Finger knitting and Hula Hoop weaving.

i've posted before about how much my kids have been getting into finger knitting.


They both took to it quickly, and will sit down to knit at least once a day. Finger knitting creates a long rope of knitting, and one of the problems we have it trying to figure out what to do with all of the knitting. Sage has been making scarves for her stuffed animals, but Sequoia likes to connect all of his together to make a super long chain.

i looked around online for a basic tutorial on finger knitting, and figured out that we actually finger knit a bit differently than every one else. This is how i remembered doing it as a child, and it all comes out the same. So, i put together a very brief video to hopefully show you how it is done. Finger knit basics.
Take your piece of yarn in your left hand.
Leave about a 3 inch tail, and hold it with your thumb.
Run the yarn between your pointer and middle finger, go behind the middle finger, over your ring finger, and around your pinky.
Now take your yarn back across the pinky, behind your ring finger, over your middle finger and behind your pointer finger. With me so far? Now bring your yarn around the pointer finger and lay it across hand, just above the yarn thats wrapped on each finger.
Take the tail that you are holding with thumb and bring it up between your pointer and middle finger and behind your pointer finger and hold in place with thumb again. (this the only time you have to do that.
Now on each finger, pick up the loop at the bottom and lift it up over the strand on off of your finger.
Repeat this with each finger.
When you get to the end of the row, lay the yarn across your hand again, and repeat. You repeat this process until your knitting is the desired length. Hopefully the video will help explain that a little bit. To finish, cut the yarn, take the loops off your fingers, put the cut end of the yarn through the loops and tie in a knot.

So then comes the question of what to do with all that finger knitting?

One project we decided to try with our finger knitting is hula hoop weaving. We found the directions in Family Fun magazine. The actual project is for a t-shirt rug. We modified it a bit, and instead of using t-shirts used the yarn my kids had knitted. We probably should have used more yarn in the framing part (warp, i think it's called).

It still turned out pretty neat for a first time attempt. The yarn isn't going to be as heavy duty as a t-shirt rug, so you may have to add a backing if you want to use it as a real rug. We turned ours into doll house rugs.

In all my years of finger knitting, i have always knitted using 4 fingers. While teaching my kids to finger knit it occurred to me that you do not have you use all 4 fingers. You can use less to create a thinner rope.
Another thing i just figured out is that you can take that (two finger) thin rope of finger knitting and finger knit that. Who knew, right?!?


So, this is my boy finger knitting yarn that has already been finger knitted. He's using yarn that was knitted using just two fingers, so it made a thin rope. He originally tried it with the thicker knitting, but it was pretty tough to finger knit. The two finger knitting worked much better.

Now you have a nice thick piece of knitting that can be turned into a scarf or a doll house rug or a wash cloth. You could use an embroidery needle to sew the pieces together and create other projects. There are really a lot of possibilities with it. Finger knitting is great way to teach patience, improve fine motor skills and increase concentration. It also give kids a sense of accomplishment when they finish a project. We are hoping to get a head start on some holiday gifts, so that kids will be able to present their grandparent with hand knitted gifts this year.

If you have questions about finger knitting, feel free to ask. If my instructions are confusing let me know and i will try to clarify or point you in the direction of some other online tutorials. Happy knitting!