Would you like to make Irresistible tiny Red Hats to wear on your finger –
cheering yourself up in these challenging times, or for reminding yourself that Hope is an antidote to despair and cynicism
OR maybe just for a moment of fun in putting on very small finger puppet shows?
OR, perhaps to wear on your lapel or pin to your bag or backpack as a sign of community and connection, OR to give as little gifts to friends and family and fellow travellers?
Okay, here’s a video that I made showing how to spool knit an Irresistible Tiny Red Hat with yarn or fabric strips if you can’t find red yarn. Previously, I have made video tutorials on how to spool knit in the round, as well as flat panels and also how to spool knit with fabric strips. All the links to the tutorials and so much more are at my blog tottietalkscrafts dot com.
For Day 21 of #100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms- I made a video tutorial showing how to make a spool knitter from upcycled cardboard and bamboo skewers, finished with papier mache whimsy.
It’s a lovely and sturdy little spool knitter that is a delight to work with. For more information, please go to http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com
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.
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.
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!
If you’d like to make a large spool knitter without woodworking tools, and have a few crafting tools, then you can make yourself a spool knitter that is uniquely yours and pleasing to work with.
You need a sturdy core for the body of the spool knitter. I wound off some jute string onto a bobbin to free up a cardboard tube.
It’s 1 1/2 inches/4 cm in diameter (yours can be any diameter that you happen to have) and 4 1/4 inches/10.5 cm tall.
I bought a little bag of bamboo lolly pop sticks in the candy making aisle of the grocery store (craft stores sell them too). They’re 1/4 inches/.5 cm in diameter and 5 inches/25 cm tall.
Mark 1 1/2 inches (4 cm) from the end of 6 (or however many you want) of them.
Line up the marks so they stick out from the end of the tube.
Glue the dowels to the outside of the tube with hot glue.
Now, mix up some wallpaper glue or thin some white glue.
Tear up paper and glue layers of it to the spool knitter.
My Homage to Jane Austen spool knitter is one of the unexpected delights that has unfolded for me because of my project, the #100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms. A couple of weeks ago, I picked up 4 old encyclopedias at the Re Use centre to use in papier mache projects.
What a thrill to find an article about Jane Austen in one of them. I immediately pulled her pages out and carefully tore them into sizes and shapes to fit the spool knitter. Then, I gleefully glued them on.
I waited overnight for the papier mache to dry and then added a little bit of color with water color pencil crayons and Mod Podged it.
I am absolutely delighted with my Homage to Jane Austen spool knitter!
#100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms has given me a lovely gift!
BTW- there are benefits of working with ‘larger than usual’ spool knitters and I will be showing those in upcoming posts.
Ooops! When I wrote the instructions for the pdf for making the Kindness Pin Loom I recommended using a specific kind of quilting pin for it, and arghhhh!
Those pins seem to be unavailable now.
So, I did a whole lot of test weaving using different kinds of pins and have recommendations for pins that will work (and one style that really really doesn’t work).
I made a YouTube video that explains which pins work fine, so all is well.
Tottie Talks Crafts Blog 