wire votives

Amidst all the sweater knitting last weekend, I also found time to whip up these little babies! Bead and wire votive candle holders a la Handknit Holidays. To be honest, I only glanced at the pattern to see what size needles they recommended. I was more directly inspired by Kelly at knitting club a few weeks ago. There's not much pattern to it, really. Just pre-string your beads (approximately "a whole bunch"), cast on how many stitches you think you need (about "meh" or so), and knit in garter stitch until it wraps around your glass votive candle holder, knitting the beads in "ya know, when you feel like it." To be a bit more specific, for these votives I used 24 gauge wire on size 8 needles, cast on 13 stitches, and knit for about 6.5". If you use votive candle holders with straight sides, you need not worry about shaping! I used almost 30 yards of wire for the two votives. Knitting with wire wasn't the most fun ever, but, being my first foray into housewares, it was something different for me---and they do go pretty quickly. I would probably use 26 gauge wire if I tried them again. I think they're pretty enough to be gifted to someone this Christmas...I just have to decide on a "lucky" recipient!