Finger Knitting

The other day, both my 6 year old and 5 year old wanted me to teach them how to knit. As I was contemplating on whether or not to teach them this craft, my thoughts flashed forward to a visual scene of "what if". I foresaw a chain of events that would eventually end with all of us in the emergency room and myself explaining to the ER doctor why I thought it would be a good idea to give my kids 10" knitting needles to craft with.

I still wanted to do some sort of craft with my little ones. I have been told that as they grow older these moments will become few =(. I then remembered when I was a little girl my mom had taught me how to finger knit. I made all sorts of fun things like scarves, necklaces, and jump ropes. I decided to teach my kids this safe craft and it turned out to be a big hit. So, if you are interested, here is a tutorial on finger knitting.

Materials:

Yarn

4 Fingers =)

1. Lay a strand of yarn across your hand. I will refer to this strand as the tail.

2. Weave the yarn that is attached to the skein around your fingers like the picture above. First going under the little finger, over the ring finger, under the middle finger, and over the pointer finger.

3. Now repeat the weaving, but go back towards your little finger. First go under the pointer finger, over the middle finger, under the ring finger, and over the little finger.

4. Wrap the yarn behind your hand, moving towards your thumb, wrap it up and around the fingers that you have already woven the yarn through. Looking at the picture above, you will have the tail section across the bottom of your hand, in the middle of your hand is yarn you have woven between your fingers, and at the top is the yarn you wrapped around your fingers.

5. Starting with the little finger, take the bottom yarn (woven part, not tail) and pull it over the top yarn.

6. Your hand should look like the above picture. Repeat step 5 with the ring finger, middle finger, and lastly the pointer finger.

7. Your hand should look like the above picture when you have completed your first row. Notice the tail is now in the back. You can move it to the back whenever you want.

8. Continue to repeat step 4, step 5, and step 6 to the desired length.

9. Eventually, your yarn work will look like the above picture. Take the tail and pull it. This will tighten the yarn and give it shape.

10. When you are satisfied with the length of your finger knit, cut the yarn that is attached to the skein. Be sure to leave about 5" of extra yarn. Now take the 5" of extra yarn and pull it through all of the finger loops. This will tie off or bind off the loops.

11. Your finished end should look like the above picture.

Now, our sweet little Holly Hobbie has a scarf to keep her warm in...er....uh...July???

Jamie