Beading Projects In The Works

As I have stated, I love beading. But of course, all the other knit and crochet projects get in the way of me beading more. Not a problem because I love them all. So I bead when I can. I am having fun with it and if you haven't tried beading then I would recommend doing a small project with not a lot of beads so that you can get the hang of it first.

Here are my projects at hand.

Both of the projects below are free patterns designed by Lily Chin from the Knit and Crochet Today site. The first project is my knitted beaded bag that needs to be blocked and lined to finish it off. I love diamonds, yes the ring kind also, but making the diamond pattern will have to do. This bag is heavy after I knit it up. Using this pattern helps you to start reading a chart. You have to follow it closely or your pattern will be off. A couple of times after working some rows I looked at it and found that the pattern was off by one bead. That is all it takes.

It is so much fun seeing it evolve and the pattern forming. But you learn from this pattern to pay attention to what you are doing, to where you are at on the chart, and how to spot check between the chart and your project. There is a cost to not paying attention to the pattern. Either you have to some frogging (take needle out of stitches and rip the rows down to mistake)or tink (knit spelt backwards and this means undo one stitch at a time to the mistake) if you miss a bead or mess up the pattern flow. You really don't want to do that if you are not use to beading. And even if you are use to beading you don't want to waste time because you are so excited about getting it done so you can see the finished piece.

Right side	Wrong side

I am also finishing up a round crochet bag with beads. I need to finish sewing the zipper in and finish making the strap. The yarn I used is Cotton Craft Fine Woollans, 100% Pure Wool - 1 ply. It really worked out beautifully. This is yarn I got from Stitches East Knitting Convention a while back. But sometimes you just need time to figure out what you would like to use your stash for.

When you use this pattern you learn how to work in the round, sew two round pieces together, work with beads in multi-color, learn how to put the right colors together, and working all the stitches together (single crochet, double crochet, half double crochet, and post stitches).

Try it, you will like it. And if you have any questions, please comment and I will answer.


This crochet bracelet pattern came from the book "Hooked on Jewelry". It's called the Jade and Cinnabar Bracelet. I didn't use jade beads but I love how it came out. I need to finish it by attaching a couple of seed beads, bead cones, and a big bead center using eye pins. It took me several tries to make this because it is black yarn working with black beads using a size B hook. And then there is the problem of seeing what I am doing. But after putting it down a few times and picking it up and being determined to work with black on black with a small size hook, I made it through.



Happy beading!