Happy Almost Earth Day!
I hope you have had a wonderful day that included lots of lovely green living
and eco projects, and that you are going to do something special for Earth Day tomorrow.
We are going to plant some baby trees.  That’s them in the pic to the right.
The Spool knitter is one that I made from a chunk of old wood that we found in Jim’s Dad’s workshop 10 or so years ago. Jim’s Dad was a champion recycler.
He would upcycle stuff in the neatest ways…. nothing much got thrown away around Mum and Dad’s house. If it could be …read more

Today, I was asked a question about working with copper wire.
The questioner had just gotten a fab deal on 24 gauge copper wire and snapped it up.
When she experimented with crocheting it, she found it to be not very pleasant to work with.  24 gauge is pretty energized, and fairly stiff.
Crocheting with it is mighty tough on the tendons.
She had seen that someone else had asked me to make them sturdy spool knitters for spool knitting wire and wondered if  the 24 gauge could be spool knitted.
Why would you spool knit wire?
Because you can make absolutely gorgeous jewelry with it!  …read more

It’s spring! And, even though I may be too late for Easter with this bunny, I hope that you will have lots of fun weaving and spool knitting a darling Springtime Bunny.
You’ll need: A ball of pink yarn (I used Bernat Denimstyle in Weathered Rose)
A Potholder Loom,a weaving hook, a chopstick,a crochet hook,
a 4 peg spool knitter, a loop lifter,
a craft needle, a ruler, a dime, scissors, about an ounce of polyester stuffing,
about 10 inches of red yarn, a paper punch for circles, a paper punch for the heart,
or cut it out of junk mail freehand, thick craft glue, a …read more

My last posting was about some spool knitters that I am very fond of.
I’ve just become acquainted with some wonderful new spool knitters:Crystalite French Knitters from Susan Bates. They’re 4 and 6 peg spool knitters and are very sturdy.
I really like them! They’re solidly made and are very nice to work with.

One of the things that is really neat is being able to see the cord while it’s still inside the spool knitter. They come with a wonderful little tool (Sylvalume Handi tool) that has a hook on one end and a point on the other.
Definitely thumbs up on these …read more

About 10 years ago, I was thrilled to bits to see a very special spool knitter on eBay. I have always loved spool knitting, but until then, hadn’t seen a spool knitter that looked like a doll.
I was so excited to see a spool knitter that was painted to look like Little Orphan Annie. I bid on her and won the auction.
Boy, was I ticked off when the seller decided that the price hadn’t gone high enough and refused to honor the auction. Humph!
I was really annoyed. But, I always figure:
Why get mad? Why not get creative?
So …read more

What on earth does Jane Austen have to do with Panda Bears?
Here’s the scoop – I have been working on a new Jane Austen spool knitter for weeks now.
It really hasn’t gone well. I have drawn the face at least 7 times, and each time, I have ended up sanding it off the spool knitter. argh.
I ended up painting layers of gesso on the spool knitter and just leaving the white ‘ghost of spool knitter future’ sitting on my desk.
I asked Jim to turn me another Jane Austen and he looked significantly over at the verrrrrrrrrrrry blank one. Oh …read more

I am just loving working on this series of Jane Austen spool knitters.
It just delights me every time Jim comes in from the workshop with a new ‘Jane’ that he has turned.
At some point, I am actually going to get to live with one of them. But for now, they keep getting adopted and flying away.
Hmmmmm…… I suppose I really ought to design a spool knitted Jane Austen doll…… hmmmmmmmmm

For the last week, this Jane Austen spool knitter has been sitting on my desk, unpainted.
I have been waiting for the perfect moment  to start drawing  the image on it.
All of a sudden, today it just seemed like the right time to draw her…. so  here she is!
Homage to Jane Austen in a lace trimmed cap………

An ‘e’ friend of mine, Marian Clark, has the most extraordinary collection of spool knitters I have ever seen.
 
She fell in love with the Jane Austen with a purple cape Spool knitter and bought it. She also bought the -next-
Jane Austen, even though I was still working on it, and hadn’t photographed it yet!
 

One of the things that is a bit tricky about being a designer and author and dedicated blogger, is that I can’t talk about the new designs that I am working on, until they get published.
So, I am steaming along on new work that has got me just beside myself with excitement….. and I can’t say peep about it!
BUT, luckily, I am working on other things that I can chat away about like mad.
One of the things that I am sooooooooo excited about is our new series of Jane Austen Spool knitters.
Jim’s really busy these days, so he doesn’t have …read more