Getting Started

Beaded knitting is the technique used for swag purses that were popular in the 1920s. These bags were distinguished by vertical bands of beads tapering to points at the top of the bag. It’s the easiest technique for working with pre-strung beads in knitting.

Beads are strung onto the yarn before you begin to knit, and then one or more beads are slid between stitches. To do this you simply knit to the place where the bead is indicated in the pattern, then slide a bead up to the needle and continue knitting. The bead will sit on the front of the knitting if you purl both stitches next to the bead and on the back of the knitting if you knit both stitches. You can slide one or more beads between stitches. The more beads, the wider the knitting will be, and the strand of beads will hang in an arc from the weight of the beads.

For the featured scarf, the use of specific increases, by knitting into the back of the strand between stitches, gives a clean-finished look to the bead pattern at the scarf ends. To help you visualize the finished beadwork, a bead pattern is included below the knitting chart at the end of the instructions.