MENDING A BREAK
If your wire does break, there is no need
to panic. Unpick your stitches so that you
have about 4cm left, leaving a tail from
the new section of wire, and work a couple
of stitches with both pieces of wire. Then,
once you have worked a couple of rows,
weave each end through a few stitches
(you should be able to just poke the wire
through) and use the wire cutters to trim
off the rest. Use your pliers to squeeze any
sharp ends down against the other wire
beside them.
Breaks become less common as you get
used to working with wire, and don’t bend
or kink it so much as you knit.
ADDING BEADS
Beads work well with knitted wire. You
can either thread beads onto your wire
before you start and slide them into place,
or add them as you go. The latter method
can give you more control over where
your beads sit.
Fold a short spare piece of wire into a
hairpin shape. Slip the next stitch off your
needle and loop the ‘hairpin’ through it.
Slide your bead over the hairpin and on to
the stitch ( 2 ). You may need to use your
pliers to pull the wire through the bead.
Once the stitch is through the bead, use a
small crochet hook to open the loop back
up and knit as normal.
FINISHING AND SHAPING
When you are happy with your piece of
knitted wire, cast off as normal and leave
a wire tail a few centimetres long. Weave
the tail through a few stitches and trim
with the wire cutters. As with repairing a
break, use pliers to flatten any sharp ends
against a neighbouring wire.
Pull your wire piece into the shape you
want, or twist or plait it with other strips
to build up a shape.
If you are adding your knitted mesh to a
frame ( 3 ), use lengths of wire to wrap the
edges of the knitting to the frame. When
wrapping, don’t use lengths of wire more
than 30cm long, and wrap a few times over
the edge of the wire to begin. When you
start to run out of wire, wrap a few ties in
the same place, trim then squash the end
in with pliers. Add another piece of wire
and continue wrapping on your mesh.
On the cuff pictured, beads have been
added onto the wire every few wraps.JEWELLERY FINDINGS
To turn your wire into jewellery you will
need some jewellery ‘findings’. These are
the bits and pieces that allow you to addcatches, earring hooks, chains and so on.
Particularly useful are jump rings, the small
split rings that you might see on a pendant
or earrings – 5mm or 6mm are a useful size.
It is worth looking at online videos showing
you how to open and close jump rings.
Crocodile clips, sometimes describes as
ribbon ends, are a good option for knitted
wire bracelets and chokers. You put the
end of your knitted piece in the jaws of
the clip, and use your pliers to close it ( 4 ).
The folded edge of your clip should point
towards the hinge of your pliers and the
serrated jaw towards the tip.
Once you have mastered the basics you
can have a lot of fun experimenting with
shapes and colour combinations, and even
creating crochet motifs - the same rules
about managing the wire, joining in new
wire and so on apply here, too.34
Essential tools include
wire cutters, pliers
and crochet hooksThe Knitter 73 Issue 142