My oldest girls love making crafts.  One of them even has the goal of knitting all of her Christmas gifts.  So, I thought finger knitting would be a fun craft to do together.

Finger knitting makes great garland for the fireplace or for the tree.  My girls wanted to decorate their headboards with the garland, but 2/3 of them ended up making snakes – not quite the length of garland.  Seriously, this is so easy to do, it just takes a while if you don’t use a thick yarn.  Actual quote from my 9-year-old, “Wow!  This is so easy.”

Supplies:

1 Skein of Yarn (makes the length of a fireplace mantle)

Directions:

1.  Pull out a “tail” of yarn that you’ll only use to tie the garland later on.

2.  Make it about 5″ long and hold it between your thumb and hand.

3.  Pull from the skein and weave the yarn “over, under” each of your 4 remaining fingers until there are 2 “loops” on each finger with your palm face up.  Loop all of the yarn fairly loosely, it will make your life a lot easier.  My 6-year-old kept getting frustrated that hers was so tight.

4.  Pull the bottom loop over the top of your finger so you’re just left with one loop on the four fingers.

5.  The garland will start to form behind your hand and you’ll keep going until you’ve finished the skein or it’s as long as you need.

6.  To cast off, there should be one loop on your four fingers, start at your pinky and transfer that loop to the finger next to it, then pull the bottom loop from that finger, over the top so you’re left with one loop, and transfer that loop to your next finger until you’ve moved all of them.  Tie a knot in the end.

The smaller yarn is great for making “snakes” or necklaces.  If you’re planning on making a garland, I suggest a thicker yarn like the one below.

All three of the girls loved doing the craft and even my 6-year-old (who isn’t as crafty as the other two) caught on quickly and said how easy it was.  If you’re more of a visual learner, there are plenty of Youtube finger knitting tutorials.

See more DIY Christmas ideas.