Step 1
How do you start French knitting?
Take the end of your ball of wool and insert it into the top of your French knitting tool.
Thread it down the middle of the tool so it pops out the bottom end. Leave a tail poking out of the bottom of around 4 inches or 10 centimetres.
If your wool gets caught on the way down as you thread it through the spool, try tying it to a large needle or small stick and threading this through the centre.
Step 2
Now for the fun bit – it’s time to learn how to french knit! Hold the tool in your left hand, holding the yarn at the bottom at the same time so it’s not too loose. Now take the yarn that’s coming out of the top of the spool in your right hand. We’ll call this the “working yarn". Wrap this yarn in a clockwise direction around one of the pins.
Step 3
Once you’ve wrapped the working yarn around the first pin of your french knitting doll or tool, bring it up and around the neighbouring pin, anticlockwise.
Wrap it clockwise around that pin, then (again), bring it over to the next anticlockwise pin and wrap it again.
Repeat until you’ve wrapped it around all 4 pins in a circle.
Note: For these French knitting instructions, we are right handed, and are holding the tool in our left hand, and the working yarn in our right. For left-handed readers, you may be more comfortable swapping the hands around so that you hold the working yarn in your left hand.
Step 4
Once you’ve worked your way around the circle of pins, wrap the yarn a second time around the next anticlockwise pin in the circle, so that your second loop of yarn lies above the first on that pin.
Repeat this, working your way around the circle again anticlockwise (wrapping the yarn around each pin clockwise each time), until you have two loops on each pin.
Step 5
At the start of this step, your tool should look like this…
Starting with the first pin you wrapped the yarn around, pull the lower loop of yarn over the upper one, and bring it up and over over the top of the pin, bringing it into the middle of the circle and releasing.
Keep hold of the end of the yarn that is poking out of the bottom of your tool as you work, and give that end a gently tug. Now you’ll only have one loop on this pin, and two loops on all the other pins.
Step 6
Working on the same pin (that now has 1 loop on it), bring your working yarn from the anticlockwise position and wrap it around the pin again. So again you’ll have 2 loops on every pin now.
Step 7
Move to the next pin anticlockwise in the circle and repeat this process of bringing the lower loop up and over, tugging the bottom yarn, then adding a fresh loop.
Repeat this process, working around the circle in round after round, always tugging gently the bottom yarn at the end of each new stitch.
Step 8
Repeat round after round and soon enough you’ll create a string or tube of knitting that starts to poke out of the bottom of the French knitting tool.
Keep going for as long as you want your knitted tube to be.
How to you join wool in French knitting?
Step 1
Before you read this step: You can skip this step and the next one if you don’t actually need or want to change the colour of your yarn. If so, go straight to the next section: “How do you finish French knitting?".
If you do want to join a new colour or piece of wool though… read on!
Who says French knitting needs to be in all the same colour wool? Create stripy cords, or use up lots of small scraps of yarn and just add a new scrap when one runs out, with this easy method for changing colour in French knitting. Once you get to the end of your working yarn, and you have about 10 centimetres of working yarn left, take end of the working yarn, and the end of your new piece of yarn, and tie them together with a knot. Trim the two loose ends of the knot so they’re quite short (about 2 or 3 centimetres).
Tip: We recommend tying a double knot to make sure your new yarn is securely tied to the end of your working yarn
Step 2
Once your yarns are secured with a knot, keep French knitting the working yarn in the first colour until you reach the knot, and then keep French knitting once you get to the new colour yarn – as you go, make sure that the two loose ends of yarn are buried in the middle of your French knitting tool as you knit. If they get tangled up in a loop on one of your pegs, pull them gently back into the middle.
After you have knitted a few stitches, the loose ends will gradually become fully enclosed within your tube of knitting and you can keep knitting in your new colour.
How to do you cast off French knitting?
Step 1
To cast off your French knitting, simply cut your working yarn, leaving a thread of about 8 centimetres.
Thread your new end through each of the four loops on your pins, pulling each loop off its pin as you go.
The end of your cord is now secure and you can pull the knitting out of the knitting tool.
Congratulations! You have finished your first ever spool knitting!
How do you join French knitting together?
Step 1
There are two ways to join two pieces of French knitting together – end to end or lengthways to form rows of knitting for chunkier projects.
They both require a large needle and some spare yarn (preferably in a colour that matches one of the pieces of knitting for an invisible join). You can either:
Method 1: Sew their ends together of two French knitting cords – so they are attached end to end.
To do this, thread your needle on to some yarn (if you still have the tail end of the knitted cord, use that), and then slip the needle through the end stitches of both cords.
For best results, bring the needle through the stitches of both ends a few times, working around the edge of the cord as you go, for a secure join.
To finish the join, knot the thread to one of the end stitches, cut it to form a short length (about 1 cm), then tuck this into the cord so it is completely hidden.
Step 2
Method 2: Sew them together, lengthways – along the long edge.
This method is used to create spool knitting rugs and chunkier sections, formed of several rows of French knitting.
To do this, place the two lengths of knitting side by side, lengthways, and thread a needle with some yarn. Tie the end of your joining yarn to one stitch at the end of one of the rows, then bring the needle up, through and down through an end stitch of the adjacent length of French knitting.
Now bring the needle back up through an upper stitch in the lower length of knitting, and again up and through a lower stitch on the edge of the upper piece of knitting.
Repeat to create a row of small stitches, all along the length of the two pieces of yarn, so they are secured together with a row of tiny stitches.
To finish, knot the joining thread to one of the end stitches, cut it to form a short length (about 1 cm), then tuck this into the cord so it is completely hidden.
