While browsing round the local toy shop, wondering if I needed to buy any more activities for the visiting children at yesterday's party, I noticed some "Knitting Dolly" kits hanging up.
That was what we used to call French Knitting.
In My Day
To start French knitting you first needed a large used cotton reel. Cotton reels were made of wood, not plastic as they are today.
Next you needed some wool and something like a crochet hook or knitting needle. You tied the wool in loops to each nail and then, using the crochet hook, you hooked one loop over another. Gradually. a long tubular snake of knitted wool emerged from the underside of the cotton reel. You could add other colours by simply knotting it to the leading end of wool. There were dramatic moments when you accidentally pulled a loop entirely off the reel and frantically tried to re-hook it without the whole construction becoming unravelled.
Eventually you ran out of wool or out of interest and unhooked each loop, carefully tying it all off.
Then there arose the question of what to do with the snake. Children's magazines were full of suggestions; there most common being that you coiled up the snake and stitched it across to make a placemat or coaster. Because of the snake's tendency to be a bit lumpy and one's own equally lumpy stitching techniques, these coasters tended to upset any cups that were placed upon them.
Actually, it looks quite like fun; maybe I'll teach Carmen how to do it in a few years' time. I don't know where I'll find wooden cotton reels, tho'.
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