Crazy Daisy winder

So here it is. A little circular disc with a knob in the middle which you twist to make the spikes come out.






You start a daisy by laying the material (ribbon, straw, thin strips of fabric etc) across the face with the end facing downwards. Wrap the material, from left to right, round the spoke at 12 o'clock and bring it back to the bottom. Wrap it round the bottom spoke from right to left. Take the material back up to the top and go round the spoke to the right of the first one then back down to the spoke to the left of the first bottom spoke. This is the wrong side of the the finished flower.

Repeat these 2 steps all the way round until you are back where you started. You can go round another time if you want a fuller flower with more petals or you can just leave it with single petals, as I have done here.







Now all that's left is to secure the petals and finish off. I've used a contrasting colour of Raffene. You just insert the needle behind the petals and tie a knot. Then pass the needle from right to left under 3 petals of the flower, bring the needle back up then go back under the last 2 petals and pick up a new petal to the left. It's rather like doing backstitch in sewing. I've gone round twice in this flower.

Then you just finish off the end (you can glue it down or just leave it loose, turn the knob to retract the spokes and remove the flower. Ta da!

There are lots of photos of crazy daisies and looms on flickr

On the knitting front, I'm just knitting a quick poncho using Sirdar Reflection using massive needles and garter stitch. Should be finished tomorrow with a bit of luck.