Queen of Beads

Yesterday I decided to start the first installment of the Rockin' Sock Club 2009 - World Domination Tour.

The first design is called Queen of Beads, designed by Sivia Harding.   

First detour from Queen of Beads:

I had an opportunity to meet Sivia at the Madrona Fiber Arts Winter retreat 3 weeks ago.  I happen to be a member of a private Yahoo group.  Each year at Madrona a bunch of us meet up and have dinner one night during the retreat.  Sivia is also a member of that group.

As knitter notoriety goes, Sivia is right up there.  She might laugh about this but when she showed up for dinner(I had heard rumor's she was going to be there), I felt nervous excitement!  Having dinner with Sivia Harding?   She was also helping Cat Bordhi in her sock class so I had a chance to talk to her in class.   She is such a kind and gracious person.

Back to the socks!

Here is the wonderfully dyed yarn(thank you Tina!) with the very beautiful beads sitting next to my refreshing tropical drink.

I have never strung beads onto yarn before knitting.  I usually use a crochet hook to place the beads as I am knitting.

I don't know a lot about bead knitting so I had to call Ellen on the phone to find out how she strung her beads.  The way I was thinking I was going to string them on the yarn did not work(using a fine needle and stringing them on the yarn like I did as a child making bead jewelry). 

I had planned on placing the beads on the yarn while we drove 2 hours north to the quaint little town of Hawi.  Since that didn't work I knit on my Mandala shawl.

Note - Second detour from talking about the Queen of Beads:

As we got closer to the northern end of the island there was a brush fire.   The next photo was taken as we approached the area of the brush fire.  Don't you wonder what the fire/police think when tourists are taking dumb photos like these?  Ooohhh, I was on vacation and there was a *brush fire*.  Great excitement.  :)

I'll blame it on Greg.  He said "get the camera out and take some photos!" So I did!
 

On the way back to the condo after sightseeing on the north end of the island yesterday I asked to stop at Longs Drug to get dental floss threaders.  After talking with Ellen and failing at stringing the beads with a needle, I was intent on getting those beads ON the yarn!

Back on track with the socks:

This is how you string beads onto yarn using a floss threader.

Start with a single floss threader:


Drape your yarn through the loop of the floss threader:


Begin stringing the beads using the pointed tip of the floss threader:

Once the bead/beads are on the floss threader, push the bead down the yarn. I had some difficulty getting some of my beads down past where the floss threader ends and where the yarn is doubled. I think there are just some beads that were just too small to get on the yarn.

I've strung about 190 beads on the yarn for the first sock. I am ready to begin.