Finger knitting is a wonderful way to introduce children to knitting. It is also very safe because no needles are involved!
One of the great things about this type of knitting you can learn it within 10 minutes. Yes, it really doesn’t take long. I taught my son and he picked it up so quickly that by the end of the day he had produced meters of knitting!
All you need is a ball of yarn. Any yarn will do, but if you teaching kids why not pick a fun, rainbow colored one?
Finger Knitting Instructions
1. With your left palm facing towards you, trap the end of the yarn between your thumb and forefinger.
2. Weave the yarn over your forefinger, behind your middle finger and over your ring finger. Then trap the long end attached to the ball with your little finger.
3. Then, wind the yarn anti-clockwise around your middle three fingers and trap the long end with your little finger again.
4. On your ring finger, pull the lower loop over the upper yarn and over the top of your finger.
5. Release the end of yarn held between your thumb and forefinger and place it between your forefinger and middle finger, so that the short end lies behind your hand. (You can choose to trap the short end between your thumb and forefinger again for the first row, as shown).
6. Wind the long end of the yarn (attached to the ball) anti-clockwise around your middle three fingers.
7. Now, starting with your forefinger, pull the lower loop over the upper yarn and over your forefinger. Repeat this action on your middle finger and ring finger so that you are left with three loops on your fingers.
8. Every now and then, pull the short thread behind your fingers taut to tighten your knitting.
9. Repeat steps 6 and 7 until the knitting is the desired length.
10. To cast off, leave a length of approximately 15cm and then cut the yarn. Thread the end of this yarn through the three loops on your fingers. Remove the loops from your fingers and pull tight.
That is all there is to it!
One final tip, which was sent in by a reader: when you are finger knitting, work very loosely so that you don’t cut off the circulation in your fingers. We wouldn’t want that, would we?
Find more tips on teaching children to knit here.