Knitting

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The Strange Allure of Arm Knitting

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arm knittingMonths ago I pinned that arm knitting video that’s all over Pinterest. I watched it and thought about writing about it. Clearly it was getting pinned a lot, but to me it just seemed like a strange craft that anyone who knew how to knit with needles wouldn’t actually want to do.

(I also happen to have pretty serious RSI, so regular knitting makes my arms hurt, so I kind of can’t imagine my arms literally being my knitting needles.)

But it’s really pretty cool, at least according to the Wall Street Journal. A recent piece looked at the trend, saying the amazingly bulky scarves that can be knit in less than an hour are popular with millennials:

Arm knitting combines several things that are appealing to millennials: crafts projects, chunky knitwear (featured on the fall 2013 runways), social media and instant gratification. It just so happens that a popular item to make is a so-called infinity scarf—a circular accessory that slips over the head.

That super-popular video garnered the teacher, Amanda Bassetti (aka SimplyMaggie), about $1,400 in ad revenue last month alone, which is better than I’ve ever done teaching knitting. The 25-year-old part-time nanny says the response has been as overwhelming as the giant projects it results in.

Bassetti didn’t invent arm knitting — and it’s popularity may come in part from an Italian artist, Andrea Brena, who is also 25 and who has used arm knitting in performance art — but she’s certainly made it crazy popular. I actually found a reference to an article on arm knitting being published in the March 2009 issue of Yarn Magazine, for whatever that’s worth.

I still don’t really understand it. I guess it’s kind of cool that you can “knit” something so fast, but you literally can’t put it down once you start, so you’d better be able to knit it fast. And even though I think things worked on giant knitting needles have their place, I’m not in love with the look of arm knitting.

What do you think? Have you tried it? Would you give it a go? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Want to learn more? Check out Simply Maggie’s projects on Ravelry as well as tutorial/patterns from Jen at PinkWhen and NordicMart.

[Photo by Andrea Brena via the Wall Street Journal.]

Comments

  1. While I think I’d rather knit with needles, I do love the look of those super-chunky blankets you can make with super-super-super-bulky yarn. And I love the squishiness of regular knitting, so I can’t even begin to imagine how squishy that blanket must be in real life. So in that way, it does appeal to me, because I’d rather arm knit than try and work with size 100 needles.

  4. An easy pattern on size 50 knitting needles is this (for a scarf):
    Triple strand – cast on 10 stitches
    Knit back and forth for one hour – about 5ft. long
    Bind off, add fringe if you want to.
    All done. Has a rather spider web design and can be made while watching your favorite hour tv show!

  5. I love it. I learned how to knit from watching videos of people teaching arm knitting. I haven’t attempted blankets yet, however the infinity scarves come out beautifully. Finger knitting is really cool too. The length of one’s finger limits the number of stitches. Yet, it’s a quick easy craft that takes less than an hour. Don’t knock it ’til you try it.

Have you read?

Classic Dishcloth Knitting Patterns

Fall will be here before we know it, and that means there are holidays coming right behind where we might be entertaining at home. It’s always fun to have a hand knit touch in your home for other people to see, and if you’re going to be in the kitchen all day you might as well have some nice knit dish cloths to use. 

I love this little plaid hand towel from Darling Jadore. Use a little bit of leftover cotton yarn from another project for the plaid portion. It looks like the horizontal stripes are worked as you knit and the vertical stripes are done with duplicate stitch, making this a quick and easy project even newer knitters can make. 

Combine garter stitch and an easy eyelet pattern worked sideways to make the Annette Dish Towel from Cluck Cluck Boots, which is meant to be reminiscent of flour sack towels. It calls for DK weight yarn and you can work it in one color or two (or even three!). 

Add a little more texture with this set of kitchen towels from Whileberry Creative. They’re mostly worked in garter stitch with borders in easy knit/purl patterns, and you can work them in sport or worsted weight yarn. 

Two of Wands Shop has another cute allover knit and purl pattern they call the Seersucker Textured Tea Towel. It’s an easy repeating pattern worked in worsted weight yarn, and there’s a chart in the pattern you can use, but don’t have to, if you want to practice knitting from a chart. 

The Classic Cloth dish towel from Handmade Home by Connie is another one that can use a little leftover yarn in a contrasting color, or you could color block it our use stripes throughout the pattern. This one uses worsted weight yarn and another easy repeating knit purl stitch pattern. 

If you like to hang your towel on the oven handle or elsewhere but it’s always falling off, try the Stay Put kitchen towel from Fancy Step Knits. This project is worked in garter stitch and includes a hole partway through so you can pull the towel through itself over a rod or handle. Stripes are optional but a nice addition.