Sunday, June 28, 2009

Scarf #2

With the first scarf finished, I began to experiment with knitting with beads. I liked the pattern it evolved into so much, I turned it into a woman's fancy scarf.

The materials used are one skein of Bernat Satin colour 04010 (called camel but more of a light gold to me) and a big bag of 6 mm clear faceted beads (which look like little diamonds). Each row uses 9 beads.

The pattern is super simple as it only uses the knit stitch and does not require any fancy counting, but the result looks stunning. The pattern goes like:

Cast on 21 stitches.

Knit 2 rows.

Knit 2, slide a bead up, knit 2, slide a bead, and so on to end of row.

Knit next row (which is front side of work as you can see the beads).

Knit 3, slide a bead up, knit 2, slide a bead, knit 2, and so on to end of row.

Knit next row (front).

Continue, with the alternating back rows starting with knit 2 or knit 3, til desired length. Alternating the back row gives a nice diamond pattern on the front. The scarf may seem a bit heavy at first, but the weight distributes as the scarf gets longer. I will probably do a fancy beaded fringe on the ends--more on that when I get there.

Now, what do I mean by slide the bead? Before casting on, string a lot of beads onto the yarn. How much is a lot? As many as you can stand scooting back as the yarn gets used as you knit. The more the better as you'll have to cut and splice your yarn when you run out of beads so you can string some more. As you knit, when it is time to slide the bead, slide it right up to the end of the used yarn (right up to the last knitted stitch). That way it will be placed between the last knitted stitch and the next knitted stitch. Since you are knitting (i.e. not purling), make sure the slid bead lies behind the needles.

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