Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

Trying something new!   I was in Joann’s recently and was looking for a Nifty Knitter to see if I could make chain with it.   There were several sizes of round plastic disc with a series of knobs or spokes to wrap yarn around.   The smallest one was 4” in diameter and while I wanted something to make a larger diameter chain I thought 4” might be a little large.   Then I saw the specialty knitter.   Check out that picture! Nifty Knitter Specialty Loom Several posts ago, I compared a spool knitter with another product and now I have to share this one! http://www.lindabrittdesign.blogspot.com/2012/02/adventure-of-making-chain.html   I made my purchase and went home to try different gauge wire with it. I found the technique for the Nifty Knitter’s to be very similar to the Spool Knitter.   Using the small end for knitting lets the knitted wire pull through the center hole with no problem – just like the wooden Spool Knitter did. This plastic one was a little easier to hold.   It

 Bead-It (Prescott AZ) and I are offering a class to make a viking knit bracelet in March.   I took the class example in to the bead store and in the process came home with two new (to me) tools to experiment with - a Knitting Spool and a Wyr Knittr. I wanted to know how the chain looked using these techniques compared to the Viking knit and how the processes differed.  Viking Knit Example  Check my post on viking knit to see that technique. http://lindabrittdesign.blogspot.com/2011/10/learning-as-we-go.html  I started with the Knitting Spool – a wooden spool about 3” tall and 1 ½” wide with a hole through the middle.   There are 5 cotter pins on the top and the wire is wound around the pins in one of 2 patterns.   A pick helps put the lower wire over the upper wire at each cotter pin for each row.   The knitted tube is funneled through the center hole and comes out the bottom.       Knitter Spool Example  I think it took me a couple of tries