Current Mood:
Creative
I just finished writing up the pattern for this little bag made with one skein of Koigu KPPPM. Isn’t it cute?
It was inspired by the pattern Exploring Stripes from IK Winter 02/03 that I wrote about here; I wanted to find a way to make the beads spiral down the sides of the bag rather than stripe horizontally.
The sides of the bag were relatively easy, compared to the bottom and decreases. How to bring together 15 spiraling columns of beads?
I knit and tinked this thing over and over and over. It’s a straightforward idea, but what do you do when you get to the bottom and have to finish it off? Well, after several failed attempts I took my questions to the experts at S’nB, assuming there was a simple solution I just hadn’t considered. There wasn’t, but the talking about it helped, and by the next morning I’d finally figured it out.
The bottom looks like a whirlpool (if you use your imagination) and tapers down to just five rows of beads from fifteen. Not too shabby 
The free pattern is here on the blog if you’d like to give it a shot. If you’re anything like me, you’ve collected odd skeins of Koigu just because they’re beautiful. . .now here’s a little project you can make with just one.
ETA: Barbara in the comments mentioned that this little bag might give her the motivation to try a beaded project. I replied that I thought this was less than 10% beads and probably 90% knitting—almost not fair to consider it a “beaded project.” But she got me thinking, so I did the math, and here’s what I came up with:
120 sts x 82 rows = 9840 sts
18 rows dec every other row by 10 sts = 1310 sts
3 st i-cord (3 x 8 st/in) x 32″ = 768 sts9840 + 1310 + 768 = 11,918 sts of which 660 are beaded (660 div by 11,918 = .055378419)
Approx 95% regular knitting and only 5% beaded knitting.
Comments 12
This is adorable. And when I finally get up the nerve to try beaded knitting, this is what I’ll start with.
Posted 28 Jun 2008 at 5:28 am ¶I love it! And I have several odd skeins of Koigu so now I just need to get some beads.
Posted 28 Jun 2008 at 6:32 am ¶Fantastic job, Laurie! You figured out a great way to handle the bottom.
Posted 28 Jun 2008 at 7:08 am ¶You did it!! Fabulous, complicatedly fabulous! LOL
Posted 28 Jun 2008 at 7:41 am ¶Very clever! Thanks for the great pattern.
Posted 28 Jun 2008 at 8:25 am ¶Adorable! It’s just adorable!
Posted 28 Jun 2008 at 9:45 am ¶Wow, it came out perfect. Now I just need you to string all the beads for me.
Posted 28 Jun 2008 at 10:29 am ¶Barbara ~ haha–it barely counts as “beaded knitting”! I’ve never knit anything else with beads—this seems kind of like cheating to call it beaded, because it’s 90% knitting and maybe 10% beads. Let’s see. . .now you’ve got me thinking:
120 sts x 82 rows = 9840 sts
18 rows dec every other row by 10 sts = 1310 sts
3 st i-cord (3 x 8 st/in) x 32″ = 768 sts
9840 + 1310 + 768 = 11,918 sts of which 660 are beaded (660 div by 11,918 = .055378419)
Approx 95% regular knitting and only 5% beaded knitting.
I’m so geeky it’s ridiculous. That was fun, though—thanks!
Laurie
Posted 28 Jun 2008 at 11:27 am ¶nice solution to the bottom issue, chica. fabulous!
Posted 28 Jun 2008 at 1:37 pm ¶awesome laurie!
Posted 29 Jun 2008 at 7:51 am ¶Very cute bag. I haven’t done beads yet but this could be the inspiration I need, thanks!
Posted 30 Jun 2008 at 8:38 am ¶Awesome job! I HAVE done bead knitting and this is just the kind of thing to have as my next bead project… now to find the beads:) Thanks for generously sharing all the hard thought you put in.
Posted 05 Jul 2008 at 1:01 pm ¶Post a Comment