The first thing I learned is that there is no consensus on the methods of knitting with beads. Any way you can get them on there will be acceptable to someone! However, all methods involve putting the bead between stitches or in a stitch, with various results. See the BagLady article (link at right). The subject is covered by both knitting and beading sites and books. Bead knitting was very popular in the 1800's and early 1900's. Many lovely patterns have survived from this time, but the techniques are not very well described. It seems that most knitters learned the techniques from friends or magazines, rather than the thread company leaflets that are more easily found today.
The popularity of bead knitting waned as the 20th century went on. Wars and the Great Depression motivated knitters to make practical items such as socks and watch caps. As women went to work outside the home, spare time was at a premium and projects began to be geared for speed and ease, as evidenced by my vintage 1964 copy of "McCall's Needlework Treasury", which has 379 stitches and techniques for needlework including sequinned knitting for an evening jacket. Very few of the projects in this edition take more than a month of quiet evenings to make even if one is just learning the technique, and many of them can be done in a weekend.
Interest in "fancy" traditional techniques has soared since the 1990's, when the economic boom allowed many people to pursue full-time things that were previously considered hobbies. A resurgence in the popularity of knitting as well as the newly widespread popularity of beadwork combine to lovely effect in bead knitting.
