Quick project - Beaded scarf

I needed a project to use up some left over Bernat Baby coordinate yarn. It is white with some thread through it that reflects light. It also has a slight boucle effect. I thought of knitting up a simple scarf and make it as long as it would go. I had also been thinking for some time about knitting something with beads. This is what came out:

The canvas is extremely simple. Oversize needles for the yarn (size 15 on baby weight), and plain garter. The fun and the challenge all come from the beads.

You will need:

• Yarn
• Knitting needles
• Strong thread (button craft or upholstery) in matching color
• Darning needle
• Beads. I used about 50 coins and 50 beads for a total of a 100 for a rather short scarf.
• Seed beads to accompany the beads

It took some (fun) experimenting, but I obtained the effect I wanted by working rows of beads every fourth row and by spacing out the beads by 5 stitches. The scarf is 25 stitches wide. If I had had more yarn left, I would have made it wider. I think this would make a nice stole.

The preparation is of utmost importance and the time consuming part. Throughout the knitting, one has to slide all the beads down the thread and that's also time consuming. All the beads that are going to be used for the knitting need to go on the yarn before starting knitting. It is also possible to thread the beads on from the other end of the yarn if one runs out, but that's not recommended. So put more beads than you will need.

I used two types of beads: Coins that could be threaded directly onto the yarn and other, regular beads, that had to be put on a thinner thread because of their small holes.

I threaded all the coins I had unto the yarn and prepared a bead thread. I used button craft thread in the same color as the yarn. You need a strong thread so button craft or upholstery is what I would recommend. Place all the beads on the thread, following the following method:

If your beads have a hole that traverses them from end to end (most beads), you will want to make little charms out of them. To do this, pass the thread through the bead, then a seed bead, then back through the bead the way you came. Pull tight (but don't break anything). When you need to slide the beads along the thread, pull down on the seed bead to loosen and reform a loop, put your finger through the loop and slide the bead along the thread. It will be a lot easier. The seed bead locks the bead into place when the thread is tight (which is what we want once the bead is where we want it).

In my case, I had leaf shaped beads that did not require the use of a seed bead. Such beads still need to be locked into place. That is achieved by making a knot once the bead is in place.

Load the thread with the desired sequence of beads. Unwind as much thread as you can and load your beads as far town the thread as you can. You can bring them up the thread as you need them. It is impossible to get the beads as far down as you need them, as you will be dealing with an entangled mess if you unwind too much thread at once (and it will take forever to get the beads down to the end), but do as much as you can. No matter what, you will have to slide all the beads down as you work the scarf. It's part of the fun.

Start the scarf with the plain yarn and work 3 rows. On the fourth row, work the first bead row. From now on, you will be working with the yarn and the thread together. Secure the end of the thread leaving a tail to weave in at the end and knit with it with the yarn together until it is time to place the first bead. Move the bead along the thread to where it needs to be and knit the stitch as you normally would. You may have to move the bead a little in order to keep it on the right side of the work. 

In rows that are not beading rows, you do not need to carry the thread with the yarn back and forth through the entire row. This will save on the thread and help preserve the elasticity of the scarf (the thread is not as elastic as the yarn). Just make sure you move the thread up the rows so you have it available to pick up again when needed. On each 3rd row (the row right before the beading row), you need to plan where the first bead is going to go on the following row, so you can bring the thread to that point by starting knitting it along with the yarn to get it to the stitch it needs to be at.

When the scarf is the desired length (or you run out of yarn), bind off very loosely so the ends don't scrunch up. Weave in ends. The thread is a little tricky. Use a needle to thread it through the bulk of the yarn so the ends get secured.

Care: I haven't tried yet, but when I do wash my scarf, I will put it in a tightly weaved hosiery bag on its own and wash it on as gentle a cycle as I can. The biggest enemy is snag.