate in yarn.

Feet of Happy Husband:

We took a nice, long car trip up the coast over the extended holiday, so I had lots of knitting time. I finished two pairs of socks: the new Sockapal2za socks, as well as a pair for my husband. First, for my pal, Errant Ankles by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer of Heartstrings, in a pretty, denim-colored Koigu KPM.

Project notes

• The pattern is a free tutorial on the socknitters site.
• While it’s nice to have this excellent pattern for free, there are some down sides. I’m accustomed to tersely-written patterns that save space. I was really annoyed by the tutorial format, since the actual directions are tucked in between pages and pages of long explanations. I wanted to start right away, but had to read through all this stuff to find basic things like how many stitches to cast on. To print the full pattern as written requires pages and pages of paper.
• The good part to the tutorial format is that you get to peek inside the design process. Also, she discusses many design options, and includes directions for alternate options. Once I calmed down and started reading, I found it pretty interesting.
• Though it’s written for sport-weight yarn, I used fingering weight Koigu. One of the extra credit sections discusses many options for changing gauge, and it was a snap.
• This was my first banded heel and spiral toe. Pretty heel! I love the fit of the spiral toe, too—I hate the feeling of extra fabric folding over my feet in shoes, and these are wonderful for pointy-toed people like me. Hmmm… I share this sensitivity with my father… maybe he would find this style comfortable, too? Dad, speak up if you’re interested.
• The lace pattern is super, duper simple. There are really just 3 rows to memorize for the entire sock: first section odd numbered, second section odd-numbered, and all even-numbered rows are the same. The diagonals come from the natural bias of the fabric. Easy, peasy.
• I knitted both at the same time on the magic loop. I highly recommend it for the lazy, disorganized or easily distracted knitter (like me). This is the perfect solution to the second sock problem. Also, some tweaking of the toes and heels was required to accommodate the change in gauge, and this allowed me to do the shaping at the same time, no notes required. Finally, I can see that this would be helpful for knitting a more complicated lace pattern, since you do the same row pattern for even longer.
• Summary: thumbs up from Sara! I’d definitely knit this pattern again, and I’ll be doing all my socks two-at-the-same-time from now on.

Now all I have to do is package ‘em up and mail them. In the mean time, they’re lounging near the window. The Koigu is pretty, with an almost nutty texture, and a slightly-varied color reminiscent of favorite old jeans: