When you knit a stitch you hold the yarn behind the stitch work and put the needle through the loop from the front. On the other hand, when you purl a stitch, according to bead knitting patterns, you do the opposite; you hold the yarn in front of the knitting and put the needle through the loop from behind. The one of the free knitting stitches called purl stitches, form lines on the front of the stitch work while the reverse side becomes smooth. If you use knit stitches the front is smooth while the lines appears on the reverse side. Consequently; the free knit stitches and purl stitches are each other’s opposite and in some meaning the same stitch. Nonetheless, it’s important to know the difference between them when you read bead knitting patterns and talk or read about knitting in general. There are both easy knitting stitches are more difficult ones. Here are some different more or less common types of free knitting stitches you can stumble upon in bead knitting patterns:

• Lazy daisy stitch
• Feather stitch Stockinette stitch
• Cable knit
• Peyote stitch
• Box stitch (also called Double seed stitch or Double moss stitch)
• Embossed diamonds
• Moss panels
• Rice stitch
• Spaced checks
• Lace stitches

These free knitting stitches are of a varying degree of difficulty. I haven’t had the time to try all of them out but I’m eager to do it! As you see the names of the free knitting stitches are sometimes more imaginative than describing and you may not at once be able to know what the fee knitting stitches will look like. But there’s no reason to worry; the bead knitting patterns and the knitting stitches instructions will explain this to you. There are lots of free knitting instructions to find on the Internet. Lace stitches, the last one mentioned in the list above, is a group of free knitting stitches appearing among the embroidery stitches. When knitting lace knitting stitches you use small knitting needles and very thin knitting yarn. You can create very delicate bead knitting patterns which is decorative on shawls and other clothing. There are of course a lot more free knitting stitches to try, this was just a sample!

When you knit with beads the bead knitting yarn is the foundation of the whole stitch work and thus very important. The bead knitting patterns are often very informative and gives you examples of what kind of beads, bead knitting yarn and needles that will work out best. But you can substitute these specific types to what you like the best, as long as you can follow the bead knitting patterns. A good way to really find out what options there are is to go to your local yarn shop and get inspiration. Feel the textures, see all the variations of colors, ask questions to the often very nice, helpful and competent managers and soon you will have made your own opinion. When I started looking for bead knitting yarns on the Internet I found out that there is a lot of yarn with pre-strung beads, you buy a whole ball of yarn and every ten centimeters or so there is a bead or sequin. When you use this sort of bead knitting yarn you won’t be able to choose where the beads should be put (this may be decided in bead knitting patterns) but the stitch work will be decorated with randomly placed beads. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing!

The fabric made bead knitting yarn you buy in shops is made of one, two or even three strands that are twisted together in an S- or Z-form. Hand spun and/or hand dyed bead knitting yarn is often more nice to the skin, both to you fingers when you knit and to your body when you wear the finished item. Fabric made bead knitting yarn can sometimes be harsh and scratchy and that’s good to thin about if you’re extra sensitive or if you’re knitting to a baby. Hand spun yarn is not as uniform concerning thickness as mass produced yarn. This can give the surface an interesting uneven texture unpredicted by the bead knitting patterns.

The material the bead knitting yarn is made of can be either natural, synthetic or a blend. Wool is by all means the most common material yarn comes in. It’s warm and soft and sometimes a bit scratchy. The pure wool may run or shrink when you wash it so be careful. Synthetic materials such as polyester, rayon in bead knitting yarn has a great advantage; the can be both machine washed and machine dried. The blend with wool and mohair has a funny furry feeling. Cashmere yarn is another very soft one. Bead knitting yarn made of cotton is the best to use when you’re knitting clothes to wear during the summer since it’s not as warm as the other materials and much more light weight. You can also use silk for this purpose but that’s much more expensive. Other popular types of bead knitting yarns are aurora yarn, berroco comfort, boa yarn, bohemian yarn, decor yarn and grace yarn. You can find great prices on bead knitting yarns at a yarn clearance, so visit as many of them as you can. Nothing is more inspiring than to have a stuffed basked of bead knitting patterns and bead knitting yarns in different colors and textures!

As mentioned the texture of your bead knitting yarn can be different because of how it’s made. Bouclé for example is made of shiny mohair yarn that’s twisted in a way which creates small loops. When you buy a bead knitting yarn there is often a label or belly band telling you if you can wash the yarn and if that’s the case, how (usually the yarn has to lay flat when drying), the thickness and if you’re lucky also an indication of how many stitches and rows that will make a square of 4×4 inches (10 cm x 10 cm). What if you don’t know the thickness of the bead knitting yarn? Well, there’s an easy way to measure it yourself! The unit of measurement is called “wraps per inch”, WPI. It’s a universal word to spinners and is also useful to knitters. The procedure is this:

• First make two marks with and inch between on a pencil (the unsharpened end).

• Cut a narrow opening in the end of the pencil.

• Fasten the end of the bead knitting yarn to measured in the opening and then wind the yarn around the pencil between the two marks.

• Wind loosely, don’t straighten the yarn strands. It should just touch the pencil.

• Now you just count how many strands of bead knitting yarn there is between the marks.

• This is the WPI number!

The bead knighting yarn can be divided into groups according to their weight or thickness (WPI). These classes can be called any yarn, fine, medium, heavy or bulky for example. The bead knitting patterns will tell you which yarn you can use.

When you are knitting with beads you have a great possibility to decide how much the bead knitting beads are going to change the look of the finished item. You can use a lot of beads, almost in every second stitch, or only a random bead here and there to give the knitting an unexpected look. When you want to create specific patterns of bead knitting beads, the easiest method to keep track of your progress is to follow bead knitting patterns. Bead knitting patterns may indicate exactly what sizes and colors of beads you should use or give a little more freedom to your own creativity. The bead can be made of almost any material thinkable. The most common material is glass, plastic and ceramic but there are also beads of wood, terracotta, clay raku, metal and more. Also the forms the bead knitting beads are produced in offers possibility to choose through the whole geometric spectrum. The beads can be round and spheroidal, flat, oblong, hexagonal or triangular, only to mention a few of the existing forms.

The most common beads to use in beaded knitting are called seed beads. These bead knitting beads are made of glass and mass produced from tubes. Seed beads are flat at the ends and not, as a contrary, round as pearls. When stringing the bead knitting beads onto the yarn you may experience that the sizes of the holes can be very different though the beads are of the same size. This is a result especially occurring when the beads are handmade but also a common mistake from fabric production. It may help to sort the beads before stringing them. Large beads sometimes have very little holes!

Now you know that you can choose your bead knitting beads regarding material and form but of course the most striking appearance of the beads is their color. The seed beads of glass can be transparent or translucent meaning that you can see through the glass or that the light gets diffused through the glass. If no light can pass through the bead its opaque. The finish of the bead knitting bead can be matte or clear and have luster like a pearl. The surface can have a spectrum of colors like a rainbow; this is called Aurora Borealis (AB). Finally, the bead knitting beads can be color lined. That means that a thin layer of color, often metallic, on the inside. Some examples of color lining colors are silver, bronze and copper. The layers reflect the light and gives the sense of a shine of, in turn, white, brown and red light. Since the layer is applied on the inside of the bead it’s sometimes not very durable. The more the thread or yarn is rubbed trough the bead knitting bead, the more the layer is loosened.

The bead knitting needles are just as important as the beads and the yarn you are using when following bead knitting patterns. You can’t change needles in the middle of the knitting so make sure you chose a pair of good ones before you start. The bead knitting needles shall be comfortable to hold in your hands, stable and accurately balanced. They should also be smooth so that the yarn can run freely along the needles. The bead knitting needles are usually not too sharp at the ends so you don’t have to be afraid of stinging yourself. There is a vast range of knitting needles; from the most simple ones to more advanced pieces like polished bamboo knitting needles with decorations such as colorful handmade pearls at the ends. They can be made of plastic, metal (usually stainless steel), wood or acrylic. The terminology concerning bead knitting needles contains as many synonyms as the other bead knitting areas. The needles can also be called sticks, knitting pins and knitting wires. You can also chose the form of your bead knitting needles depending on what you plan to do and what bead knitting patterns you use.

The most common bead knitting needles are the straight knitting needles but there is also the circular bead knitting needles. You use these when you want to knit in the round and create seamless pieces of knitting, like when you use bead knitting patterns for socks. Double pointed knitting needles are a kind of bead knitting needles which don’t have some sort of stops at one end but are, just as the name implies, pointed at both ends. They are a good alternative when knitting tubes in the round just as the circular needles but for smaller items such as sleeve cuffs and socks. When you use double pointed needles to knit in the round you dived you casted stitched into smaller sections and place these sections on three or four double pointed needles to form a round unit to start knitting from. But there are even more bead knitting needles! The square knitting needles have, just as their name implies, a square form. Some people think that they are more comfortable and that the stitches doesn’t fall off so easily. They might be a good choice if you suffer from some kind of disease like arthritis which makes it difficult for you to hold the usual bead knitting needles. Though, they are a little more expensive.

The knitting yarn often has a label telling you which size it is. This can guide you when you’re trying to find out what bead knitting needles to use since you can probably read what needles are recommended. Otherwise bead knitting needles somewhere between 6 and 8 US should fit, if not, the bead knitting pattern swill tell you. When you pre-string the beads the easiest way is to thread an ordinary metal needle and tie the thread around the yarn. Then you can slide the beads over the needle and onto the yarn. If you’re having trouble threading the needle you may want to consider buying a wide eye needle. This is a great aid and can save you from sitting several minutes trying to fit that straggling thread end into the tiny eye of the needle. The wide eye needle is simply a needle with a big hole at the center and points at both ends. Great when you want to switch to using bead knitting needles!