A modern lucet

[Mabel Figworthy]

In an old magazine I came across a wooden contraption for making cords called a lucet. It looked interesting so I googled it and found a video about how to do it (you wind thread around the prongs and pull the bottom thread over the top one, then turn the thing and repeat) and also pictures -- this is one:



But it was when I saw a picture of a double lucet, used to make a two-coloured cord



that the penny dropped and I realised that this was really just a fancy way of doing French knitting ! (are they called knitting Nancys in the US?)

So I dug out my old bobbin and had a go at doing a two-coloured cord using some left-over wool and good heavens, it worked -- I'll show you how in the next post.

I would still like to get a lucet though -- the Rouge Lucet makes very stylish ones in beautiful woods

[Mabel Figworthy]

So here is how to do a two-coloured cord using a knittin nancy/french knitting bobbin/anything with a hole in the middle and four prongs at the top .

I'm afraid my two wools are both rather pastelly, it would show up better with a bit more contrast.

Step 1: feed the two threads you've chosen (wool, cotton, whatever, but make sure both are the same type unless you're going for special effects ) through the hole in the middle of the bobbin. Have about 2-3 inches sticking out at the bottom, then anchor them with the hand that holds the bobbin.



Step 2: with one of the colours, make a figure of eight around two opposing prongs.



Step 3: wind the thread around the first prong again, the lift the bottom thread over the top one (don't pull the tail end yet!)



Step 4: give the bobbin a quarter turn, then do the same with the second colour, using the two unused prongs.



Step 5: from now on, do not wind the threads around the prongs in a figure of eight, but just straight round the prong opposite the one you've just worked a "stitch" on. After every stitch, give a quarter turn and do the next one (you'll be working the two colours alternatingly). Depending on the way you turned your first figure of eight, you can turn either clockwise or anticlockwise, depending on your personal preference. I wind and turn anticlockwise myself.



Step 6: when you've worked two or three rounds, pull the tail to tighten the stitches. From now on, do this every two rounds or so.



Step 7: admire the two-coloured cord that starts appearing



Step 8: when your cord has reached the desired length, cut the working threads (leave about four inches), then thread the loose end of the colour you would have been working next through the loop on the prong from below. Take the loop off the prong, then thread the loose end through the other loop of the same colour (on the opposite prong) again from below.



Step 9: do the same for the second colour, give them a good pull and tie an extra knot in the two loose ends (I mean the two different-coloured loose ends on one end of the cord) for added security.

Voilà

[minij]

Wow Mabel thats great and so clear thank you. I havn't done french knotting (woops knitting possibly will look like knotting when I have finished ) since I was a child.

Goes off to check out lucets they look lovely

[Lizzy]

Wow Mabel great stuff and brings back memories of sitting with my nan "knitting" on an old cotton reel with 4 small nails in the top Great pics and instructions

[Mabel Figworthy]

sitting with my nan "knitting" on an old cotton reel with 4 small nails in the top

Yup, that's how I learnt, too -- this mushroom thing isn't that old really, i bought it fairly recently out of a sense of nostalgia!

[kell]

I learned on a knitting dolly when I was a kid - my Grom had two of them that were shaped like little people and I was fascinated with them. I played with them so much she showed me how to use them and I used to use up all her odd ends of wool making cords on rainy afternoons!

[Mabel Figworthy]

Showed the bobbin to my younger stepson this morning and he didn't have a clue what it was, though the cord reminded him of the ones that were so popular about a year ago (or a bit longer) which they used to make with plasstic/rubber threads -- can't remember the name now (in Dutch they were known as skoebidoes). Anyway, his first question was, "why?" -- he didn't quite see the point of making cords

I've been thinking I might try making one using coton a broder in two colours perhaps with a little metallic worked in...

By the way, what do you all call a) the activity and b) the thing you do it with? In Dutch it's called "punniken" which you do using a "punnikklosje". One dictionary translates it as "spool knitting", but I haven't been able to find that anywhere else.

(Edited:
one site mentions that this term was used in a 1909 book, so it must be an established term after all -- perhaps it just fell into disuse. Interesting that Dutch as an alternative term also uses "klosjebreien", which means something like spool or bobbin knitting)

So in English is there a difference depending on whether you're in the US, the UK, Australia or New Zealand? (or even Scotland or Wales ?)
What is it called in Hungarian, Spanish, French, and any other languages we get on this forum?

[helbel]

I'm in the Uk (England) and I always called it French knitting. I quite liked it as a child but had no idea how to start/finish or what I could do with the finished result!

[crazycat]

mabel i learnt the same way as you. in fact its the only knitting i can do im hopeless at the other.

[coffee_freak]

ohhh cool!

[RosemaryH]

When I was a kid (many, many moons ago) I did this French Knitting for hours and hours so you can imaging the miles of cord that I made. My mother used to wind it into a flat circle and stitch a couple of large ones together to made a cushion. Small ones where made into rugs for the dolls house and medium ones used for wrapping up my dolls.

Rosemary

[mags]

Yes I remember French Knitting too but can't remember what I did with it I saw something a while back on the tv (Create and Craft on Sky) and they called it luceting.

[RosemaryH]

Sewing cottons were on wooden bobbins so my dad used to bang four little nails in the top for me and I used a darning needle to move the wool.

Rosemary

[Mabel Figworthy]

yes, they're the ones I showed in the very first post; I'm rather taken by the idea of having one of the pretty mahogany ones

[wendywombat]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh! I've got one of those!!! *runs off to find it* I shall be using that again soon. I can make all sorts of things with that...
Thanks Mabel for the reminder.
When I was a little girl I had an old cotton reel with nails in my Grandfather made me. Then I found a 'proper job' at a craft fair some years back. I'd forgotten I had it until now!!

[Mabel Figworthy]

when you say "one of those" do you mean the french knitting thingy or a lucet?

oh, found another website, and they sell the double lucet, in very pretty American hardwoods... perhaps I should give DH a hint about anniversary presents...

[maggs]

I used to do french knitting, I had a cotten real with four nails knocked into it. If I rember correctly it was an art to join on new pieces of wall and get it so the knot fell on the inside so it was not seen.

[agi]

I have no idea what it is called in Hungarian - if it is called anything at all - have never seen it. I mean, I saw the lucet thing on the internet, I think, when I was googling for my bingo game, but not in real life.

I looked up "francia kötés" which means French Knitting, and there are a few hits, but not many - that means it is translated from English, and probably not an established name for it. (Especially, since the term is used in woodworking, as a type of joining wood.)

It looks fascinating, though!

[Mabel Figworthy]

One site said (about the lucet) that anything two-pronged would do (which seems logical), even two fingers held up (if you're sure you won't need them for anything else for an hour or two, of course... ). I tried it (it was irresistible!) and it does actually work, although it's very difficult to get the tension right.

[kell]

I used to do it on a clothes peg when I wasn't at my Gorms (so I didn't have access to her "dolly").