Chain knitting

Jewelry Discussion
1

Dear Shalom:

Me too! I would love to know more about chain knitting in the
french knit style!!! Please share with us!!!

DeDe

2

Shalom Shlomit

I crochet fine silver wire and would be glad to trade
techniques…

I am doing quite a lot of wire crocheting and knitting, and I
would be very happy to trade patterns and techniques as well.

Gabriella

3 
I would be interested in learning more about chain knitting in
the french knit style.  What can you tell me?  I've never heard
of it before.

Hi all the orchid enthusiastic writers and readers, to all of
those who welcomed me so nicely in response to my inroduction -
thank you and TODA (Thanks in Hebrew). Now to some hints on the
french knitting which several of you wanted to get. First of
all, there are instructions for it in SylviA Wicks’
excelent mannual:“Jewlery making mannual” published by
Little,Brown and Company (Reprint 1992, p.68).

Basically, we used to make continous woolen tubes in this manner
as children. You need a wooden cotton reel or a self prepared
wooden tube with an inner diameter about half an inch, headless
nails and a hook ( I use a 1.25 mm one ). You hammer close to the
edge at least 3 nails without heads (actually they have very
small heads). I use at least four, the number which I recommend
to begin with. The nails should be as close as possible to the
edge and their height above the wood not more than 3-4 mm. The
size of the hole, density of the nails and their distance from
the hole make various configurations affecting the form of the
knitted tube. I use to hammer the nails and then take off with
some files the exra wood from the nails circle to the hole. The
best resulting material to knit is fine silver or 18 k gold. You
use a 3-7 mm diameter wire. To begin, we take the wire end and
pass it downwards inside the hole, leaving some 5 cm length as a
tail. We loop the wire around each nail once and then around the
first nail a second time. with the hook, you lift the bottom
loop over the upper one so you are againg with one loop and so
forth, a second upper loopon the next nail, first loop over it.A
knitted tube is gradualy formed popping out downwards.Usually,
you have to draw a little the knit to even it. Don’t pull the
wire hard. To straighten the knitted tube in the beginning, you
take a second wire ( a stronger one) and form a drawing loop
bound into the newly formed knit by sticking the two ends into
the material between the nails and closing it when they popped
outside near the end of the knitted wire. pull gently. When the
knit is several cm long, you pull by pushing the hook vertically
into the knit and pulling. It takes some practice until you know
how to take gently the lower loop and lift it or until you pull
it right. Once you are with enough length, you loop all the loops
on each other and cut.When you work with 0.3 mm diameter, a very
fine chain is formed. Working with 0.7 mm, you have a real tube
with which many hand and neck pieces can be made.

Well, that’s it for the first answer of mine ( its saturday,
which is practically my only free day to answer).

Don’t hesitate to ask more

Shlomit Grossman

4

The current issue of Lapidary Journal (August 1997) has a how to
article on crocheting a “cleopatra choker” out of 30g fine silver
wire.