Book Review: No Needles Knitting

Years ago Vickie Howell wrote a book for kids about finger knitting, and as those crafty kids have grown up, she wanted to revisit the world of finger knitting for an older audience. The result is what she calls the unofficial sequel to that book, No Needles Knitting.

Instead of knitting by wrapping yarn around the fingers, this technique starts with a chain through which you pull up loops to form the stitches. This makes it more flexible because you can make more than four stitches at a time. You’re also working on a table top instead of holding the work on your fingers, which should produce less strain. (Finger knitting is also explored, as well as finger crochet.)

The book opens with a discussion of the yarns used and how to work knit and purl stitches, make cables, increase, decrease and add new yarn. You’ll also learn how to bind off, weave in ends and seam pieces of knitting together.

From there the book is full of projects to wear and to use in your space. It opens with a super bulky, boxy, striped cardigan, which is rated as a skill level 2 on a scale of 4. If you have some familiarity with knitting or crochet this might be a fine piece to start with, but I might choose something that didn’t need to fit a body to start with.

There’s also a cabled hat, basketweave cowl, flat hat and a couple of scarves, as well as a bag made out of T-shirt yarn, a shawl and a blanket yarn bed coat (aka robe) among other things. I love the tartan super scarf made with a base of stitches and contrasting color yarn woven through the stitches.

In the home section you’ll find things like a flower pillow, a fuzzy throw, a wreath and a throw pillow. There’s also a cute cat bed, a simple trivet and a basket. You can finger knit a vast cozy, stitch a strand of LED lights and turn plastic bags into upcycled hand knit placemats.

The book is fun and colorful and has projects for a variety of skill levels and that give you a lot of different looks, which is fun. There are 28 patterns in all, most of which fall in the skill level 2 or 3 area. There’s one level 4 project (a log cabin style throw) and five rated level 1. There are a few things here I think I’d enjoy making, and it’s also an inspiring book to show you what can be done with a bit of yarn and no needles.

About the book: 128 pages, paperback, 28 projects. Published 2025 by Quarry Books. Suggested retail price $22.99.

There’s a lot to like about the Eloise Bandana from Katryn Seeburger. This cute little colorwork triangle can be worked as a bandana or kerchief size or a bigger shawlette.

It’s worked in two colors of fingering weight yarn so you can use whatever yarn you have in your stash and just make it as big as you can (since it is worked from the bottom up).

You can see the two sizes from the photo, and also two colorwork options: strawberries and lily of the valley.

But that’s not all the choices you have. In fact, there are 34 different charts you can choose from to knit onto your project. Some of the options include happy faces, a lobster, a pumpkin, a snail and a butterfly. There are cherries, peaches, tomatoes and radishes.

There’s even a blank square you can use to draw your own little design if you want to use something else. Or keep it blank and make it a plain checkerboard design.

And while both of these shawls use the same icons throughout, you could also use different designs throughout if you want. Say a fall version with a bat, pumpkin, leaf and acorn, or a summer beach theme with sailboat, fish, lobster and a bird? I keep suggesting four different icons because the larger size has four rows of squares, but the smaller has three, so you could do stripes of the same icon or alternate a couple of different ones, whatever you like.

Look through the finished projects on the Ravelry project page to see lots of different options, from rows to individual icons. There are also some projects that are smaller than the suggested size to make a smaller bandana. You could also keep going a make a bigger shawl working increases in the same way as you have been going.

Check out all the details and grab a copy of the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Katryn Seeburger]

Have you read?