While out yesterday running some errands, I spied this dolly for French knitting & I was instantly transported back to my childhood in Africa when these were in great demand.
Ours were simply wooden cotton reels with 4 nails hammered in to the top of them, nothing elaborate at all but in great demand. It was simply known by its Afrikaans name of Tolletjie brei ...
I come from a line of very handy women who sewed, knitted, crochet, made clothes & furnishings & more, so wooden cotton reels appeared regularly. The larger ones were very desirable.
I sometimes used to take my cotton reel (no fancy name for it) on the school bus with it. My Mother used to drive the 3 of us to the bottom of the farm track & the school bus would pick us up on the rounds around the rurals & then the same in the afternoon which made quite a long day.
Depending on your pick up, you could spend up to an hour each day on the bus. I used to sometimes take my cotton reel with me to pass the time. Soon others wanted one too & so Dorothy (my grandmother) would magic up an empty cotton reel & Peter (my grandfather) would duly add the 4 nails, smooth out the centre so the wool didn't catch & present it to me to gift.
They were in great demand, & it was a good introduction to patience & social time.
I had to look up how to start the wool with this modern one which has a much longer body than our modest cotton reels. This is a good video of the process
It was a fun time just doing something again after many decades. This dolly has quite a thin hole that was not very smooth so I found my efforts bunched up in the insides & it was quite a tug to get it through, hence a bit of fluffy parts.
Who else remembers using these? Did you use the long knitted part for anything? I remember my grandmother stitching it in to a circular mat for me ...
Thank you for your company, do stop by again soon,
Dee 🧵🪡
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