Beaded knitting is very easy. Anyone who can knit can do beaded knitting. "Bead knitting" and "beaded knitting" are different.   Bead knitting is an involved process wherein beads are strung onto the knitting thread one by one according to a pre-planned color pattern. The beads are strung on in the proper sequence before any knitting begins. They are then worked into the body of the knitting, one bead per stitch. The beads are actually pulled through the stitch. The beads begin to recreate the color pattern according to the color chart from which the beads were originally sequenced.   Beaded knitting (which is our specialty at Purse Paradise) is a quicker art. Large amounts of beads of the same color are used. (One could use more than one color, but this would still not give the same effect as bead knitting. Most often just one bead color is used in beaded knitting.)   As with bead knitting, the beads are strung onto the pearl cotton before any knitting begins. When beads are purchased in pre-strung hanks, this is a quick process. The "temporary thread" on which the beads lie is knotted around the knitting thread. The beads are then simply slipped over the small knot and onto the knitting thread. If beads are not purchased in hanks, they must be strung onto the knitting thread "by hand" with a beading needle. This process can be quickened by the use of a bead spinner.   Once the beads are strung, they are slid "up" the thread, away from the knitting needles and the "working end" of the thread. When beads are required by the pattern, they are simply "slipped" down into place. This means to gently slide the correct amount of beads down toward the "working end" of the thread. The beads are gently slid all the way down against the last stitch which was knitted. Now the next stitch is knit in the normal way. This will "lock" the beads into place. The beads are not pulled through the stitches in any way. The beads appear on the side of the knitwork which is not currently facing the knitter.   For beaded knitting designs which featured beaded "columns" (our patterns "Grace" and "Elaine" are two examples) most often there are as many beads on the inside of the purse as there are on the outside. This is how it must be. If there were no beads on the inside of the purse, the columns of beads would not be free to "hang" properly in the graceful way they do. Instead, the beads would be "cinched" up and would look more like small "fringes" or loops sticking out all over the knitwork.   This is a brief overview of how beaded knitting is done. We can's state it emphatically enough, if you can knit, you can do beaded knitting!