How to Make a Homemade Spool for Knitting

Once you create your knitting spool, put it in your knitter's toolkit.

The knitting spool is a descendant of a medieval tool called the lucet, a tall pronged fork with a hole in the middle that textile workers would use to create specific designs with wool and yarn. A knitting spool is a modern version of this instrument that contains four prongs at the top that allows you to loop and knot pieces of yarn over and over, slowly creating a braid that you can fashion into dolls or use as decorative edging. While knitting spools might be hard to find outside of craft stores, you can easily make one yourself.

Things You'll Need

• Large wooden spool
• 100 grit sandpaper
• Cloth
• Mineral spirits
• Oil primer
• Oil paint
• Stencils
• Painter's tape
• Paintbrush, 1 inch wide
• Pencil
• Nails
• Hammer

Instructions

1. Rub the exterior of your large wooden spool with 100-grit sandpaper. Wipe off the dust from sanding with a cloth dampened with mineral spirits.

2. Apply a coat of primer to the outside of the spool. Allow it to dry for two hours. Apply your base coat to the spool. Allow it to dry overnight.

3. Tape your stencils in your desired pattern to the outside of the wooden spool. Paint them on with your 1 inch brush. Remove the stencils and allow the paint to dry overnight.

4. Place the spool so that it is straight up on a flat surface. Mark a spot to the top right of the center hole, the top left of the center hole and the bottom right and the bottom left. Your should have now created a square shape around the center hole. Adjust your pencil markings as necessary.

5. Hammer a 1 inch nail a quarter of the way into each pencil mark.

References

• All Free Crafts; Corking: How to Make a Knitting Spool, Corking Spool or Corker!; Twila Lenoir
• Waynes This and That: The Lost Art of Knitting Nancys