Spoolie Scarf

I remember pounding four small nails into a spool and winding the yarn around them, then slipping one loop over another to create a small tube of yarn. It was fun, but I never learned what to do with the tubes. So I stopped making them.

Time marches on and I learned new crafts - crafts where I could see useful things appear from the end of my hook, needle, or sewing machine. I got the Knifty Knitter looms and made hats and tube scarves. You know, it never occurred to me that I was simply using a larger version of that little wooden spool. I even bought the little spoolie loom - 5 pegs on one end and 8 on the other. It was fun, but I still had no idea what use it could be.

Then, on a wander through the internet, I came upon a name for the art - corking. Using a spoolie (Knitting Nancy, Busy Lizzie, knitting mushroom, knitting spool, corker, peg knitter, knitting nobby or knitting knobby) dates back to medieval times. Certainly it wouldn't have survived if it had no use. So I looked a little farther.

I finally found instructions for using both tubes and flat strands made on spoolies. They can be coiled and sewed together or braided or woven into quite a few useful items.

Through Evergreen Indiana, you can get a book called Corking by Judy Ann Sadler. It shows how to make small, medium and large spoolie looms. You can make anything from a flat cord to a hand puppet with these instructions.

I found a lot of information and the history of the craft at www.waynesthisandthat.com/knittingnancys.html.

Another resource is in Google Books. Look for the title Spool Knitting by Mary A. McCormack. It dates back to 1909 and shows exactly how to use the simplest looms and make something useful out of your work.

I recently made four tubes on the 8-peg spoolie and braided them to make a scarf. Not only do the tubes make a double thickness, but braiding them makes an even thicker, warmer version and it's pretty too.

Maybe we can bring back some of the old crafts and make unique and beautiful things out of them.

Happy crafting.

Kathi