Kicking off Christmas in July KAL

For July, our KAL project is fittingly in the theme of Christmas in July and features  knitting with beads in colorful ways.

Bells On My Toes Holiday Beaded Mini Sock

Bells On My Toes is a festive holiday miniature sock for you to knit with beads and a bell. Simple beading techniques make this mini sock pattern quick to knit, and the results look impressive. I bet you won’t be able to make just one!

I bet you can’t make just one! Bells On My Toes Holiday Beaded Mini Socks Wall Hanging by Nancy

You can use this little sock for holiday tree trimming, as a sachet filled with herbal mixtures or potpourri, as a gift box decoration, etc.

You will learn how to string beads for simple colored pattern sequences, and work a sampling of fun beaded knitting techniques.

Since this is not a sock to “fit” someone, even if you have not knit socks before, this small project is a good introduction to the basics of making socks. Best of all, there is no second sock syndrome either, lol.

Shopping List

• Approximately 20 yards (22 m) fingering weight yarn in natural white or your choice of color. This should be a relatively smooth, non-textured yarn since we will be stringing the beads onto the yarn.
• Size 8/0 (3 mm) seed beads – 24 gold, 72 green, 150 red (or your choice of colors).
• Optional – Additional beads for making a hanging loop as pictured.
• Optional – Small jingle bell for embellishing the toe of the sock as pictured.

Note 1: Since these little socks take just a small amount of yarn, they are great for using up yarn you may have in your stash. If you don’t have an appropriate fingering weight yarn, I have found that some of the yarns labeled as “sport weight” also work. The only criteria is that it be a smooth yarn that is fine enough to allow the beads to be strung onto it and allow the beads to slide along the yarn fairly easily.

Note 2: These amounts are for a single beaded mini sock. If you would like to make several mini socks, plan for more yarn and beads/bells.

• Size US 2 or US 3 (2.75mm – 3.25 mm) double point needles, set of 4.
• For stringing the beads, you will need either a collapsing eye needle or a regular-eyed sewing needle with an eye small enough to pass through the hole in the beads e.g. size 24 tapestry needle.
• Optional – If your yarn seems too thick to get through the eye of your bead stringing needle, then have on hand a length of approximately 12” (30cm) of any kind of regular sewing thread. I will show you later how to use this extra piece of sewing thread to help you string your beads.
• Tapestry needle or crochet hook for finishing yarn ends.

Gauge

26 sts = 4” (10 cm). Since this project is decorative rather than being a sock to “fit” someone, gauge is not terribly critical other than that a slightly tighter gauge will be preferred to one that is looser than indicated here. This is because of the weight the beads will add to the project. Therefore, you may still want to check your gauge and adjust your knitting needle size if necessary.

Yarn Preparation

Wind your yarn into a ball while checking that there are no knots or weak places in the yarn. If there are, plan to use another yarn without these defects.

Even if your yarn is already in a ball, I still suggest you do this preparation step. You don’t want the beads you will be stringing onto the yarn to be hindered by knots. Also, the friction and weight of the beads will make weak places in the yarn even weaker, possibly breaking your yarn while knitting or even worse, after you have finished the project!

Don’t let this overly trouble you – almost all yarns I have checked out are fine to use – it is just a precautionary step before you begin.

Pattern

Bells On My Toes Holiday Mini Sock pattern will be available free to KnitHeartStrings.com members through the end of July. Don’t wait to download the pattern NOW and knit along while learning throughout the coming weeks with bonus bit-size tutorials, tips & techniques.

Be sure to let your knitting friends know that they can join KnitHeartStrings for free and get  a free pattern, too. Thank you for sharing and spreading the word.