French Knitting
French knitting is a lot of fun. You will need to make or buy a French knitting spool.
To make your own French knitting spool, you will need:
• Toilet roll cardboard
• 4 sucker sticks
• Glue
• Strong tape
Glue the sticks to the cardboard roll so that they stick past the cardboard by ½ an inch, then tape the sticks securely around the whole roll and sticks.
To French knit, you will need:
• A ball of thick wool
• A knitting needle or a crochet hook.
Follow these simple steps:
• Begin by threading the end of the yarn through the centre hole.
• Holding the tail end at the bottom of the French knitting spool tightly, wind the working yarn around each peg.
• Take the yarn round the outside of the next peg and using the needle or crochet hook, lift up the loop on the peg – lift it up and over the yarn. This makes the first stitch.
• Continue making stitches this way until the cord starts to appear through the bottom of the knitter.
• Pull down on the cord now and then to keep it a little tight around the pegs.
• Work the cord to the required length.
You can use this cord to make many things:
• To begin with, you can make it into a placemat by stitching the cord up as you turn it around on itself.
• You can make a broach
• You can even make caps and bags. Look at some of the illustrations.
Have fun!
Tip: You can look up on YouTube and see how French knitting is done.