What a lovely combination,the colour apricot and cream beads make for this ensemble.
Chosen and knitted by Vicki Traill of Launceston.
Pattern is Faith After Five from Anlaby Designs.
Half doll is called Faith.
Vicki has just started bead knitting and found after knitting her first skirt that her tension was that of a loose knitter.
After realizing the importance of having a firm and even tension,when bead knitting,Vicki made steps to correct her tension,and the beautiful skirt that she produce below is a credit to her determination.
Vicki chose to use beads no.651
with D.M.C. cotton Ecru.
This pattern uses
2 x hanks of beads
1 x Ball of Perle 8 cotton
Links
Faith After Five Pattern
Please use Marie's contact page to purchase the patterns.
Please use Marie's contact page to purchase the patterns.
Tips
THE IMPORTANCE OF TENSION
The reasons are as follows.
Loose tension
1..The skirt when knitted with a loose tension is going to be bigger than what the pattern intended it to be.
2.. The beads are not going to lock into place in between the stitches,to create a neat uniform look.And may end up slipping through the loose stitches,to the other side of the work.
3..Holes tend to appear in your work,between the stitches and the beads,because the stitches are too loose.
4..Cotton may be seen on both side's of the slipped beads in the beaded panels,giving the look that the beads are sagging on the cotton.
5..The skirt when finished will drop in length more than it would,if your tension was firmer.(All skirt's will drop because of the weight of the beads on the cotton)
6..You will have to decrease more stitches than the pattern intended to fit the waist of your doll.
Tight Tension.
1..The first row after casting on will be more difficult to knit,because the stitches are so tight.
2..Skirt will be smaller than the pattern intended.
3..Stitches will too tight to move across the needle,at a nice even pace for knitting.
4..Needle will become bent and out of shape.
Uneven Tension
Say you begin your row with the first stitch being tighter than the last stitch in the row,when it comes to sewing the skirt up,you may find that when you put both sides together,one side may be slightly longer than the other,and so you will have to pull and stretch the shorter side to fit the longer side.
This can lead to the seam looking puckered.
Just beware to keep the first and last stitch at the same tension,to help avoid this problem.
If your are interested in viewing a video on how I tension my knitting while bead knitting please click the link below
