Knitting on a Spool with Soft Flex Beading Wire

The Soft Flex crew put together this great tip for using knitting spools with their beading wire: Not only are there 3 different styles of knitting spools available (3-peg, 4-peg & 5-peg) but there are several different ways to knit on each spool. I've learned 3 variations.

Style 1:

[caption id="attachment_222" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Click to Enlarge"][/caption] Stick the wire down the center of the spool. When teaching this technique, I always describe the face of the knitting spool like a clock. So you can see below that the wire is running to the left of 12 o'clock.   Wrap the wire clockwise around 12pm, pass through the middle of the spool and then wrap clockwise around 10pm, then 8pm, 4pm & 2pm. You should have one loop around each peg. (In my design, I'm using 2 wire colors: Purple Amethyst Soft Flex® Wire & Pink Rhodochrosite Soft Flex® Wire, but treating them as if they are one wire.) Simply repeat the pattern and wrap each peg a second time. And then, starting at 12pm, use your stylus (comes with the knitting spool) to pull the bottom loop up over the top loop and into the middle of the spool. For a bracelet, knit about 5 inches of chain. When ready to remove from the knitting spool, cut the wire that you have been feeding in with about 2-3 inches to spare to create a tail. Carefully pull each loop off of the spool. Push your tail through each loop. Play around with it and cinch down as tight as you can get it. And finally, crimp the wire to an eye pin, pull the eye pin through a cone and wire wrap to the single strand clasp of your choice.

Style 2:

Is exactly the same, except you will wind 3 loops around each peg and pull the bottom loop up over the top two loops. More wire will be running through this design so it will be much more dense.

Style 3:

[caption id="attachment_225" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Click to Enlarge"][/caption] The third style is also very similar to the Single Knit and Double Knit but yields a design that looks more like a Viking Knit. The basic instructions that come with each spool are for this variation. You will only wrap the wire around each peg once. When you return to 12pm, you will not pass through the center but instead wrap the wire around the outside of the peg. In this style of knitting, you will only have one loop of wire on each peg at all times (instead of 2 or 3). You will pull the loop over the top of the wrapped piece of wire and into the middle. Continue until you have created about 5 inches of chain. Not only can you change your design by choosing a different style of knitting - you can also use different colors, different diameters or gauges of wire and different kinds of materials. I used Soft Flex colors in .019/Medium in these two designs.

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