Spool Knitting Tips

By Gina Williams

Although sharing the same old category of knitting devices, spool knitting uses a spool with four nails in it for the design of the fabric instead of the traditional needles. Owing to the very simple structure of the elements required, spool knitting has long been part of educational practices in crafts classes.

Thus, children get used with the main principles of knitting in a fun and practical way at the same time. The items required for spool knitting include the spool, whether ready-made or improvised, some brads, a hammer, a drill and yarn.

If you try to make the spool yourself, the process could get too complicated and time consuming. The first step to start with is to pass the yarn through the spool, from top to bottom, but make sure to leave a few inches of yarn hang out from the bottom.

It is a good idea that for this initial spool knitting stage you follow pictures or close face to face instructions so that you may start in the right way. Then, you can begin pulling the yarn with the crochet hook by making small loops every time and passing them over the brads, in the process known as the casting on.

The number of brads used in spool knitting varies depending on what you want to achieve; so far, spool knitting has the widest applications for cord making, which is suitable for four or six brads according to the size you aim to achieve.

Yet, it is common knowledge that odd numbers allow easier casting on, therefore, stick to the use of four or six brads even if five are also possible. When knitting, the yarn has to be wrapped around all the brads and pull the loop out, up and over the brad in order to pass to the next line.

Spool knitting allows for various color alternation particularly since the changes are almost basic. All you need to do is to cut one yarn type and add the new color, tie it carefully and continue the spool knitting process.

When learning spool knitting from books or web pages, it really assists to match the illustrations with the instructions and understand each step separately before moving to a different one. When you finish knitting you will have to tie off the ends so that they do not unravel. For those who need professional spool knitting, the use of a spool knitting machine is a lot more profitable in terms of speed and time saving properties. - 30225

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