Durant - Knit One, Bead Too

Knit One BEAD Too

Essential Techniques for Knitting with BeadsJUDITH DURANT The mission of Storey Publishing is to serve our customers by
publishing practical information that encourages
personal independence in harmony with the environment. Edited by Gwen Steege and Kathy Brock
Art direction and book design by Mary Winkelman Velgos
Text production by Jennifer Jepson Smith Photography and illustration credits appear on Tech edited by Amy Polcyn
Indexed by Christine R. Lindemer, Boston Road Communications 2009 by Judith Durant All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages or reproduce illustrations in a review with appropriate credits; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other without written permission from the publisher.
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Durant, Judith, 1955
Knit one, bead too/by Judith Durant.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60342-149-2 (hardcover with concealed wire-o : alk. paper)
1. 2. Beadwork. I. I.

Title.
TT825.D7695 2009
746.432dc22 2009007801 This book is dedicated to
knitters and beaders everywhere
who continue to innovate
and share ideas. To present the techniques in this book, Ive picked up the threads of countless knitters and beaders, known and unknown, past and present. The history of knitting is somewhat vague: The oldest surviving fragments of knitted cotton are from Egypt and date to somewhere around 1000 AD. The history of beads begins much earlier than that of knitted fabric. The first known beads, made from animal teeth and bones, were discovered in France, at an archaeological site called La Quina, and date to approximately 38,000 BC. Bead manufacture has come a long way over the past 40,000 years, and today beads are made in every conceivable shape and size and from materials ranging from wood to glass to plastic to metal to clay.

I wish I could tell you who first had the brilliant idea to knit with beads, but that history is a bit elusive. The best theory seems to be that it developed from needlepoint, where one bead is incorporated into each stitch of the work to paint a picture. One example dates to the beginning of the nineteenth century, and there are many examples of the technique used for gloves, bonnets, and purses from 1850 onward. Judith Durant

If theres any such thing as the best of both worlds, Id have to say that this is it. Many of us who love to knit are also drawn to beads and beadwork, and now we can do beadwork on our knitting needles! There are two distinct ways to incorporate beads into your knitting projects: You can add beads to a finished knitted piece as fringe, embroidery, or appliqu; or you can incorporate beads into the knitting as you go. This book will focus on the latter, and there are several techniques you can use.

The first two techniques are traditional, dating back to at least the midnineteenth and early twentieth centuries respectively, and the last three are more recent developments. All but the last technique require that you pre-string beads onto your yarn. Bead Knitting Bead knitting () is the technique to use for pictorial designs. It was popular with Victorian-era knitters and was used in baby bonnets, gloves, socks, handbags, and other small items. While you may use the technique for one-color and random designs, for pictorial designs youll have to pre-string the beads according to a chart. Beaded Knitting With beaded knitting, () a bead (or beads) lies on the thread between two stitches. Beaded Knitting With beaded knitting, () a bead (or beads) lies on the thread between two stitches.

With this technique you can actually shape your knitted piece by adding more beads, and it is the method that was used in many 1920s beaded purses. The beads are usually all one color, so pre-stringing is a lot easier than for bead knitting with a chart. Beads lying between two knit stitches show on the back of the work; beads lying between two purl stitches show on the front of the work. Shaped pieces like the beaded purses are done in garter stitch, and beads are incorporated on both sides of the fabric.

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