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Rating: 
Summary: Needed more Projects
Review: If you already have a spool knitter and lots of I was "snakes" on hand you will be disappointed. There are not a lot of projects, especially for the smaller snakes. Too much of the book is devoted to making spool knitters.
Rating:
Summary: Needed more Projects
Review: If you already have a spool knitter and lots of I was "snakes" on hand you will be disappointed. There are not a lot of projects, especially for the smaller snakes. Too much of the book is devoted to making spool knitters.
Rating: 
Summary: We spent hours doing knitting spools (corking) as kids
Review: Now there is a book to list projects to do with these long knitted snakes. We never did know what to do with them (other than sew a boring dog mat.) We spent hours knitting with Red Heart varigated yarn in bright crayon colors, admiring the changing hues. This is a fun activity book for kids, and corking is great for long car rides.If you like "corking" or spool knitting, try frame knitting. This is a technique where you loop yarn around two rows of nails on parallel bars of wood. The loops are lifted over the nails just as in spool knitting. The resulting fabric can be used as a scarf or shawl, depending on how wide the frame is made. (You can buy these, but they are a nice wood project for father-mother/son-daughter.) The art teacher in our elementary school had kids make these frames, then knit long swatches of knitting. The resulting wildly colored fabrics were displayed at an open house and were a huge hit. They looked like Mexican serapes and were just stunning. You can use yarn from clearance sales and really have your kids experience the joy of creating handcrafts.
Rating:
Summary: Great craft for kiddos
Review: This book is excellent for beginner "corkers". It teaches how to make different sized spools and explains which size spool to use for each project listed. This is an easy craft and even my four-year-old is picking up on it quickly. We are "corking" baby mits (a project in the book) and baby hats (our own adaptation from the projects in the book using a much larger can) to donate to Newborns In Need for the winter.
This is not necessarily a book on what to do with those long, thin corked snakes, though it has a few projects dealing with that and a few additional ideas to get you thinking. Rather, it is a book that goes beyond those little "snakes" and shows that you can make a variety of corking projects with different sized spools. After a great deal of searching, I believe it is the only book of its kind currently on the market and it is a good book at that.
Some things to keep in mind:
The cans listed in the book seem to be standard in a country other than the US as I was unable to find the exact sizes listed. We found the closest sizes we could and were able to easily adapt them to the projects. If you want to change the size of a project, just use a different sized can or other cylinder shaped item to make your spool. For example, we use a big Sam's Club sized apple sauce can for making baby hats. Typical cans would be too small.
Also, the instructions guide you to attach the nail sets in pairs across from each other around the can. However, when listing how many nail sets are required for each size can, the number is not always an even number. I prefer to measure about 1/2 - 5/8 inch spaces between each nail set and go from there.
Make sure you clean your cans and nails before you start! :)
For the safest edges possible on your cans, use the Zyliss Safe 'n Secure Can Opener (available here on Amazon) when opening your cans. It's still a good idea to tape the edges for safety, but this will help to reduce the possibility of injury when preparing your can for spooling.
I find that the softer, stretchier baby yarn is the easiest to cork with and, of course, makes great baby mits and hats. My four-year-old has a much easier time with the baby yarn than with your standard worsted weight acrylic yarn, though I suspect with practice he'll be pretty handy with just about any kind of yarn he likes.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for all ages
Review: This is a great introduction to fiber crafts. First, you make a spool knitter from either a toilet paper roll or empty can. Then once you are knitting, it gives some very creative ideas for using the results. I'd put it up there with "Kids Knitting" by Melanie Falick as a great fiber book for kids.
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