Book Review: Fun and Easy Finger Knitting for Beginners

I don’t know if this happens at every school, but at my daughter’s school in late elementary, finger knitting became a Thing. I guess they probably learned it in their tinkering class but it seemed like kids were finger knitting all the time, which of course I loved because any kind of fiber art is great for kids and adults alike.

If you or your kiddo wants to go beyond knitting up endless snakes of finger knitting, Vickie Howell’s Fun and Easy Finger Knitting for Beginners will show you what to do with all those stitches.

It opens with an overview of finger knitting over four, three or two fingers, as well as how to change colors as you knit, how to fasten off your knitting and how to finish it in different projects (such as using mattress stitch or whip stitch).

Projects are divided into wearables and accessories, and use a skill rating of one to three. You’ll start with a basic strand looped and sewn into a necklace, but there are lots of other options including bracelets knit with leather cord, a hat made of a finger knit tube stacked and sewn on itself, a flower for a headband and a twisted scarf, to name a few.

Accessories include ideas like a garland for a tree house, a bag made out of homemade T-shirt yarn, snakes (of course!), an animal pillow (the one in the book is a panda, but you could make it any animal you like), a bath mat, a jump rope and a planter cozy made out of jute rope.

It should be noted this is a republication of an older book of Vickie’s, Finger Knitting Fun, so some of the yarns used in the projects have been discontinued in the meantime. (You can see all the patterns from the original book on Ravelry.) It’s still a great source for ideas of what to do with all that finger knitting if your kid is already obsessed with making it, or a low-key entry point into yarn crafting for kiddos in late elementary and middle school.

About the book: 80 pages, paperback, 27 patterns. Published 2004 (adaptation of a 2015 release) by Quarry Books. Suggested retail price $14.99.

Got Kids Who Love Finger Knitting? Try Making a Hat

Tutorial – Finger Knitting

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork.

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn.

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look.

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me.

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round.

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.

Have you read?