I have a love-hate relationship with beads when it comes to my knitting. I love the look of beaded knits, but the idea of stranding all those beads on the yarn first, and then dealing with all those beads as the project is worked, just puts my teeth on edge. Especially when working with a lace weight mohair blend. And the whole bead placement issue always leads to some less than desirable results in my swatches. But there is one way of inserting beads that doesn't make me want to pull my hair out. And the bead placement is predictable and stable (no beads working their way to the back of the piece). You'll need a very small crochet hook (size 12/1.0mm or size 10/1.3mm) and beads with a hole large enough for the hook to slip through. These small hooks are readily available at most big box craft stores or one line. Size 6 or 8 beads usually work for this technique. Don't try with 11s.
Here's how it goes:
Knit up to the stitch where the bead will be placed (pb - "place bead" is often used to indicate this location).
Slip a bead onto the neck of the crochet hook.
Hook the next stitch and pull the stitch off the needle.
Slip the bead off the hook and down onto the neck of the stitch.
Place the stitch back on the left needle (assuming standard left to right knitting) and work the stitch as directed by pattern.
That's it.
For Lake Effect, I placed the beads on Row 1, on the slipped stitches. I found it easier to place the bead, put the stitch back on the left needle, then do the slip, yarn over, yarn over maneuver. You may be able to place the bead and then slip the stitch onto the right needle, thus eliminating a step.
Here's a short video to demonstrate the technique.
So go ahead, glam up your knits with a few well placed beads.
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