Knitting for dummies

I'm not a good knitter. N.o.t. But when I was at Marta's home in September, I saw the knitted blanket again that I fell in love with last year. And then I knew I had to make one for myself.
After all, it's not really difficult to knit, just one row on top of the other.
Marta's blanket is massive and very loosly knitted and contained all left over yarns, so beautiful! Since I'm only a fresh yarn addict, I don't have that many left overs in my stash so I just went out to buy new balls. It's not the same but still, I can't wait till I have enough left overs...
I started this in the beginning of October so progress is really slow but the blanket is superwide - about 2,5 metres (2,75 yard) so I only do a row or 2 at a time. But it's a bit over half a meter long so I'm 1/5 of the way.
It's already cat approved and sometimes she makes it hard for me to knit as she's sitting on top of it while I'm knitting...

How to make a spoolknitted flower?

When I posted my knitting spool in my creative space and on Flickr the other day, people asked to show 'em how to do spool knitting. I found a good tutorial on YouTube for spoolknitting that shows all the steps very clearly so head over the movie first to learn the tips and tricks of spool knitting. Or in case you like to see it a picture step-by-step, here is another good tutorial.

I did however make a tutorial on how to make a flower brooch from spool knitting.
(the picture quality is so-so 'cause the weather couldn't decide to either be sunny or cloudy)

Here is what you need:
A spoolknitted thread (min. 30cm or 12 inch) that can be easily divided by five
(one or more colors), a measuring tape,
pins, needle, thread, a brooch back.Divide your spoolknitted thread in five equal parts and mark them with a pin.
I used 40cm or 16inch as a length and have 5 loops of 8cm around.
Sew the loops together with the same color.
Stick your needle in the first marked spot.
Bring your needle to the next mark and you'll have a loop.
Make a few stitches to keep the parts together.
Go to the next marked spot and make a few stitches to close the loop.
Go to the third marked spot and repeat the former action.
Now you have three loops attached in the middle.
I decided to tie a knot and cut off the excess thread.
I will use the ends of the spoolthread to fasten 'em in the middle.
Make the last loop.
For the heart of the flower, I used a different color to brighten up the result.
This piece is 15cm or 6inches long and I made a coil from it so that I can sew it onto the heart of the flower.

Use the end of the thread to sew the coil together.
Just twist it around in a circle and make sure you sew it together on the back.
It doesn't really matter if it's neat or not as nobody will see it.
As long the coil doesn't fall apart it will do fine.
Then sew the coil onto the heart of the flower.
Add a pin back. Your spool knitted flowerbrooch is ready to rock your outfit.

I loved all the awesome ideas some of you left in the comments of my spoolknitting post - thanks so much for taking the time to go back in time with me - it made me smile big time!

I'll round 'em up for you here:
Heather suggested to make a dollhouse rug.
Mickymunchkin is a bit more ambitious and suggested to make a carpet.
Matchstickgirl used to make scarfs for Barbie and Ken.
Miss Minoes made lots of potholders for her mom when she was younger.
Kraplap made this awesome item.
ZsaZsaZsu uses her spool in combination with beads to make jewellery.
Jennifer Rose suggested to use it in the X-mastree.
Amoebahandmade said that she would like to use linen yarn and make basket handles or a very skinny belt.
Rosina used to make metres and metres of yarn snakes with her spool when she was little.

Don't forget to look at this tutorial from Salihan who left a great link in today's comments! Super awesome idea to make coasters.

How about we all get our spools out and get together sometime? :) Now that would be fun!

You can still enter a comment on this blogpost to win the blue flowerbrooch I made last thursday. That brooch is smaller and I used approximately 30cm of spoolknitted thread to make it.