For Day 19 of #100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms I made a video showing how to spool knit with fabric strips on a large spool knitter.
Our little dog provided sound effects- he insists on being swaddled in his chair right next to me, and was adamant that I stop what I was doing and wrap him up…. so I did.
Spool knitting with fabric strips is a fun spool knitting technique that is an excellent way to upcycle worn out clothing or scraps of fabric.
For Day 18 of #100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms I made a video showing how to spool knit a flat panel cord on a 5 or 6 or 7 or more pegs spool knitter.
This is a VERY useful spool knitting technique!
Happy Spool Knitting! ❤
For Day 17 of #100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms
I made a video showing how to spool knit round cord on a 5 or 6 or 7 or more pegs spool knitter.
Day 16 of #100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms- A video tutorial for making square 2 peg cord on almost any spool knitter
For Day 16 of #100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms I made a video showing how to use any size of spool knitter (with any number of pegs) like a lucet to make square cord by using only 2 pegs of the spool knitter.
The pattern for the Tiny Spool Knitted Angel is available at https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/48409301/pdf-pattern-for-tiny-spool-knitted-angel
And here’s the video:
Day 15 of #100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms- My brother in a Bowler Hat, no a Bowl for a Hat
Our family had a lovely Sunday dinner together and then, our daughter, Chloe, said how much she loved the pic of Jonathan with a bowl on his head.
(First of all, there is this goofy thing that everyone in our family does, which is to try on all kinds of unusual things (bucket? Yup) as hats).
So, when she said that Jonathan had posted a pic of himself with a bowl on his noggin, I was surprised that somehow I hadn’t seen it (stupid algorithms! Of course I NEED to see a pic of my brother Jonathan (@distinctivewoodworking) with a Bowler hat, no a Bowl as a Hat).
And, I was not disappointed.
It’s delightful. In fact, I think it’s one of my most favorite photos ever of my serious engineer/master woodworker brother. Hurrah for a little silliness! I am still chuckling!
Day 14 of #100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms- When Spool knitters aren’t spool knitting they talk to rocks
Several years ago, a friend saw a spool knitter that I had made by upcycling, drawing and painting on a wooden bowl. He loved it and bought it- not to spool knit with, but to place a beautiful geode on. It’s a winning combination.
I told my brother Jonathan (@distinctivewoodworking) about it and he thought that that was neat, so I took some pictures of bowls that he and his son Kieran had turned and I had made into spool knitters.
Jonathan wanted to see what I was talking about, so I had fun balancing random rocks and crystals on my spool knitters. Pardon the pun, but, they rock.
Day 13 of #100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms- Our Lady of the Starry Night with Dragonfly Spool knitter
I have a stack of sketchbooks that are designated as my ‘evening sketchbooks’.
Every night at bedtime, I do some quick sketches in the current sketchbook, and make design notes about things that are not working (which will often trigger the answer to the design question) as well as notes about what was delightful and worked well and also what I need to do the next day.
A couple of evenings ago, I did a quick sketch that I really liked. So, the next morning, I chose one of the small spool knitters that my brother Jonathan (@distinctivewoodworking) and his son, Kieran, had turned for me on the lathe. I drew, burned and painted her on the spool knitter.
Here she is: Our Lady of the Starry Night with a Dragonfly.
I’ve been doing some spool knitting with her, and she’s quite enjoyable.
Day 12 of #100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms- How do we mend what’s broken?
On Day 11, I showed how I upcycled a plastic bottle into my ‘Storyteller’ spool knitter. But, I didn’t talk much about needing to cut away part of the bottle that was cumbersome & clumsy. I had to lop off part of the top to get the spool knitter to work. Sometimes, we just have to cut away the unworkable part.
But sometimes the best way to fix something that’s broken is to find a way to stitch the edges together again… a radical mend may be needed.
I am enjoying upcycling ‘boink/busted’ bowls from my brother Jonathan (@distinctivewoodworking)
One of them had a crack up one side. He suggested a way to fix it. I tried it & it looked good, so I spent hours drawing & burning a bumble bee & a hexagon on it.
Alright- I drilled the center hole. Fine. Now- 5 holes for pegs. Fine. The 6th & final one- the bowl opened like the gates of dawn! My knees went blorp. I gazed at the Bee & held the bowl in my hands. No way was I going to toss it away. So.
Time for something different! Let’s sew this bowl together! I drilled holes on both sides of the crack & was sure it was going to fly apart-eek- the lines of little holes wobbled up the bowl!
I used waxed linen to sew the edges of the bowl together. Then glued the pegs in.
Yes! It’ worked! The stitching is Wabi Sabi, BUT my precious Bumble Bee spool knitter is a joy to work with.
The disruption of her rupture and the ‘freeform’ mending has completely endeared her to me.
Metaphors! I hope that we can find lots & lots of quirky & unique ways to mend our precious, wobbly & hurting planet (whether it’s snipping the things that don’t work or sewing the broken edges freely & trustingly together again) so we can all get back to work, creating beauty.
Hugs all round. With Love. And Hope. And Courage.
Day 11 of #100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms-Upcycling plastic bottles into spool knitters-The Storyteller Spool knitter
In my Day 9 post, I showed how I upcycled a sturdy cardboard tube into a spool knitter that I love as it’s an Homage to Jane Austen.
At the same time that I was making the Jane Austen spool knitter, I was experimenting with upcyling a plastic bottle to see if I could make a reasonable spool knitter with it for my #100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms.
The bottle has to be fairly sturdy, so I chose an empty vitamin bottle.
I wanted to see if the sharpened end of 7 lolly pop sticks would work as the pegs.
They are okay, but I prefer the blunt ends, so I won’t use the sharp ends as pegs again.
I marked off 1 1/2 inches(4 cm) at the end of each.
Next- I put 3 rubber bands onto the bottle and one at a time, I slipped a lollypop stick into them
and hot glued them to the bottle.
Then, layers of papier mache,
and decorative paper – I love that I found a delightful image of a storyteller with some bouncy kids and also a few goddess images, a few hippos and some almost invisible elephants.
Now mod podge to seal.
I had cut a too small hole in the end of the bottle, so I carefully cut the excess plastic away
and the Storyteller spool knitter works just fine!
Happy upcycling! and happy spool knitting 🙂 ❤
In my Day 7 post, I showed a gorgeous Paduak bowl that my brother Jonathan (@distinctivewoodworking) turned and then, I upcycled into a spool knitter since the bowl had developed a hole in the base while being turned.
I have been working on getting set up for shooting a couple of how to videos for #100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms, but I keep getting distracted by being inspired…
I started wondering about a walnut bowl (another one rescued from the firewood box – yay!) that he had sent me and so, instead of working on the videos, off I went to have a little visit with the drill press. I drilled a hole in the base that is larger than the rip out, then 8 holes for the pegs, and did a little sanding and glued in pegs.
Oh my word! It’s so beautiful! I couldn’t resist drawing and burning a butterfly on it, as I could see a whisper of a butterfly in the grain of the wood.
Lovely! Just lovely!!!
#100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms is making my heart very happy!
Butterflies make me feel hopeful. May we all live in hopeful times!
Noreen Crone-Findlay, designer and author
Tottie Talks Crafts Blog 