How to add beads to your knitting

There are several ways to incorporate beads into your knitting, but this tutorial illustrates how to place beads using a tiny crochet hook.  This is a neat and tidy method which results in beads which sit upright over a single stitch.  It is also the method used in my Photosynthesis Shawl pattern.

Materials:
– #6 beads
– 0.6mm crochet hook

When using a crochet hook to place beads, you place them individually, just before you knit the stitch. They sit on the stitch, with the entire loop of the stitch pulled through the bead, and then you knit the stitch normally, which locks the bead in place within the work.

1. Knit along until you reach the stitch which will be beaded, and stop before you knit it.

2. Insert the crochet hook into the bead to pick it up.

3. Using the hook, pick the stitch off the left-hand needle, and allow the bead to slide down the shaft of the crochet hook, and over the stitch.

the bead is now in place over the stitch

4. Once the bead is over the stitch, place the stitch back on to the left-hand needle.

5. Lastly, simply knit the stitch (which now has a bead on it) as usual.