Possessed to Knit

Pearls on the Pulse Cuffs Completed

Here is a pair of beaded cuffs I recently completed from the Pearls on the Pulse book that I like so much.  The yarn is leftover from my Fair Isle socks and I found the beads at The Knitting Zone.  I enjoy knitting beaded cuffs, they are quick and fun and a nice change of pace.  I get one cuff completed and then move on to other projects.  When I return to complete the second cuff, sometimes I am at a loss to which needles I used for the first cuff.  I guessed that I used my 2.5 mm Knit Picks Harmony dpns as they were a little jumbled in their case (they are part of a set ranging from 2.0 mm to 3.25 mm in 0.25 mm increments).  The second cuff turned out to be larger than the first cuff, not that anyone will notice when I wear them.  To prevent this issue, I need to knit the second cuff quicker or at least put the needles aside with the yarn for future reference.

Pearls on the Pulse Cuffs Completed

I've completed my Pearls on the Pulse cuffs.  I used Velvet Bilberry Jitterbug sock yarn that was leftover from a pair of socks and size 8 beads.  I provisionally casted on 24 sts on size 2.5 mm Brittany Birch dpns.  This time I started the grafting from the bottom instead of from the top of the cuff.  Before I graft, I remove the crochet waste yarn from the provisional cast on and then I take out the first row of knitting which is essentially the row where I picked up the stitches from the crocheted chain.  When I knit the cuff, the beads are added every other row with a knit row in between.  I stop knitting my cuff after the last bead row.  I end up with one bead row on each dpn and then I graft a plain row of garter stitch between them.  In the photo, I have placed the graft in the center of each cuff.

I will be at Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival on Saturday.  I will help Kate with the Junior Spinning Contest.  She has wonderful pictures from her Mitered Square Class with Candace Strick.  I'm looking forward to seeing Opal and Patrick there, too.  I do not plan on buying much, but as I recall last year, I thought I wasn't going to buy any sock yarn and I ended up going home with 5 skeins of sock yarn.  I know at the very least it will be a fun & relaxing day.

Pearls on the Pulse

I completed this beaded cuff today.  I've had these size 8 beads threaded on some extra Jitterbug yarn as my first beaded cuff attempt did not work out.  I used 2.5 mm Brittany birch dpns and worked three repeats of the 14 row pattern over 25 sts.  I wish I had used 2.75 mm needles to make the cuff a little bigger, but it is close enough as it is.  A fourth repeat would have been too long.  The grafting was quite a challenge and seemed to take nearly as long as knitting the cuff.  This project was a pleasant diversion from sock knitting.  I realize I will only be knitting socks once Sock Wars III starts on May 9.

Jitterbug Beaded Cuff

I felt like some bead knitting after completing my first Sun & Moon sock.  I have over an ounce of Colinette Jitterbug in the Velvet Bilberry colorway leftover from a pair of socks.  I had difficulty stringing these size 8 beads on this slightly thick yarn.  I used a beading needle and had to fight to get the beads on, but it was well worth it.  I had strung red beads on my blue handspun silk yarn and started this cuff pattern.  I did not like how it turned out and ended up ripping it out.  I find cuffs in handspun yarn tend to be a challenge because the unevenness of the yarn shows up more in the tighter cuff gauge.  I am using my Knit Picks size 2.75 mm dpns for this cuff and I like them a lot.  The pattern is from the book Pearls on the Pulse.