Back in the old days, when I was young, nothing went to waste. Thread used to come wrapped on wooden spools, but when the thread was used up we would put nails in the wooden spool, wrap yarn around the nails and use an old crochet hook to lift the loops over the nails so we could make horse reins. Never mind that no kid in Cliffwood Beach owned a horse. The activity kept us amused for hours. From that exercise, I developed a fondness for crocheting, but never for knitting. You can find more information on knitting spools here.
Years later, when my own children were young, I found a wooden spool, tapped some nails into it and showed my daughters how to make long knitted reins. Daughter #1 actually saved the knitting spool I made for her which is the one you see above.
Recently, I was cruising around Jo-Ann Fabric with hubby who was looking for a particular glitter paint to match his latest green accordion. On a rack I saw what appeared to be a giant knitting spool made of plastic. According to the instructions on the package, this giant knitting spool could be used to make a hat.
Awesome.
Since it was almost Daughter #1's birthday, I bought the gadget. Daughter #1 opened it on her birthday and began making a hat immediately. Within days, it was finished. Perhaps Daughter #1 can make everyone a hat for Christmas. :^)
It never ceases to amaze me how some old ideas can be transformed into something new and improved. Of course, I want to make a hat, too.
5 comments:
Way cool. I love the hat.
I used wooden spools like that.
My granddaughter has a version that is more like the spool than the hat making device. Here's is plastic shaped like a mushroom and called a knitting mushroom.
Thanks for your workshop at the MUSE conference. I am so enjoying it.
We did the same as children. My sister and I had chains 20-30 feet long that we never figured out what to do with. I use spool knitting for draw stings now. I read a quote somewhere that things of quality have no fear of time.
This brought back memories. I had a few ready-made spools and would make yards and yards of wool tubes, never knowing what to do with them. Even at 8 years old I found it very relaxing and fun to do.
I used to make horse reins with different colors of yarn. I thought I'd make it long enough to coil around and make an area rug. I guess not!
Sunny:
I think making a rug out of the horse reins could work, though you'd have to have a very strong thread to hold the coil together. The rug would be pretty with lots of colors, too. :^)
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