[Nfb-krafters-korner] knitting with wire and beads on a loom update

[Powers, Terry (NIH/OD/DEAS) [E]]

What gage did you use?  26?  Is that thick or thin?
How did you lift the wire with out any stretch?
Terry P. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Cathy [mailto:flowersandherbs at gmail.com] 
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2012 3:02 PM
To: 'List for blind crafters and artists'
Subject: Re: [Nfb-krafters-korner] knitting with wire and beads on a loom update

Hello all,

Another update on this topic. After hearing from Neva and her idea with the pliers, I tried to get crimps out with the pair of pliers I had for my safety pin beading, and had some success with that. they are metal pliers however. Anyhow, this success gave me the desire to play a bit with the wire, even though it was now too short to make a bracelet. I still had not taken the beads I'd strung off of the wire after it broke. So I knitted up some wire and beads just to get the feel of it. 

It is quite interesting really because the "wonder knitter" unlike other looms has a disk on top which contains the pegs, that you spin around as you knit. This enables you to turn the disk and pegs instead of having to turn the entire loom. There is also a slit on the inside of the loom to place a wire to secure it when needed. I found that pulling down on the tail of the wire was necessary at least every three stitches. It still feels awkward knitting with wire for me, but I think I can do this!  

Another thing I was able to determine is which beads are best for this project. Definitely the seed beads and the 4MM beads are good choices to use on this project. 6mm beads and perhaps 8mm beads look as though they will work as well. I tried a larger bead, not certain what size it was, (it was a flat oval charm) and it would not fit down the inside of the wonder knitter, which only has a small hole in the center, only large enough to fit my thumb.

So what I did was to  knit one peg, then add enough beads to fill the gap between the pegs, (in my case it was 5 seed beads and a 4MM bead) then knit another stitch on the next peg, then add more beads and so on..  

So, I believe this project is still a go once I get some more wire and can restring these little beads. Who knows, maybe one of these days we will be able to have a class on this if I ever accomplish it myself.

Cathy




_______________________________________________
Nfb-krafters-korner mailing list
Nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-krafters-korner_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Nfb-krafters-korner:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfb-krafters-korner_nfbnet.org/terry.powers%40nih.gov