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.

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.

Extreme Grafting

Here is an example of a grafting "final exam", if there is such a thing.  I started these cuffs (no need for Mr. Penney to know, Patrick) as I could no longer resist this lovely alpaca/nylon yarn that Wendy gave me.  She had knitted a pair of socks for her mom and generously gave me what she had left and suggested some baby socks.  It turns out this yarn is handwash only and Al suggested I make cuffs as I found it so irresistible.  I added some clear size 8 beads and proceeded to knit Barbara Albright's cuff from the Fall 2002 Interweave Knits (p. 110). 

I started with a provisional cast-on and when I finished, I took out the cast on and put the live stitches on another Lantern Moon Ebony 2.25mm 7" dpn.  I then carefully took out 1 row of the cuff at this end.  The beads are worked in on even numbered rows so that left me with a beaded row on each needle.  The grafting row becomes the unbeaded row between the beaded rows.  The challenging part was grafting a pattern of K5, P3 across the row on 2 pieces that are half a stitch different because of the provisional cast on.  There were mistakes and ungrafting involved.  I kept adding plying twist to the yarn to strengthen it for all this sewing.  In the photo, my needle is beneath the grafted row.  I ended up with one less stitch on the provisional edge and just sewed the extra one in from the other edge.  The lively color changes and beading help the grafting to blend in very nicely.