How to make a Crochet Spiral Wind Spinner

I use DK wool and I tend to use a size 4.5 crochet needle as I prefer a bigger needle for my tension. These are a joy to make and it is up to what you prefer. I've even made these with recycled t-shirts as you can see in the photo and they look fabulous.

For the spinners I sell in my CreativeEmotionsShop on Etsy, I start off with 50 stitches but you can use any number up to a 100 or more. Remember though, the number of stitches will increase. If you start with 50, you will end up with 300 stitches in the outer two rows.

As you can see, for my Christmas Wind Spinners, I use a selection of sparkly wool and Christmas coloured wool. I add a bell on the end as at Christmas, "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings!"

How to make the Spiral Wind Spinner

1. To begin, chain 50 stitches on a needle of your choice to suit the wool. Tie a knot in the wool you started off with so you know where the beginning is as this will be a helpful guide.

2. When you have created your chained row, you are going to single crochet (SC) into the second stitch on the top row and SC back to the beginning. Don't let the tension be too tight as you will need to crochet into these stitches. You can see in the photo below that depending on the wool, some spinners are wider than others.

3. 

   Cut your wool leaving enough wool to darn in. This can be done as you go along or at the end. You're going to start your next row at the beginning end (where you have tied a knot to use as a guide) but on the top row. You are going to stitch into the top row that looks like horizontal V's <<<

4. Choose a different colour and you are going to use the double crochet (DC) stitch and create two stitches into each stitch on the top row to double your number of stitches. You will notice that your spinner is already starting to spiral on its own. At the end of this row, you will now have 100 stitches.

5. At the end of row, cut the wool and pull through, leaving enough to darn in. Go back to the beginning where you tied your knot and you are again going to crochet into the new top row. Choose a different colour wool if you want to and you are going to DC again but this time, you are going to crochet three DC stitches into each stitch. If you started out with 50 stitches, at the end of this row, you will end up with 300 stitches.

6. When you get to the end of this row, cut the wool leaving enough to darn in and you will see a spiral forming although it may not look like an orderly spiral at the moment!

7. Go back to the beginning again, using the knot you tied on the bottom row as a guide. You are going to SC into the new top row. This creates a neat edge to help hold your spiral form. I usually use a contrasting colour for the edge and a sparkly wool looks nice too. You can also use the same variegated wool. It is entirely up to you. That's why I like to make these, there are so many possibilities... Just have fun and you can be specific with the colours or use up any scraps of wool you have! Be creative with your emotions!

8. SC into each stitch and when you have finished, cut the wool and if you didn't darn in the ends as you went along, it's time to do it now.

9. The next step is to gently shape your spiral into a flat spiral and put a weight on it. I usually leave it overnight with a book or slate coaster on it! It should look similar to my Christmas spiral at the top of this blog.

10. After a short time, when you hold it from the top, the spiral will gently fall and its spiral form. All you need to do now is add a loop at the top and a slight weight at the bottom which will ensure it hangs properly. There are lots of options for these but make sure your spinner is the right way round. Although either way is fine, I think they look better when they look like a helter-skelter slide.

11. For the loop, I sometimes leave a long piece of the outside wool and just double it over and stitch it in or you can simply

    1. thread through a paper clip or hoop

    2. you can plait a selection of the wools you have used to create a more colourful loop

    3. you can chain up to 15 at the beginning of the final row to create the loop

12. For the weight at the end, there are also numerous ideas I use:

    1. some create a tassle with the wool you made the spiral with

    2. you can add a bell which I like to do on my Christmas Spiral Wind Spinners

    3. you can add wooden blocks or

    4. beads and gemstones.

13. There is so much potential. I hope you enjoy making your Spiral Wind Spinners and using your own Creative Emotions!