Spool Knitting

I'm joining Vintage Thingies Thursday over at Coloradolady this week with a blast from my past.

I made my first spool knitter as a Brownie from some nails and an empty large wooden
thread spool.  The shape of a wooden thread spool isn't always the best for little hands
and makes the craft a little more difficult to execute.  When I was about 8 years old, Santa
brought me a spool knitter that fit my hand perfectly, used cotter pins instead of nails and
she still works just as well 60 years later.

Spool knitters have been known by various names over the years, knitting nellies,

knitting nancys, knitting knobbies/noddies, and knitting spools. Today's spool knitting

looms are often referred to as round looms.  This type of knitting goes all the way back

to the time of the Vikings when a bone or piece of wood with two pegs was known as a 

lancet and was used to make strong cording.  In later times this type of cording was used to

make horse reins from leather strips.

The resurgence in crafting projects in recent years has brought renewed interest
in spool knitters and many new versions in different gauges are available.
Here's one that is semi-automated and has two different sizes of spools included,
plus a handy hook.  The size of the knitted "tube' is dependent on the diameter
of the "spool" and where the "nails" are positioned. With the advent of some
of the new knitters, many patterns beyond the basic stitch I learned are available.

And here is my spool knitter from all those years ago ..... all the knit doll clothes and blankets and chair pads for my dolls have disappeared, but the knitter is still here.  Somewhere around here is my square loom for making "potholders".  My mother's kitchen drawers were always well stocked with potholders made on those simple looms and they lasted forever.

She was made in Germany by Strick and each of the different designs
had a different girl's name (usually, although there were some male characters).

My 5 yo granddaughter was completely perplexed that I didn't know what
my knitting was "going to be".  The concept of just knitting a long tube
was something she was having a hard time grasping. :-)


Thanks for stopping by again this week for Vintage Thingies Thursday.