The French Knitting Nancy

Remember the Knitting Nancy, or the spool with 3-4 nails sticking out. Bet you did not know you can make one out of wire. I recycle the wire from notebooks to make one. It produces a sturdy little knitting nancy, and I can make it as big as I want because it is recycled from unwanted wire.

In order to make it I use some needle nose pliers. If you want to try, I recommend wearing gloves. Bending the wire will be a little hard on your hands. What needs to be made first are teeth, which are the nails protruding out of the spool. We do this by making a bend similar to the following picture. The prongs should be about an inch. It can be longer or shorter. Afterwards you continue to make more prongs. If you want 2 make 4, 3 make 6, 6 make 12, etc. Then you connect the ends by wrapping the long end around in a ring. Then finally you bend the prongs' tip outward.Now you have a knitting nancy. You use a small crochet hook and wrap every two wires. Originally, each prong was suppose to at like a nail, but I find using two makes knitting easier.

My original knitting nancy resemble a mini crown. This is my new one, which is bigger but not as stable. I ran out of wire to reinforce the bottom, but it makes storing it easier.