To bead or not to bead, that is the question
I was speeding right along on Simple Knitted Bodice (SKB), until I got to the section where the beading starts.
Here’s where I’m at with it now - done with the first set of purl ridges and 2.5 lace repeats (out of 5 or 6 total).
Knitting with the beads really slows me down. First, I have to string the beads on the yarn, then I have to figure out how to space the beads somewhat randomly, using the right amount of beads. Since I’m knitting from two balls of yarn (no pooling for me!), I decided to string beads on one ball, putting beads on every other row. The whole process is fairly tedious, and so far I’m ambivalent about the result.
Does this look weird? Are the beads too much? They definitely distract a bit from the pattern, and they are kind of dark compared to the yarn. I decided to use the coffee colored beads because they were by far the least expensive (2 cents/bead, compared to 10 cents/bead for all the others), most readily available (I’ll need about 400 or more of them and am not patient enough to do a special order), and most people thought they looked nice in my swatch.
I’m not really the kind of person that wears beaded clothing. In fact, I don’t think I have a single thing in my closet that is beaded, other than maybe a cocktail dress or two. I’m worried that even if this sweater turns out wonderfully that it won’t be my style because of the beads. So, do I trudge forward and rip later if I hate the beads? Or, do I save myself the trouble and do it now?
In other fiber related topics - does anyone watch the Discovery Channel show “Dirty Jobs“? Or, more likely, is there a man in your life who is obsessed with watching it? Todd watches it religiously, and was playing the latest episode from the DVR while I was knitting tonight. Normally, I don’t really care for the show - it can get pretty disgusting sometimes. (past shows have included an avian vomitologist and casino food recycler) But the 8/22 episode featured an alpaca farm! The host of the show visited an alpaca farm in Shingle Springs, CA, sheared an alpaca, and learned to card the fiber and spin it. Cool! I’m not sure how that qualifies for a “dirty job”, but it was definitely fun to watch.
