This video tutorial shows how to work with 4 peg or 6 peg Spool Knitters to make striped cords.
Horizontal stripes can be made with any number of nails or pegs on the spool knitter and 2 different colors of yarn.
Vertical stripes can be made with 2 colors of yarn on 4 peg spool knitters and 3 colors of yarn on 6 peg spool knitters.
I have other video tutorials on my YouTube channel that show you how to make different size spool knitters so you can make all kinds of striped spool knitted cords.
For more information and links type ‘spool knitter’ or ‘spool knitting’ in the categories box and a ton of great links will open up. Happy Spool Knitting!
I’ve just made a 2nd video tutorial showing how to use a Spool Knitter as a Flower Loom to make super simple flowers from small amounts of yarn.
These flowers are fluffy and freeform.
The flowers can be used as pins, patches, bookmarks or crocheted or stitched together to make tiaras, flower crowns, scarves, shawls, vests, dolls or toys, or whatever you imagine.
If you type ‘spool knitter’ in the categories box a ton of great links will open up.
I love finding lots of ways of working with spool knitters that take them past ‘just making cord’, so I have been playing with using spool knitters as flower looms.
I have come up with some fun ways of making flowers with spool knitters.
I’ve made a couple of YouTube videos showing how I do this.
This first video shows how to use spool knitters to make yarn flowers that have a perimeter ‘frame’ around them.
They can be made with as many colors as you want- just one color or lots of contrasting colors.
The flowers can have pin backs or hair clips stitched to the back.
They can be used as patches to mend worn clothing or stitched on as embellishments.
Hang them up as holiday ornaments.
They can be stitched together to make mats, shawls, scarves, table runners or bags.
Here’s the link to the first Spool Knitters as Flower Looms video tutorial:
Day 72 of #100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms- I have always loved making dolls.
I am a dyed in the wool upcycler, so using upcycled things in my doll making is really important to me.
My ‘Rosie Recycle’ dolls are ‘pin dolls’ that have pins on the backs of their heads so they can be hung on a curtain, worn on a lapel or hat, or pinned to bag or backpack.
Their bodies are jointed from the neck so they ‘dance’.
I love them 🙂 They are so much fun to make!
When I wrote the instructions, I didn’t include lucet cords, but the Rosie Recycle dolls can definitely be made with lucet cords as well as spool knitters.
Days 44 to Day 59 of #100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms-
It has taken me ages to get it done, but I have finally uploaded a pdf pattern with step by step instructions and photos on how to use a Lucet to make ‘Sweet Dreams/Emotional Support/Comfort Snails.
For weeks, I dreamt about these charming little ‘Emotional Support’, ‘Comfort’ Snails and they really did make Sweet Dreams!
They showed up in liminal dappled and speckled spaces.
They offered me comfort and guidance and spoke of the shadows that flicker in the places that are growing-when the breezes flit through the sunshine, whispering of greening new hope, love and light.
They delight me- I hope that they will offer you sweet dreams, and emotional support and comfort, too!
Throughout the amazing Artemis 2 Moon Mission, I worked away with my Lucet, experimenting to find ways of refining these snuggly Snails.
In one of the dreams that I had about these little Lucet Snails, they said that the Artemis Astronauts took us to the moon and back and showed us that we are all really made of stardust and love….
So the Sweet Dreams/Emotional Support /Comfort Snails have both hearts and stars on them so we will remember that lovely thought!
They also have Lucky Pennies inside them so they will always carry good luck and best wishes with them.
There is a link in the pattern for a how to video that has step by step instructions on how to make an upcycled chopstick Lucet.
Day 43 of #100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms- I just fixed the face of a Well Well Well Doll
I was not happy with the original face of this Well Well Well Doll –
I like the big oval, but the first version of the face felt lost in it.
I did quite a few drawings to find one that felt right for the doll and settled on this one.
Now, I am content with this version of the doll because the features of the face stand out from the background embellishments and the expression reads clearly.
When you’re making a doll, it’s a really good idea to audition lots of different elements.
Sometimes, it can take time to figure out precisely what isn’t working.
Ask yourself a lot of questions- Is the shape a problem? Is the placement of the features an issue? What does the expression communicate and are you okay with that? Are the colors right? Is there enough contrast or not enough? Is something missing that needs to be added? Is there something that is extraneous and needs to be removed? Feel free to change what doesn’t make your heart sing.
Need help with drawing faces? I made a video to help with that:
The pattern for the Well Well Well Dolls is available in my etsy shop:
Day 42 of #100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms- How to Make a Lucet from Upcycled Chopsticks and How to Make Lucet Cord with it
One of the unexpected bonuses of doing the 100 Day Project is that it reminds me of things that I have designed and then set aside and forgotten.
One of those things is the delightful Lucet Cord maker (Lucets are flat 2 peg spool knitters) that I use upcycled chopsticks to make. They are such a pleasure to work with and I love making cord with them.
Day 35 of #100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms- Lots of Links for How To Use Spool Knitted or Lucet Cord
Spool knitting and using lucets to make lovely cord is relaxing, meditative, contemplative and just plain fun. But, people often ask me: What do you do with all those cords after you’ve made them?
Here’s a list of useful links to videos that I have made about ways of using spool knitted and luceted cord. (Lucets are flat 2 peg spool knitters))
Go to my Etsy shop to buy pdf patterns for fun spool knitted projects:
Day 24 of #100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms- Well Well Well Spool Knitted Dolls
I designed the Well Well Well Spool Knitted Dolls as a wish that everyone, everywhere, would feel well, and that our precious planet would feel well, and that anyone who makes these dolls will feel well, and happy, and safe and hopeful and live in peace, and equanimity.
As I made them, I asked myself: What does JOY look like today? What does peace and safety look like today? What does this doll want me to know? How can this doll feel like hope or sweetness today?
I invite the doll makers to play with drawing their own unique, one of a kind faces for their Well Well Well dolls and have made a video tutorial to help them do this.
I hope that these joyful, playful, happy dolls will bring all good things to the people who make them, and if the Well Well Well dolls are meant as a gift that they will bring love, light, laughter and hope to those who receive them.
The pattern includes links to 3 video tutorials for how to make your own larger spool knitters as well as videos on how to spool knit in the round, and how to spool knit flat panels as well as spool knitting 2 peg/nail cords.
The pattern has complete step by step instructions for making the Well Well Well Spool Knitted Dolls with yarn and with fabric strips too.
Day 23 of #100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms- A video tutorial for making a tiny upcycled sketchbook and easy ways of drawing simple faces in it
I made a video tutorial that shows how to make an upcycled tiny sketch book and then how to draw simple faces in it as an ongoing daily practice.
That’s because I am going to be releasing a new pattern tomorrow for wonderful spool knitted dolls and I want people to be able to draw unique, one of a kind faces for their dolls.
I have found that using tiny upcycled sketchbooks to practice drawing faces is a lot like practising a musical instrument.
Daily drawing is the way to build creative stepping stones.
A little bit at a time, all the time.
Large gorgeous sketchbooks with expensive paper can be really hard to work with, but tiny ones that fit in a pocket and are humble paper make for carefree drawing.
Tottie Talks Crafts Blog 