The latest
Martha Stewart Living magazine December 2009 has an article in the Crafts section resurrecting a questionable gadget from the 1960s and 70s called the Knitwit. This gadget is also known as a daisy wheel or flower loom. I remember having my own Knitwit back in the 70s. I no longer have the Knitwit, but I do have the original pattern book.
I remember the frustration of making the flowers that are sewn together to make the projects in the pattern book. Winding your yarn around the prongs on the Knit Wit was one thing, but the overcasting and lockstitching to hold your
flimsy delicate creation together in the form of a flower was another. Just look at the instructions. And this does not include the two pages of accompanying written directions!
Make 150 of these Knitwit flowers. Join 150 of these Knitwit flowers together. You'll have this lovely afghan. Remember, you'll never get that time back!
For those of you who may still wish to try the Knitwit despite my dire warning and don't want to spend the $20.00 to buy the Knitwit kit at
Knitwit.com, you can make your own! Here's the DIY for a
flower loom made from wooden dowels and hot glue. Or, if you're into pins and cardboard, try your hand at making this
daisy wheel.
Yes, I am bitter over my Knitwit experience from which I obviously have not fully recovered. Oh, well...
Happy crafting!
3 Comments:
I've had one of these...they are fun!
I love that it says "Ages 8 to 80" - maybe they assume by the time you're 80 you would have died trying to figure this out, or just given up.
They sell a little knitting tool like this at the LYS where I work - but I don't think any of us at the shop actually know how to use it!
Holy moly, I remember the Knitwit. I had gotten knitting lessons from a "pro" when I was 7, so I wasn't much interested in it -- but I can remember how you twisted the post and the flower popped off the pegs. As I recall my sister and I only made a few of them; they weren't big hits. I'd go for one of those things that made the knitted tube or chain instead --oh wow, what were they called? 4 pegs on top....a little tube... mind is going!
Cass
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