Beaded Chrislmas Tassel
Ornate tassels, like these have often been used to embellish curtain tie-backs, keys and any other items in need of embellishment. These small tassels are great to accent a cabinet and look wonderful on a Christmas Tree. The sample was done in traditional Christmas colours but it would also look fabulous in some silk, hand-dyed in rich colours. It does not require much yarn, less than 40m of eachcolour. Materials: 2.5mm dpn's; 2 colours of 4-ply or finer weight yarn - sample was made with Sandnes Mandarin Petit cotton; 90 size 8/0 beads for each tassel with extra for beadedI-cord. Size: Sample is 1 % inch wide and 8 inches long, including the I-cord. Gauge: 9st (1 pattern repeat) is 1 1/8th inch. Precise gauge is not important for this kind of project. Abbreviations: K2tog - knit 2 stitches together. SSK - slip the next 2 sts knitwise (one at a time), then insert the left needle across the front of your 2 slipped sts and knit them together. YO - bring the yarn forward between your needles and then knit your next stitch as normal, allowing the yarn to loop over your right hand needle to form a new stitch. PB - pull up bead.
Pattern:
Prestring 90 beads + extra if beading the I-cord. Cast-on 27 sts, distribute onto 3 needles, 9 st per needle, and connect into a round. : - this can be made longer or shorter by reducing or increasing the repeats of rows 4 and 5 Round 1 - Purl. Round 2 - \*P1, PB; repeat from \* to end of round. Round 3 - Purl. Round 4 - \*K2tog, K2, YO, K1, YO, K2, SSK; repeat from \* to end of round. Round 5 - \*P1, K7, P1, PB; repeat from \* to end of round. Repeat rows 4 and 5 9 times more for a total of 20 rows.
Neck and Head Shaping
Round 25 -\*K1, K2tog; repeat from \* to end of round - 18 sts. Round 26 - Purl. Round 27 - \*P1, PB; repeat from \* to end of round. Round 28 - Purl. Round 29 - Knit. Rounds 30 to 40 - \*K1, P1; repeat from \* to end of round. Round 41 - \*P1, PB; repeat from \* to end of round. \* all around - 9 sts. Row 43 - \*K2tog; repeat from \*4 times, end with K1 - 5 sts.
Row 42 - \*K2t og; repe at from Finish off with I-cord or cut the yarn and pull through the remaining stitches. Finish the knitting with a 5 st beaded I-cord for hanging from a tree branch or antique key (as sample). Finish the tassel by making a traditional style tassel with a contrasting yarn and then placing the beaded tassel over it. The traditional tassel was 6 inches long for the sample. An alternative finish would be to fill the head of thebeaded tassel with a marble or yarn and then tie it Off. I-cord: Working with the 5 sts left on the tassel, K5 -Do not Turn - slide the sts to the right end of the needle
