Spool Knitter

The sound of metal knitting needles swooshing and clicking together as if they're in a race instantly takes me back to the my childhood, sitting in my Grandma's living room watching TV, while she chatted away with the other adults, never skipping a stitch.

She tried to teach me how to knit, probably several times.  Unfortunately, it was a skill that I never really acquired.  Somehow about halfway through a simple square I find my tension is always so tight that I have to pry the wool off of the needle and each row seems to end up with a different number of stitches, even when they aren't supposed to!

While I lived in Japan though I found the perfect solution...spool knitting!  You could get all kinds of shapes and sizes of spool knitters there.  These weren't your ordinary spool knitters.  You can make sweaters with these things if you want!  I tend to stick to scarf projects though because they're quick and easy, but the possibilities are still endless.

This tutorial will be in two parts.  This week I'll show you how to make your own spool knitter and then next week I'll show you how to use it to make some last minute Christmas gifts (or something for yourself~).

Here are the supplies you will need:

Any plastic container will do (but cleaning out an ice-cream pail is half the fun~)
Also, you don't need all of these blades, I just wasn't sure which one would work best.

Steps:

1) Your ice-cream pail should be empty (yum) and clean.  Remove any handles and turn over so that it's upside down.  Use your measuring tape and a marker to measure an equal amount across the bottom.  I found a line on the bottom of the pail and then measured approximately 1.5" down from there.

 

                       

2) Using a sharp knife, cut along this line.  You may want to use safety gloves for this step.

3) Time to measure again.  I used 3/4" as the length and width of each my sections but if you have a smaller container you can make the sections smaller.  Don't worry if some spaces or sections are not exact, it doesn't matter, just try to get it close enough to not have a great big gap somewhere in the middle.

4) Time to cut again.  Cut along each of the squares you just measured.  You should end up with something that looks a bit like a castle fortress.  Try to round off your corners just a tiny bit if you can.  You don't want your wool to catch on anything or to scratch yourself when you start knitting.



It looks a bit messy, but that's OK, it still works.

That's it for this week.  I figured you might need a couple of days to empty your ice-cream pail and find a nice ball of wool to work with next week.  Any kind will do but I like to use something bulky and that's nice and soft.  For a regular size scarf, one ball will do.  If you want something extra wide or extra long you may want two.

If you've already eaten all of your ice cream or are using some other type of container, try making some different sizes and space your sections differently.

Make sure to come back next Friday because that's when I'll show you how to thread your knitter and how to make a simple but beautiful scarf at lightning speed.  See you then!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway, directions are on the side bar under the followers list.

I had so many visitors this past week!  Thank you all for stopping by.  Under the Table and Dreaming by Stephanie Lynn sent the most people my way, so drop by over there and say hi!

I'll be posting this project at the linky parties throughout the week, including Todays Creative Blog. 

Make sure to click on the tab above and check them all out.

Have a great week, make sure to leave a comment if you have any questions.