Bead Isle Cuff: Fair Isle with beads

For July’s Lola’s Choice kit I tried something completely new. I brought my love of beading over to Fair Isle colorwork and discovered I could mash these two obsessions together to create a whole new world of beaded knitwear! The result is a satisfying blend of traditional and modern that is both fun to make and beautiful to wear.

What I love about my Lola’s Choice kit club is that it gives me the opportunity to do a deep dive into a new-to-me design concept. I get to stretch my design wings and in turn members get to learn new skills and work with new tools. It’s a win-win! 

Lola’s Choice is designed to be playful and low stress. Kits arrive at your doorstep every other month, so you don’t get overwhelmed. The projects themselves are extremely fun and satisfying, and they make great gifts! 

For May’s Lola’s Choice I offered a project that was a little bigger than usual, the Itbe Shawl. Since Itbe Shawl was a larger project for Lola I decided to make the next kit, Bead Isle, a bit of a palette cleanser. That way anyone who hadn’t finished Itbe could catch up without feeling behind! Plus, Bead Isle makes a great quick kit to join in on the k(n)it-a-long.  

Although Bead Isle is a small project, it’s still enough knitting for you to get a feel for the rhythm of placing beads in a Fair Isle pattern using my handy chart. In the video included with the pattern you can see just how that’s done. 

The Bead Isle kit includes an Emma’s Yarn Basic Bittie, three colors of Size 8 Miyuki Delica seed beads, a slide clasp and a piece of Super Floss for placing beads. As with all my Lola’s Choice designs the pattern is available for sale individually, as well as being included in the kit.

Right now the only way to get the Bead Isle Cuff kit is to sign up for Lola’s Choice. If you sign up now you’ll start with this kit! Wondering what Lola’s Choice is all about? You can read more about the kit club on my website. 

Bead Isle is a fun knit that introduces you to the world of beaded color work. After you start you might find yourself wondering what else you can do with this technique! My husband is begging for a beaded yoke sweater… but I think I’m going to make one for myself first! I’m thinking it would be a great Rhinebeck sweater, don’t you? 

What else would you love to see me explore with beaded colorwork? I want to know in the comments!