Knit HeartStrings Learn-and-Knit-Alongs

How are you doing with this month’s KAL for Easy Elegant Mitts? If you’ve gotten past the purl bands with the beaded accent yarn, the going from there is pretty straight forward.

I do want to mention the technique used for the thumb opening. It is somewhat unique in being a self-reinforced thumb slot that is similar to a one-row horizontal buttonhole. With proper tension, you will have neatness with no gap between stitches at either end of the slot/buttonhole.  The instructions are detailed step-by-step in the Easy Elegant Mitts pattern.

Self-Reinforced One Row Buttonhole Thumb Slot

Don’t try to memorize or understand this technique just by reading it through in the pattern — Get your yarn and needles in hand (or a sample swatch for practice), and follow along in the instructions. I myself use this technique seldom enough that even I have to refer to my instructions to be sure I have everything done in the correct order!

Tip: You can adapt this technique to other projects where you want a horizontal buttonhole. Just adjust the number of no-knit bind off stitches to be the width you want. The number of cast on stitches will always be one more than the number of bound off stitches.

 knitting with beaded accent yarn to make the most
of showing every bead to fullest effect

To start Easy Elegance Mitts, you can jump right in and temporarily defer any thought for how you will introduce the beads into your knitting. So go ahead and cast on and work the first 7 rounds that only use your Main Yarn without beads. Some of the rounds use Plaited Ribbing. If you missed seeing the article on that, you can review here (or you can substitute plain k1, p1 ribbing if you prefer something simpler).

For the rounds that use beaded accent yarn, you can use either

1. beaded yarn already plied with beads

or

2. supplemental thread strung with beads that will be knitted along with the main yarn

I am going to cover these scenarios separately, as there are some different considerations to each. You can focus now on whichever applies to what you are using to make your Mitts. But don’t hesitate to read through the other scenario, as it might might be something want to try at a later time.

Tips for Using Yarn Already Plied with Beads

This method involves holding supplemental thread strung with beads together with your main project yarn. You have ultimate control over how you want your beads to be spaced, e.g. you can do every stitch (assuming you have enough beads), but do take into consideration bead size vs. stitch gauge so that if using larger beads they don’t too crowded.

Before beginning the rounds of the Easy Elegance Mitts that call for using Beaded Accent yarn, you will want to string your supplemental thread with enough beads for one of the mitts. Here are some guidelines for number of beads to string for a Mitt —

If you are using size 8/0 beads (such as those I sent out to those of you who purchased Supplies Paks for the Mitts), I like to put a bead every stitch of the Beaded Accent rounds. For each mitt, you will need 192 beads if making the first size (or 216 beads if making the larger size).

How did I calculate this? There are 6 rounds using Beaded Accent yarn. Each round as 32[36] stitches. 6 x 32[36] = 192[216] beads.

If you are incorporating larger size beads or expensive crystals, I’d advise spacing out the beads/crystals to use fewer of them. Consider only every other stitch, or maybe even every 4th stitch. Then stagger their placement on the following purl-beaded round (unless you want them to line up in a column).

Calculations for number of beads needed for a Mitt:

– if placing every other stitch: 192[216] / 2 = 96[108] beads

– if placing every 4th stitch: 192[216] / 4 = 48[54] beads

Technique for working the Beaded Accent rounds of Easy Elegance Mitts:

Hold the supplemental thread together with the main yarn as you purl each stitch. Before each stitch where you want a bead to be placed, slide a bead next to the right-hand needle before making next stitch, then purl 1 with both the supplemental thread + main yarn. Take care that the bead is not pulled through the loop while making new stitch and that bead remains on running thread between stitches to front of fabric.

It’s that easy — have fun! It might be a little slow-going to begin with, but with practice, you will go faster. I think that you will find the bling worth it.

The Beading Truth

What both methods share: Remember that beads want to go to the bumpy (i.e. purl) side.  Since Easy Elegance Mitts are worked in the round from the right-side of the fabric, that is why the design calls for purling.

I am showing my age – ha! ha! I must admit that when I started this article off with the title of “Let’s Twist”, as in knitting the Plaited Ribbing for the Easy Elegance Mitts, I wanted to start singing ala Chubby Checker.

Getting back to knitting …

Plaited Ribbing is a variation of k1, p1 ribbing that alternates rounds of the knit stitch being worked as a k1 twist to the left with a rounds of that knit stitch twisted to the right. This keeps the twisted column of ribbed stitches balanced, while giving a bit tighter definition of the knit column of stitches than in regular ribbing.

The k1tblB Special Technique for Plaited Ribbing

To make Plaited Ribbing easier to do without remounting stitches for the right-twisted stitch, I have included instructions for the k1tblB in the Abbreviations and Special Techniques section of your Easy Elegance Mitts pattern. Here is a recap:

* k1tblB wrapping yarn clockwise to avoid re-mounting the stitch for a right-twisted stitch (k1tblB = k1tbl to twist the stitch to the left + wrapping yarn in opposite direction of normal)

Reverse-mounted Stitch

* k1tfl on following row of a k1tblB st completes the right-twisted stitch

Knitting into Front Loop of Reverse-mounted Stitch

Substituting Plain k1, p1 Ribbing

I will qualify this by also saying that if you have a highly textured yarn, the extra definition of Plaited Ribbing is probably not going to show up. So doing a plain k1, p1 ribbing can be substituted without little consequence.

In smooth yarn, however, the difference between Plaited Ribbing and plain k1, p1 Ribbing is quite striking. Here is a visual comparison to see it for yourself!

Lower: Plaited Ribbing
Upper: Plain k1, p1 ribbing

Substituting k1tbl, p1 Ribbing

You could substitute k1tbl, p1 ribbing for the Plaited Ribbing, but that is likely to bias to the left (especially if doing for a longer length such as in the wrist area of the mitts). Even with alternating a round of k1, p1 with a round of k1tbl, p1 — my experience is that most yarns will skew.

Bottom line

I suggest using either

1. the Plaited Ribbing as given in the pattern, or

2. a simple k1, p1.

The Plaited Ribbing will show up best in smooth, yarns. For textured yarns, a simple k1, p1 is ok to substitute.