I fully admit to stealing this idea from Grumperina. Her beaded wire votive sleeves came out looking so beautiful, and seeing as I also design and make jewelry, I had all of the materials on hand except for the votive holders. One trip to Joann later and I was ready to get teacher gifts done. My older son is in first grade, and my younger one is in preschool with three teachers who work in his classroom. I thought these would be a perfect gift. Everyone loves pretty candles, right?
I strung my beads (one bag of mixed beads per sleeve) onto 28g wire, cast 12 stitches onto size 8 needles, and made a mini wire scarf. Knit until it was long enough, slipping a bead up for each stitch. Whip stitched the ends together to make the sleeve, with the purl side out to make the beads stand out more. I sort of folded the top edge over here and there and crisscrossed wire on the bottom so that the glass didn't slip out of the sleeve when someone tried to pick it up. These were fast--just one evening of TV watching per sleeve.
Grumperina's are noteworthy in that her beads are perfectly positioned, one on each purl bump. Mine were nowhere near that precise. The beads moved around or never went to the right position in the first place, and I just left them that way. I sort of like the randomness of it, although I was aiming for something more polished like hers.
Anyway, here are five complete. Not shown is another one in blue. These were fast and easy, I think I'll make up a bunch now and then to sell with my jewelry.
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A closeup:
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And a shot of the bottom, just to show the crisscrossing:
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