To Bead or Not to Bead?

To bead! And knitting with it is the answer. There are two ways of introducing beads when working on a piece. One is with the use of a fine crochet hook to pick up the bead and hooked onto a knit loop sliding the bead onto the work (the method I used with the Beaded Butterfly and Flower Buds Bookmark-- pattern to be posted next month).


The other is pre-loading the beads on the thread before knitting the piece, then sliding the bead in between stitches on the wrong side to make the beads appear on the right side. I have to say that it was truly an experience to load it just as much as to knit with it. I followed the instructions on loading that says to tie the bead thread to the knitting thread which I did over, and over, and over, as the finer thread is sensitive to the sliding motion exerted on the bead especially at the junction of the two threads.


And if that isn't enough, since I'm not one to take the easy way in learning things so for this project, I purchased a purse brooch kit (from Purse Paradise) which uses a "0000" (hey, that's 4 zeroes!) or 1.25mm knitting needles.


So, what was supposed to take two hours to finish turned out to be a six-hour adventure-- and every minute was worth it! What do you think?

It's the Little Things

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Little Things

By Ebenezer Cobham Brewer

Little drops of water,

Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean
And the pleasant land.

Thus the little minutes,
Humble though they be,
Make the mighty ages
Of eternity.

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“Little Things Mean a Lot." We hear this saying so many times and relate them to gestures, moments, and memories-- the touch of a loved one, watching the sunrise or set, baby’s first word.

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But there are yet other little things that have recently taken its dwelling in the hearts of many modern toy collectors worldwide and have taken a hold of mine. I am speaking of the many faces of miniature thread crochet animals, with emphasis on teddy bears. Yes, bears less than 4 inches tall. Below is an example of a miniature bear by artist, Jessica Felton.

Chrissy by Jessica Felton

While there are a number of online groups that promote this latest trend in teddy bear-making, none is as popular as the Thread Animals Group as it boasts a membership of 1,447 (as of 04/15/09). This group, which is owned by Debbie Nicholas, is unique in that it teaches its members techniques of miniature teddy bear-making, show-casing the volumes of amazing works of members in the group’s website as well as its blog, and holds a monthly raffle for a free artist pattern. In addition, the very creative moderators, Bobbie Ripperger, Berta Hesen-Minten, Beverley McKenzie and the talented owner, Debbie, take turns in thinking up monthly challenges for the members. Let's take a look at some of them.

With so much concern over the state of the economy, Debbie started the year with a January challenge called Bargain Basement Bears using free to almost free and recycled thread as its requirements. “Glitzy,” featured below, was my entry.

Then came February’s Little Red sponsored by Beverley using 75% of red in each entry. Mine was “Prisoner of Love” inspired by the song of the same name and dedicated to the romantic in all of us.

Bobbie thought up with a unique theme for March called March Music Swap featuring minis of instruments, notes, anything music-related. I didn’t join the swap, but not wanting to be left behind I made a trumpet dedicated to Louis Armstrong and his song, “West End Blues.”

April calls for a challenge by Debbie with a theme called “Show off your bear’s ‘purse’nality” using a purse as a prop for a bear. My entry is still a WIP. I’m using a light yellow fingering yarn for my bear and will be making a knit beaded purse brooch from a kit. I will feature the final result in a later post as I’m off taking care of the little things.