Viking Knit and Spool Knit Chain

Both of these chains trace back thousands of years. Viking knit got its name from fragments found in Scandinavian graves archaeologists believe Vikings and other ancient Europeans cut sections of this chain and used them as currency!

When making Viking knit, use a wooden drawplate. Metal drawplates are meant for reducing single wires, not chains, and their holes are too small. A wooden drawplate gently shapes your chain into longer, narrower segments while letting the wire glide smoothly through.

Albina Manning demonstrates how to make Viking Knit Chain in her DVD. You'll see every step as she crafts her own tools, creates the stitch, joins wire, draws the chain through a wooden drawplate, and finishes it with a clasp. Click here to check out the DVD.

What knitters call I-cord is also known as spool knitting, often done with a knitting nancy or knitting spool. The result looks similar to Viking knit but uses a different method. Instead of feeding the wire through existing loops, the wire is wound around four pegs.

As you wrap, you lift the lower loop, slide it over the new wire, and off the peg, joining the chain. This creates a true knit stitch like using double-pointed needles, but much simpler. The resulting chain isn't as even or sleek as Viking knit and can take longer since you lift each loop manually.

Both chain styles can be embellished with beads. With spool knitting, remember to slide the beads onto the wire before you begin, since the wire's end disappears inside the chain.

You can make your own spool with a drilled wooden block and cotter pins, or find a ready-made knitting nancy tool at many craft stores.