Step-by-Step Instructions for Beaded Kippot

Beaded kippot are being worn by more and more women who want to express their identification with the Jewish custom of covering one's hair. Men wear kippot to remind them that they are constantly in the presence of God, and now many women are adopting this custom as well, especially when they go to synagogue. Making your own beaded kippah is easy and enables you to choose your own colour scheme and the beads that you want to incorporate.

The most important thing to remember before you being crocheting a beaded kippah is to string on all the beads that you think you might need. Unless you change yarn colours or stop and start your kippah in the middle by cutting and reattaching the thread, there won't be an opportunity to add more beads later. Think about where you might want your beads to appear, how many you want in each section, what colours you would like to see and string them on accordingly. The beads you want to appear last should go on first.

While you can use any yarn or thread to crochet a beaded kippah, crochet cotton is one of the best yarns to use because it washes well and is easy to work with. Using a size 3 crochet hook, chain 4, join the last chain to the first chain with a slip stitch to make a little circle. Crochet 8 single crochet stitches into the centre of the circle that you made and join with a slip stitch to the first single crochet that you made. Crochet two single crochets into each of the single crochets all the way around for round two. You should have 16 single crochets.

Now the choice is yours. You can begin to add beads here by stringing up one bead at a time, yarn over and then proceeding with your stitch. You can now start to play with different crochet stitches, such as half double crochets and double crochets, and see what effects you get when you crochet into the back loop as opposed to the first loop, or even in the space below the stitch. Keep increasing at regular intervals as need to keep your work flat. One very nice touch is to crochet two double crochets in one stitch and then skip the next stitch and repeat until you finish the row. In the next row, crochet your stitches into the spaces you created by skipping those stitches. Add beads whenever and wherever you want to make your pattern.

After the circle you have made is a little bit smaller than the size you want your kippah to be, stop increasing stitches. Continue crocheting, adding beads where you want them to go, alternating and skipping stitches accordingly, but do not increase at all. This will cause your kippah to start to cup downward. Crochet as many more rows as needed until the kippah is the size you want it to be. Slip stitch into the last stitch in the row when you are done, fasten off and weave in the ends.