When I was in Norway this summer, I visited the Norsk Folkemuseum to see the famous Stave Church, sample the fresh-made Lefsa and Geitost (goat cheese pronounced "Yay Toast!") in the museum's 16th century village, and check out their huge collection of Norwegian and Sami clothing, furniture and weapons. What I didn't expect to see at this museum was a massive collection of knitting and weaving tools on display. One of the tools that caught my eye was a knitting fork, also known as a lucet. Vikings used these lucets to make cords and clothing. Since the weather is cooling off, and since (despite previous blog entries) I don't practice many Viking habits, I wanted to use my lucet to make an insulate necklace/scarf hybrid!
I cast on my lucet by lacing one end of my yarn through the hole just under the top two prongs, and then (starting from the back to the front) wove the yarn around the prongs in the shape of a figure eight. I made the figure eight twice, and then pulled the bottom loops up over the top two loops. I re-wrapped another figure eight, pulled the bottom two loops up and over the top two, and repeated again and again until I had a very long "knitted chain."
I wound the chain around my neck so that it would be the length I wanted. Then I took two 4-inch lengths of yarn and wrapped them around two parts of the Necklace/Scarf to keep the chains in place.
When I was all done, I was pleased with my oh-so-warm accessory. It was quick work and it got my mind racing about all the other applications I could use a knitted chain for! The lucet itself is a great crafty tool for any young boys or girls to try out too- since the steps are so few, and the result so fast!
ummm LOVE THIS!!!
ReplyDeleteThat's gorgeous. You did an amazing job.
ReplyDeleteThat's similar to a contraption we used in grade school to make what we called 'cattails'.
ReplyDeleteDid you buy the lucet in Norway?
I went to the Folk Museum, I thought it was very cool. It's amazing how the old wooden buildings were still preserved from viking times.
Thanks so much Delilah!!!
ReplyDeleteYou too Jenny- Totally appreciate it! :)
Samantha- so cool that you grew up with these. Lucets have so many different names- it's really interesting! So awesome that you were at the same museum. Did you see the weaving demos and displays too? I got my lucet as a gift a while ago. I did bring home a cool pair of forged scissors from Norway tho!
xoxo
megan
This is ADORABLE!! What a great idea! :)
ReplyDeleteUm... YES please!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeletexoxo
J
This is gorgeous. It looks like the tool uses the same method as finger knitting. Would you get similar results by finger knitting or does the tool do something else that finger knitting doesn't? I love your scarflace!!
ReplyDeleteFollow up to my prior comment...I totally just finger knitted one with some yarn that I've had for years without an idea of what to do with it. You solved a serious brain-stall and now I have a super rad scarflace. Thanks for the awesome idea!
ReplyDeleteThis is great! I brought a lucet ages ago at a craft fair & it is hidden away unused - maybe it is time to bring it out! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThanks Whitney & Janee :)
ReplyDeleteJenny- I love that you just made one!! The method I wrote about was the same method I when I was a "finger weaving" girlscout so many years ago! I did see a few YouTube videos using lucets in a different way than shown above. Shall we try making scarflaces with this method next?:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BPO98fO3ns (but maybe without the dramatic music...)
Thank you so much Trekky! I want to see what you make :)
xoxo
radmegan
What a beautiful looking tool! (And a gorgeous scarf!) I would love to try this craft. As always, thanks for sharing! I always learn something new and cool over here. :)
ReplyDeleteOooooh---LOVE this!! You have inspired me and I am looking into getting a lucet to try this project. Thanks for the idea!
ReplyDeleteThat's gorgeous! What yarn did you use for that?
ReplyDeleteI love this! Now I want to try it with the girl scout method. Unless you're going to start selling them on Etsy (hint, hint). :)
ReplyDeleteI learned how to do that when I went to a Celtic Festival here in Texas,
ReplyDeleteSo creative!! I love this project! Found you via craft gawker
ReplyDeleteThanks Cassandra! You are so sweet to say so!
ReplyDeleteSusan- I appreciate it! Let me know if you do not yet have a lucet!
Brandi- I used 100% extra fine merino wool yarn from Plymouth Yarn company. Unfortunately I can't find it online! I bought it in a discount bin at a local craft store and think it must have been from a previous season. The tag was ripped off so I don't even have the product number :(
Mel- thank you for the hint! I rarely put things on etsy! I had been planning on putting some of my hand-made lucets up there, but didn't even think of putting up the scarflets! I'll get started on more and let you know when they are online! :)
Anonymous- way cool! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for the comment Lindsay! I love craftgawker! Thank you for stopping by!
xoxo
radmegan
A friend of mine sent me a link to this page. I LOVE it!! I don't have a lucet but I made this today. I love that it's so quick and adorable!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!!
JENN
Hi! This project looks really great, I'm looking forward to trying it once I can get my hands on a lucet. Just curious though - how many balls of yarn did you use?
ReplyDeleteDaniella
From the process to the colors, I love love this! Thanks for the instructions and idea. Plan on trying this very soon. I was wondering if you knew what direction to point me in terms of purchasing a lucet? Thanks again :)
ReplyDeleteTanya
Anonoymous Jenn- Thank you so much for the nice words! I'm glad you're here!
ReplyDeleteDaniella- I made 3 scarf/necklaces from this one ball of yarn :)
Tanya- Just finished making a batch of these in the shop tonight! I will be sanding them up and putting them in my radmegan etsy shop this week :)
xoxo
radmegan
Ok, first time to visit your blog. I think the scarf you did is beyond amazing. And it is really nice that you answer to every post. I will try to do a scarf like yours and maybe a necklace. I'll post pictures.
ReplyDeleteGreetings from Greece
Where can I find this yarn ? I really like the yarn. Please HELP !!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the nice words Maro! :) Welcome to the blog!!
ReplyDeleteCircleof7- I know!! I'm soooo sorry! I'm such a bargain shopper that I picked up the last skein of this yarn in a sale bin somewhere in San Diego... the best I can do is offer up the url to Plymouth Yarns... they do have SOME styles that are similar. I loved the color combo on the yarn and totally would have purchased more, had the shop HAD more available. I would suggest contacting Plymouth? http://www.plymouthyarn.com/index.php?nav=Yarn.main I can't find this yarn anywhere- and I've been looking since September :( I'm so sorry! xoxo
Love this - my daughther has asked me to make her one - but we don't have a lucet - finger knitting/weaving interesting option - but the YouTube video I saw used 4 stitches and it seemed too wide - so i'm guessing i use only 2 fingers? Do you know? Is there a way to accomplish this with knitting needles or crochet hooks?
ReplyDeleteThank you - Jan
Love this! I made mine using two fingers. It took less than an hour and it's one of my favorite pieces already!
ReplyDeleteI saw this a few months back when you originally posted it and loved it! It so resembled a crochet chain to me, that's what I ended up doing! So to the anonymous person from 2/13, here's what I did--I used an 'N' crochet hook and made a chain from an entire ball of Plymouth Bazinga yarn. I wrapped them in a circle to form the scarflace and tied it off at the top "back" that rests at the base of the back of the neck. Made several for Christmas presents and my friends love them!
ReplyDeletecould you post te instructions I'm not Quit sure of the process as this is a different way of lecetting than I currently do. thanks so much
ReplyDeletePatty