I always wanted to try knitting those! They might make a nice rug! %)

Sounds like a great idea! O.k. how about belts (really trendy looking for kids), pot holders (sew in spirals, circles). Try some novelty yarn for bracelets. Try X-mas yarns, braid them, hang a jingle bell and you have a wonderful door decoration. Animals, critters - snails, owl, butterfly, stuff that can be sewn or glued into swirls of tubes. Hmm...now I want to get one, can't wait for my 3 year old to show an interest - lol.

What great ideas! With several spools of different color ribbons worked together, make pretty headbands (grandma made these:-) The knitting goes very fast and there's no thinking involved! The directions suggest placemats, rugs,hats, chair cushions. I'm finding a great use for leftover yarns. Directions also suggest using fabrics cut in strips for rugs. Try it girls. What starts out for entertaining the kids becomes fun for the grown up:-)

Boy does that bring back memories!! I had a homemade spool knitter (nails in an old wooden spool), then one year my Uncle gave me a plastic automatic spool knitter - all I had to do was turn the base and the thing did the knitting for me... kinda took the fun out of it - LOL!

See link below to other projects for spool knitting...

Here is a link that might be useful: Spool Speak

I wish everyone would read the beautiful stories on this Spool Speak site. Thanks for sending it along. My Dad made my first spool with 4 nails on an empty thread spool too. Store bought toys were hard to come by then. I hope that one day these Grand daughters will look back and say "Boy does that bring back memories".
Barb
PS where would I find spools with more than 4 pegs???

Make a long chain, then sew it into a circle,start at the center and work around. Add a hanging loop and you've got a round pot holder. Also known as a round tuit.

Oh yes, I remember having a wooden spool with 4 nails on the top, weaving out the monkey tail at the bottom.

I recently saw elementary school children doing what they called "finger knitting." After watching a bit I realized they were basically doing spool knitting, just using their fingers! The monkey tail was big and loose. Amazing! Tipper, glad to hear you had such fun with your girls. You are the BEST grandma!

TIPPER:
I have "inheirited" some flat plastic spools that have about 12 pegs on them. I'm assuming they are used in knitting. One is round, one is square. They both have a hole in the center. I don't know if they are spool knitters, or maybe something to make "yo-yo's". Hmmm?
If you are interested,and think that might be something you could use, contact me at jackiekmac@yahoo.com.

Note to scrappyjack and Socks
Yes, my 8 yr old granddaughter told me that her classmates were making "monkey tails" with their fingers. She could hardly wait to show off her $3.00 spool knitter! Yes, I do have fun with them and they think I'm the BEST:-) If you haven't checked out the site that red confetti posted named Spool Speak, please do. It's beautiful and has some beautiful ( I'm sure antiques) spool knitters. A long way from our little wooden spools with nails! I'll drop a line to scrappyjack in an email.
Thanks everyone for making me feel so welcome and passing along great ideas for the next baby sitting time.

Red that site is great
I never could "get it" in actually doing the thread spool I have a knifty Knitter I can't "get" either. There used to be a site with animated instructions but they no longer offer them.

Here's a site that will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about spool knitting:-) AND it's put together by a man!!
Barb

http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/knittingnancys.html