Finger Knitting

Finger knitting is a really good way of getting children interested in wool crafts, and it is very easy to learn.  It also helps to improve a child’s dexterity and ability to concentrate.  No extra implements are required,  just fingers, the best tools in the world!  I often carry balls of yarn in my bag to pass the time in the doctors surgery or similar.

Finger knitting produces a long thin strip of stocking stitch and there are many things you can do with these strips.  In this tutorial, which is suitable for children, I will show you how to finger knit.  You can use any weight of yarn for finger knitting but for this tutorial I used chunky which produces a nice stocking stitch.

Fig 1

To cast on, begin with the palm of your hand facing you with the tail end of the yarn between your thumb and index finger.  Weave the yarn over your index finger and behind the middle finger then over the ring finger.  Wrap the yarn around your smallest finger and weave back to your index finger (see fig 1).

Fig 2

Weave the yarn around the index finger again and continue in the same manner but above the first rows of stitches returning to your index finger again (see fig 2). 

Try to keep the stitches fairly loose otherwise it will be difficult for you to make the following moves.

Fig 3

The first row, begins with the little finger, lift the bottom row of wrapped yarn up and over the tip of your finger (see fig 3).  Ensure that you keep the top row of wrapped yarn on your finger as you go.

Continue the process of lifting the bottom row of stitches over the top row of stitches along your hand until you get back to your index finger.  

Fig 4

For all subsequent rows, weave the yarn around the fingers again ending with the index finger as you did in fig 2.  It should look like the image in Fig 4, and then lift the bottom row of wrapped yarn over the top as you did in fig 3. 

Fig 5

As you continue the process you will see a long strip of stocking stitch appearing behind you hand (see fig 5).

Fig 6

Continue until your work is approx 20cms in length then cast off.  To cast off, do not weave the work around your fingers instead, lift the stitch off the little finger and pass it across to your ring finger (see fig 6) then lift the bottom stitch over the top stitch on your ring finger.  Continue to pass the stitches across and over until you get to the index finger with one stitch remaining.

Finger knitting is very addictive and children love it for its simplicity and ease.  I have loads of strips of finger knitting laying around the house and there are lots of things that you can do with them.
Check out this workshop that we did with the local Brownie group here.

And here is my award winning tutorial I made for the Zero Budget Film Festival: