Snakeskin cuff pattern

I knit this back in July and intended to write it up but apparently never managed to. Today is a good day for tying up some loose ends.


At last, the Snakeskin cuff pattern! A quick gift pattern--I feel pretty much like a rockstar with mine on!

First a couple of notes from my Dragon Scales cuff pattern to get us started:
By the way, if you are wondering how to knit with beads, please check here is some help from Knitty, where I first got the idea for knitting beaded cuffs. The instructions for adding a bead to your knitting (they're pre-strung, btw):

Insert the needle into the stitch to be knit, slide a bead up close to the needle, and pull the bead through to the front as you complete the stitch. The bead should sit on the right leg of the "V" formed by the knit stitch.

Thanks, Elizabeth!

-First, select some DMC no. 5 Perle cotton and US size 1 (2.25 mm) double pointed needles. Don't be distracted by your ordinary cotton floss, it's not the same and not handy for knitting. I tried.

-Find a few beads that will fit on the cotton, if you want. I found some interesting square glass beads at a local beading shop but this would look nice without beads too. Oh, and I used sew on snaps to connect the ends around the wrist, but be creative--I've used hook and eye closures, and you can always sew on a couple of buttons and then crochet loops to go around them!

-String on the number of beads that you want. I chose to just do 7 and place them intermittently through the knitting, for a little glitz.

-Cast on 18 stitches. I used a long-tail cast on, but you may do whatever you like
-Knit five rows, ending on a right side row if you used the long tail cast on, or knit an additional row if you started on the right side in the first place.

Pattern rows: (based on 'snakeskin' stitch pattern from Vogue Stitchionary)
Row 1 [RS]: sl 1, k1, yo, ssk, (k2, with yarn in front sl 2 sts, bring yarn to back, return 2 sts to left needle, k2,) twice, k2, k2tog, yo, k2.
Row 2 & 4 [WS]: purl
Row 3 [RS]: sl 1, k1, yo, ssk, (with yarn in front sl 2 sts, bring yarn to back, return 2 sl sts to left needle, k2, k2) twice, with yarn in front sl 2 sts, bring yarn to back, return 2 sl sts to left needle, k2, k2tog, yo, k2.

Repeat the pattern to desired length. I repeated it 16 times, placing beads intermittently through the scale pattern. You could omit beads or use as many as you like.

After 16 repeats I knitted five more rows in garter stitch to overlap the initial garter stitch rows. I blocked it to straighten it out well and sewed in two black snaps, spaced about an inch apart.

My cuff was designed to overlap to allow sewn in snaps to connect. Depending on how you want yours to work, you might want to knit a little less so they just meet and then button or hook or whatnot. Let me know how it turns out!