I was the luckiest mom on Mothers Day. I received two very precious gifts… a hand-dyed silk scarf from Teddy that he had painted for me in school (I’m wearing it now as it’s a rainy Spring day here in Southern California). From Kitty, I received an utterly gorgeous finger knitted flower that she made for me at school too. Her flower was so beautiful that I asked her to show me how to make a few more to go in my antique apothecary bottles. Oh my… I am utterly in love with them!

finger knitted yarn flowers

‘It’s so easy, Mom!’ she enthused. ‘All you do is finger knit some pretty yarn into a long rope, roll it up into a spiral and sew it onto a stick!’ As I am someone who has never finger knitted before and don’t sew very often, I couldn’t help being skeptical at the ‘easy’ part. But, true to her word, Kitty showed me how to make these beautiful yarn flowers in a couple of minutes. Really… our three were made in about 20 minutes.

All that’s needed is:

* prettily colored yarn (the more textured the better)
* a big needle
* sticks


To finger knit, tie the end of your yarn into a slip knot (make a loop, thread the long end of the yarn through the loop and pull tight)


A simple slip knot.


Put the slip knot over your left index finger (if you are right handed). Adjust the knot to fit snugly over your finger. The long end of the yarn is the one hanging down… the short end is the one Kitty is holding in her other fingers.

Kitty calls her left hand (the one the the slip knot attached to it) her ‘needle’ hand. She calls her right hand, her ‘working’ hand. All you have to remember is left… needle. Right… working.


So now, to finger knit, with your working hand, loop the long end of the yarn over your needle finger, in front of your slip knot.


Clinch the yarn onto your needle finger with the thumb of your ‘needle’ hand.


With your working hand, pick up the slip knot and pull it over the second loop.


And right off your needle finger.


You now have only your second loop on your needle finger. Start the process again… make a loop over your needle finger with the long end of your yarn, in front of the yarn loop that is already on your needle finger. Slip the first loop OVER the second loop you have just placed there and slip it right off your needle finger. Pull tight, leaving just the third loop ‘knitted’ onto your needle finger. Your finger knitting will form a long finger knitted loop below your needle finger. This is what it will look like…


Continue finger knitting until you have a long yarn rope about the span of your outstretched arms, finger tip to finger tip (about a yard or two). Knot it securely so that it won’t unravel and cut it from your ball of yarn.

Now, because we want our yarn rope to be thicker than just one strand, we finger knit the rope we have just finger knitted… as Kitty calls this process, we ‘double finger knit’ it.

Again, make a slip knot. Try to get the slip knot as close to one end of your yarn rope as possible so that you have one very short end and one loooooooong end.


Thread the slip knot over your needle finger. Loop the long end over your needle finger, in front of the slip knot.


Pull the slip knot over the second loop and off your needle finger. Pull tight. Begin again… loop, first loop over second loop and off needle finger. Pull tight. Again. Again.


Again. Again. Until your whole first rope is finger knitted into a lovely thick second rope.


Roll up your lovely thick yarn rope into a spiral.


Sew your spiral into place so that it doesn’t unravel when left on it’s own.


Kitty is so confident at sewing because she doesn’t try to sew it perfectly neatly.


In fact, the rougher the spiral is sewn, the more charming your flower looks.


Kitty sewed the sticks onto the back of the flowers.


Voila! Pretty yarn flowers!!

finger knitted Waldorf flowers
They look beautiful as the centerpiece on our diner table.

beautiful finger knitting lavender yarn flowers
Happy finger knitting.
Blessings and magic,
Donni

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32 Responses

  1. My 7 year old is finger knitting like crazy since knitting is still a little frustrating. I’ve been running out of ideas for what to use all of her hard work for. This is wonderful! Great idea for our nature/treasure table. Thank you!!

    Cindie

  2. I haven’t commented before, but I just had to…LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this! I hope that when I return to teaching (after being home with my little ones) I will remember this lovely gift idea. I will be trying this with my oldest, soon.
    Your blog is lovely!

  3. Those are beautiful, I have never finger knitted before but I think I will have to give it a try. I want some cute little flowers like that too!

  4. Thank you for such a lovely, clear tutorial! I have wondered how finger knitting was done for a long time! Your flowers are beautiful. ~Gillian

  5. Those turned out beautiful! My kids both love to finger knit too! We’ve never done it just one finger though. The way i learned was to wrap the yarn around all the fingers, and knit that way. Very neat!

  6. Hurray for Kitty!! I love being taught by an earnest child. And I love reading about mom and daughter doing things together. She’s a lucky, bright girl.

  7. I just tried this tonight with my 4 year old. It was so much fun and so easy! She picked it up right away and was so proud to be knitting! She only has the patience to do a few stitches at a time, but if we work at it a little here and there, we might be able to make a few flowers in time for Christmas presents for the grandmas. Thanks for sharing this!!!

  8. Seeing the first image above I thought that flower was a real flower, it’s incredible that you can create something beautiful like that I’m gonna take some ideas fro here.

  9. How lovely craft! My 5-year-old is begging me to knit, soooo we can try this really easy tutorial! I think she ‘ll get enthusiastic!!! ;-p
    of course we’ll make the flower too! Not only the knitting part. Thanx Donni!!!
    P.S.: Your floewrs look like they are picked straight from the prairie! Astonishing!

  10. These are REEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLY cute! Today is my mom’s birthday, and I mad one for her! I am also making a vase for it. This was a great idea, and it turned out awesome! Thank You!

  11. Those are so lovely. I have seen finger knitting, but then always thought what would you do with a long chain. I love the sewing up photos, and the end results look really sophisticated.

    1. It’s super fun and easy, Kelly… and you’ll be amazed at how quickly the kids take to it :-)
      Enjoy!
      Love Donni

  12. I made this as soon as I saw it in your newsletter. Perfect timing because my 4 1/2 year old daughter has just learnt to finger knit at school. She will be desperate to make one when she gets home from school today. Many thanks!

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