quick answer

Marlyce in Windsor asked me how I would remove beads from a garment when they were attached using the crochet hook method. I guess I could have explained that better - I was saying that on my blue laceweight sweater, I was planning on adding lines of beads to the body using the crochet hook method, but if I didn't like it, I could always remove them. Well, the only way to remove them is to frog back the knitting, the same way you would remove any kind of design element that didn't please you. The nice thing about putting them on with a crochet hook is that they are not prestrung onto the wool, so when you remove them, they are gone.

There is another way...
simply smash them with a hammer and pick out the bits and pieces of glass bead that get flung all over your knitting (and probably immediate area as well). I don't actually recommend this method - you make a huge mess, and often, the sharp glass edges of the beads will cut or mangle your wool.

Not that I know from experience, or anything. cough, cough...