For the next edition of our craft along, we're going to be showing you a really simple knitting technique that everybody can master: Spool Knitting (sometimes known as French Knitting!) All you'll need is some wool, an old cotton spool and a few nails! The possibilities are endless once you get the hang of it and there are so may crafty uses for the knitted cord that this technique produces: from trimming knitted garments, to coasters and placemats!
Gently hammer 4 nails into the top of your spool, in the formation as shown in the picture. You want these to feel firm, so make sure you hammer them in until they’re not wobbly!
Begin by inserting the end of your ball of wool through the centre of the spool, from the top to the bottom, until the wool comes out of the bottom. You want the tail of wool to be about 3 or 4 inches long.
To ‘cast on’, loop or string your wool around each nail or peg counter-clockwise, like the picture.
When you reach the first nail (the one you began looping your wool on) wrap the wool around the outer edge of the nails, just over the loops.
After placing the wool around all the nails, starting with the first loop you made and using another nail, (or a small knitting needle if you have one!) lift the bottom loop up and pass it over the nail. The stitch will pass to the centre of the spool. Move counter-clockwise making a stitch at each nail. Continue around your spool counter-clockwise with this same process; taking the loop from the bottom and looping it over the top and into the centre of the spool.
In between each loop you can pull the wool string down through the centre of your spool to tighten and feed it through the middle. The knitted tube will start to grow from the bottom of the spool! Continue knitting until the cord is the desired length.
To ‘cast off’, lift the loop on the last stitch you made, and place the loop on the nail to its left. This nail now has two loops on it. With the nail or knitting needle, lift the bottom loop and pass it up and over the nail. You now should have only three nails with loops and one nail without a loop.
Continue transferring the loop on one peg to the left, lift the bottom loop and pass it up and over the peg until you have the last peg with only one loop. Cut the wool leaving about a 4 or 5-inch tail. Carefully remove the last loop off the peg and knot tightly to secure.
There are so many uses for your knitted cord, but we think they make great coasters! Simply curl up the cord on a circular piece of cork, gluing as you go with PVA or a hot glue gun, until you have covered the entire cork.
The more you knit, the easier it gets!