it look like the knitting that is made with an old wooden thread spool and all kids here in South Africa will at some stage will knit something and as you have guess make a little round to be use as a potholder etc. a lot of fun to keep them busy with left over bits of wool

Yes, Sue, it exists in Germany as well. We call it "Strickliesel" and there are new versions to buy. It's a good start into knitting and helps kids to understand the way it works in general.
You will find many examples if you google "Strickliesel" It is of wood and often coloured like a girl

there is a video on youtube, I have one of these made of plastic but it only has 4 pegs

We called it French Knitting here in Australia. We used wooden cotton reels with 4 nails in the top. My late brother who was Autistic made I would say miles of it over the years. He was always asking for thin wool to add to his collection. I recall seeing him working with a great big ball of wool he had wound from who ever he could get it from. Hugs

yes here in Canada i have done this as a child .many moons ago.We had no tool so Dad used a big spool of empty thread from our Gramma and we girls made many things Thanks or the memories ,Hus Carolyn

Memories...did this a lot as a child with an empty wooden spool and four nails in the top...don't ever recall hearing a name for it though...

As you can see it seems to be Universal lol. we had an old one too made from a wooden spook with 4 nails poked into it & we did it for hours & hours. A terrific way to pass long car rides too. you can pretty much do it with anything thin enough like salvages or yarn, plastic bags cut into thin strips....the list goes on. Even Miss Ava could do this when she was just 3 years old & she still does it & loves it too. the only name I can remember using was Ma's spoolie. Have fun with it ~hugs~

My dad would hammer for nails in a wooden sewing thread spool, my mum put a darning needle in a cork and we were happy for a number of (rainy) days. Goes by the name of "klosje breien" (spool knitting) or "punniken" and I could not give a translation for that even if my life depended on it as I think it's a nonsense word.
Nowadays my grands have nice bought and painted ones, often shaped as a fungus, red with white spots, that don't have nails but nicely rounded staples on top. And then there are the plastic ones that come with a handle you have to wind and the stitches are formed automatically - cheating!!

What a fun find! I remember it as a 'knitting knobby'...a search came up with several listed at Amazon :)

I believe my old wooden spool had 5 little nail tacks in it. I sat hours when younger making the knitted ropes the sewing them together in a circle making doilies. I remember using varigated thin threads and yarns. Now Walmart sells the plastic one. Bought one of my granddaughters one for Christmas stocking and she never used it. I bought it because she used to sit here while spending the night and tried working one I had my husband make her from a block of wood.

I did this when I was a kid long ago... I think I still have the original spool we used. IT is coming back and getting popular once again. What goe around hehe Try it you might find it fun Suzanne

Yep had a wooden spool with 4 nails in it. We kids called it "making rat tails" Grand mother called it spool knitting or busy work to keep our little hands out of mischief. Her favorite saying was " idle hands are a devils workshop" /Lillian

Also in Australia we called it a knitting Nancy..or French knitting as was mentioned...Last year I purchased two for my GD's and bought a 'corking book' also for them...think I was the only one who played with it...last year that is...

Missed this when you had first posted this Sue, but I can not get over the sheer faith that the person who started this project had chosen this monstrously large spool of thread. I do wonder if they had plans on using the whole amount and what was their ultimate plan? I do like the chained effect you have now started. I do think that just a short time of working this spool will send you running for your embroidery machine or else turning to one of the sock looms or similar looms so at least you could have a finished pair of socks instead of just a thicker braid of thread that will then need to be formed into a usable item. If you like the spoolie, then I also imagine you could use the resulting cording to crochet or knit the cord into whatever project you desire. Enjoy