I first wrote about Israeli designer Yael Falk of Yoola more than 8 years ago.  Back then, she was making finished wire crochet knitted jewelry. But in the intervening years, Yael has gone from strength to strength, offering wonderful tools and tutorials for others.

I am a huge fan.  I have been using her tools and helpful hints on how to wire crochet knit for years.  It's wire crochet because crochet hooks are used but the result resembles knitting. Yael herself calls it wire crochet ISK (invisible spool knitting). See my past comparative post for ISK vs Viking Knit.

After 2 years of development, Yael recently introduced a new patented tool, the YoolaKnitter . I eagerly bought one as I wanted to see if it will really speed up the wire crochet knitting process. 


This tool produces the same results as the middle two looms from her original tool set. These two are the most commonly used ones.


The instructional brochure is thorough. I was delighted to see that a 1 mm crochet is provided with the tool.  In my earlier reviews, I mentioned that 1 mm was much better to use, especially for beginners than the 0.6 mm hooks that Yael initially supplied. It is easier to catch the wire with the larger hook. As you can see from the video coming up, the stem of the hook is used "set" the wire loop.


What is exciting about this tool is the time savings.  Instead of slowly unpicking to remove the work from a starting loom or cutting off the wire, the smooth release is accomplished by just turning the tool's wire spiral.  Watch the video below and see!



One thing I learned very quickly is how important it is to have that wire spiral end lined up with the beginning of the tall spokes as shown in the photo below. Otherwise, the releasing action will not happen correctly.

I think left handers will have to hold the tool as demonstrated as the work proceeds in an anti-clockwise manner and the releasing step occurs in a precise way. It would be too awkward otherwise. The direction of work does not matter if you were using the original looms.


Like the original loom, it helps to hold down the first wire loop completed with my left thumb and forefinger. Here is another very useful tip -  slightly trap the working wire between the left forefinger and tool. This makes fishing for that wire with the crochet hook much easier.

I made loops in every spacing for my first attempt with the YoolaKnitter.


Poking the crochet hook through helps set the wire loop size as the wire loop conforms to the diameter of the stem.  Once you get good at ISK, you could try dropping the hook size to a delicate 0.6 mm.


You can release the work from the YoolaKnitter after a few rows. I got carried away and didn't release it for quite a way!


 My second attempt involved using every other spacing. This proved trickier and I had several goes before I got going! A very firm grip on the starting loop is needed.


 I wasn't watching what I was doing when making loops in every other spacing and accidentally separated the tool itself.  It was easy enough to locate the two markers which need to be aligned with each other. The small ring then just pops into the main tool.



Here are the two tubes I made with the YoolaKnitter.  The top one is with loops in every space. The lower tube looks untidy being the one where I had loops in every space. This does not matter as the magic of draw plates come into play.


I really like Yael's newer draw plate as it has the long slit to help flatten down tubes.




Her draw plate tips were handy - especially the part about folding down the work so that the crochet work is even.

And here is my cuff in silver!  I used Parawire.



 I did not have a clasp wide enough to take the cuff so I bent the sides in before wiring to the clasp. Yael has a cuff tutorial which shows how to make and finish this style.   Doesn't the cuff in gold look great?

Yoola Design

You can also turn a cuff into a bib collar necklace as shown this Yoola tutorial :

Yoola Design

I used the draw plate to pull and reduce down the size of my smaller tube.


Yael sent me her bubble tool to try . It makes making trapped pearl necklace designs as you can see from her photo :

Yoola Design

Do you absolutely need the bubble tool?  No. But it makes the job so much easier with spacing without the tube rolling away while you are working.


I found cinching down hard is required. Remember the wire tube has become somewhat work hardened having gone through the draw plate several times.


One of the tips Yael shares is how to re-expand your tube if you change you mind or made a boo-boo. Just use a wooden dowel or knitting needle and work it in.


Instead of trapping pearls, I tried using jump rings in the cinched areas as an experiment. The jump rings remained in the narrower parts. Wasn't quite the look I was after -  I will likely switch out to wire work! The point is, the necklaces can be customized in different ways.


This twisted and flattened bracelet was actually done using one of the original looms.  I am looking forward to making more with the YoolaKnitter! It is a handy tool if you make a lot of ISK bracelet and necklace designs.



The beautiful crimp ends and end caps I used to complete my projects were courtesy of TierraCast. The silver crimp ends can definitely be used for wire bracelets! TierraCast's end caps come in different sized, designs and metal finishes not just the simple silver ones I used for the necklace!



Giveaway 

If you'd like to win the YoolaKnitter tool from YoolaDesign, please make a comment below. Make sure you leave contact info below if you do not have an online shop or blog.

Email subscribers need to scroll down the post they receive, click on Share Comment and enter your comment. Pick Name/URL. If you don't have a store or blog, leave the URL blank.

This giveaway is international.

Extra entries if you become or are a blog subscriber or follower etc. If you also do shout outs about this giveaway, those will count as additional entries too! Please say so in the comments. (The exception is Facebook - just like/comment on the giveaway status there!!)

It ends in a week's time at 6 pm EST Thursday, November 28, 2019. I will pick the winner randomly and announce the results as soon as possible after. So be sure to leave a contact email if you don't have an online link or make sure you come back and check! Otherwise I will redraw in a week. Good luck!

Before You Go:


Disclosure
This blog may contain affiliate links. I do receive a small fee for any products purchased through affiliate links. This goes towards the support of this blog and to provide resource information to readers. The opinions expressed are solely my own. They would be the same whether or not I receive any compensation.
______________________________
Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
Jewelry Making Tips - Wire JewelryTips  -Jewelry Business Tips