How to Control Tension with Arm Knitting

Last week I taught a fiber arts class at my daughter’s school, and one of the students was really taken with arm knitting. She made five or six little scarves (which was great for me, because part of my reason for wanting to do the classes was to use up yarn), but it got me thinking, as arm knitting always does, about how to make it a little more like normal knitting.

Usually arm knitting comes out looking slightly better than a tangle, what one of my friends calls “yarn vomit.”

But the thing is, I really want to like arm knitting. The technique is fun, but I don’t love the loose look. There has to be a way to adjust the tension, right?

What I came up with was to deliberately tighten the stitches as I worked, which did help. There’s some good advice at Flax & Twine that will help tighten up arm knitting, from using more strands of yarn to making sure the stitches stay on the bottom part of your arm. Check it out, then let me know if you have any other great arm knitting advice.

[Photo via Flax & Twine.]

Next Pattern:

Not too long ago I was seeing a crochet pattern for a glasses holder shaped like a bear all over the Internet. It was super cute, and also useful as a place to put your glasses on your bedside table instead of just throwing them somewhere random.

This project stewed in my brain for a little while and I decided I needed to make a knit version, but I didn’t want to make a bear. If you know anything about me you might know that I’m a cat person, so of course my version had to be a cat.

The base is just a basic little basic worked from the center out to the desired size, then up the sides as long as you want them. Knit some ears and add embellishments to make it whatever kind of animal you want.

The way I figured out to work the base from the center out was to use a crochet cast on, which gives you an easier way to pick up stitches from the back of the cast on than if you worked a more traditional cast on for a knitting project. It’s kind of fun to do things in a different way from time to time.

This little project is adorable if I do say so myself, and even as a plain little basket not made into an animal it’s a cute way to keep your glasses or other little things in one place. I’m tempted to make one for my desk to hold pens or even little little scissors and sewing needles that are always on my desk but somehow always seem to get lost on my desk.

If you need a little holder for your glasses on your table, check out the pattern at Our Daily Craft.

[Photo: Our Daily Craft]

Next Pattern:

Have you read?