BellaOnline Forums Hobbies and Crafts Spinning Adding beads to hand-spun yarn while plying?

Is there an EASIER way to do this? <grin> I am still fairly new to spinning (about 18 months) and it may just be that I haven't figured out some of the "tricks" yet, but I want to add beads to the yarn I am plying and the only way I can figure out to do it is to thread a whole bunch of these tiny beads onto one of the singles and just keep moving one bead up with each arms length of ply ... sort of? I managed the first 50 yards of yarn with about 100 beads, so probably approximately one bead every 18" or so. It took quite a while to do but it looks pretty <g>.

I want to end up with a total of at LEAST 150 yards of beaded yarn for a project I have in mind and for what I am doing I NEED to have them plied in, so I can't add them as I knit.

Any suggestions from more experienced spinners? Thanks!

If there is, then I'd sure love to hear about it!

Dear Llyn, I know that I'm the total newbie, but I was wondering if it might be possible to add the beads to the yarn while spinning. This would definitely slow your spinning time down. Probably not a good idea but thought I would throw it out there and maybe you could could tell me (gently) why it isn't. Glad to get back to reading your ideas about spinning. Glenda.

The only method of adding beads as you spin that I know of is to: 1) string the beads onto thread and then 2) ply the beaded thread with a bobbin of singles. This would be slow because it does require sliding the beads into position as you go. I know of no way to put beads into unspun fiber and then spin that fiber.