Tassels
Introduction
The hanging cord is made from a knitted tube made using the double bed machine. This was turned inside out, stuffed with a soft braid and then knotted. The wooden shape has been covered with a fatter knitted tube which has been steamed to fit the curved shape. The ruff and skirt are knitted using methods described in my pattern.
Tassels are great fun to make on the knitting machine and are so quick and easy. I hang them all over our house, on hooks and handles on doors, on furniture, and with a long cord tied in a special knot as a tieback.
I have developed a way of making tassels on the knitting machine using some of my huge stash of machine knitting yarns that I have acquired over more than 20 years of machine knitting.
The type I have concentrated on are those constructed on a wooden form and all 4 parts - the skirt, hanging cord, ruff and covering the wooden form involve the use of the knitting machine in some way.
I use almost every type of yarn, and most are successful - even yarns that are not suitable for knitting, like those that twist badly, are shaded through the cone or have endless knots! I tend to choose the yarns by colour rather than type, and of course I try not to have to buy any more. My yarn shelves are full! It's easy to co-ordinate the tassel with the colours in your room.
You can use one yarn on it's own or use twenty or more within one tassel
I made this tassel using colours found in the printed fine curtain in our bathroom. The ruff is made from gathering viscose knitting ribbon on to cord elastic. Can also be used a hair scrunchie. Instructions to make the adjustable knot on the hanging cord are included in my pattern.
Erica's Tassel Kit
A complete kit to make tassels on your knitting machine, click here for details.
Additional Information
Traditionally, to cover the wooden forms, they are wrapped with "gimp".
This is available online in a wide choice of solid colours, either in skeins or cones.
Space dyed gimp in 10 metre skeins is available from Stef Francis (Devon UK) in a fantastic range of colours.