How to Make a Spool for Knitting a Butterfly

Finding a wooden spool of thread may be the hardest part when making a knitting spool.

Artisans use spool knitting, also called French knitting, to create a woven cord. Yarn is wrapped around headless nails hammered into the spool, which is sometimes called a "corker," and woven with a crochet hook. As the cord is completed, it is pulled out of the bottom of the spool. The cord can be twisted into shapes and then sewn into place. A coiled potholder is a common project for a beginner; twisting the cord to look like a butterfly takes some practice.

Things You'll Need

• Wooden spool
• 4, 5 or 6 brads
• Hammer
• Yarn
• Crochet hook
• Scissors

Instructions

1. Find a wooden spool of thread and remove the thread. Because most thread spools are now made of plastic, you may need to look in secondhand stores. If you still can’t find one, use a round piece of wood, such as a closet rod or dowel. Cut it 2 inches long and drill a hole through its center.

2. Hammer 4, 5 or 6 brads, evenly spaced, around the top of the spool. The more brads you use, the thicker the woven cord will be.

3. Pass the yarn through the spool from the top side with the brads to the bottom, and allow a tail of yarn to hang down. At the top of the spool, wrap the yarn once around one of the brads, and then make a figure eight as you wrap it around the opposite brad. From the second brad, make a figure eight as you wrap the yarn around the brad next to the one with which you started. Continue that way around the spool until you have 2 loops around each brad.

4. Use a crochet hook. Start at one brad and lift the bottom loop over the top loop and then off the brad. Proceed to do that at all the brads. Continue to loop the yarn over the brads and then lift it with the crochet hook until the cord is the length you need. Cut and knot the yarn.

Tips & Warnings

• The size of the spool and the number of brads used determine the width and thickness of the cord.

• The stitches of the cord will seem loose as they form. Tighten them by pulling on the tail of yarn that was initially dropped through the hole in the center of the spool.

References

• The Crafty Tipster: How to Spool Knit
• All Free Crafts: Corking: How to Make a Knitting Spool