How to Finger Knit a Blanket

Learning the Basics

Unravel a strand of yarn. To begin finger knitting, you'll first need to take a ball of yarn, and unravel a foot or so of the yarn. You will then place the strand of yarn that you have unraveled between your thumb and pointer finger, with the end of your yarn inside your palm and the rest of the yarn falling over the back of your hand. Hold the yarn in place with your thumb, leaving three inches of yarn or so across your palm.

Wind the yarn around your fingers. Begin by first facing your palm upwards and using the yarn that is on the back of your hand, wind it under your pointer finger, and then over your middle finger. Then wind it under your ring finger and over your pinky finger. When you look at your hand with your palm facing up you should see a loop of yarn around your middle and pinky finger. Wind the yarn back the opposite direction. Taking the yarn that you looped over your pinky, you will wind it around the back of your pinky, creating a complete loop, and then over your ring finger. Then, wind the yarn behind your middle finger and over your pointer finger.

Repeat the process one more time. You will then do the same process another time, first winding the yarn behind your pointer finger, over your middle finger, under your ring finger, and over your pinky. Then wind back the other direction around your pinky, over your ring finger, under your middle finger and back over your pointer finger. When you wind the second time around you want to wind above the previous loops you created. After you have winded around your fingers twice, you should see two loops across each finger. If you find that your loops are loose, you can pull the end of the yarn between your thumb and pointer finger, which will tighten the loops around your fingers.

Pull the bottom loop over your finger. After you have looped around your fingers, you will take the bottom loop on each of your fingers and bring it over the top loop, and then pull it over the top of your finger. Once you have done this on each finger you should then only see one loop on each finger. This will create the first "stitch" in your knitting. If you need to, you can tighten the loops again by pulling on the end of the yarn. To prepare for the next knitting, push the loops to the bottom of your fingers.

Continue winding around your fingers, starting with your middle finger. Because your yarn should have ended at your pointer finger, you'll have to start the next part of the knitting by looping over your middle finger. Then, loop under your ring finger and back over your pinky finger. Repeat this process going the opposite direction. Just as you did in the previous steps, go back the opposite direction, starting by looping the yarn around your pinky finger, over your ring finger, under your middle finger, and then over and around your pointer finger. Now you should have two loops around your fingers again. Pull the bottom loop over your fingers. Repeating the previous step, you will again pull the bottom loop on your finger over the top loop, and then all the way over your finger, creating one loop each on each finger.

Continue knitting until you have achieved the size you desire. At this point you have wound the yarn around your fingers and pulled the loops over a couple of times. Now, you will repeat the process of looping under and over your fingers and then bringing the bottom loop over the top loop until you have created your desired size for your project. Make sure you continue to push the loops down on your fingers so they don't pop off the top of your fingers.

Take the loops from the previous fingers and pull over adjacent finger. Once you have reached your desired length, you will finish your knitting project by bringing the loop from your pointer finger up and over your finger and then onto your middle finger. Then, take the bottom loop on your middle finger and bring it up and over the top loop and then over your middle finger. At this point you'll want to pull your yarn tightly to make sure the loops are pulled into the knitting. Take the remaining loop from the middle finger and move it over the next finger. Just as you did with your pointer finger, you will take the remaining loop on your middle finger and pull it up and over your finger and onto your ring finger. Then, take the bottom loop of your ring finger, and move it up and over the top loop and the top of your finger.

Finish the final loop. Lastly, you will take the remaining loop on your ring finger and bring it up and over your finger and onto your pinky finger. Then, taking the bottom loop on your pinky, bring it up and over the top loop and over your finger, leaving one loop on your pinky.

Take the loop off your pinky. Once you have one final loop left, you will remove it from your pinky, making sure you don't pull the loop out. Then, cut the remaining yarn off from the yarn ball. Bring the end of the yarn through the loop and pull it to tighten and create a knot. To finish your chain, pull both ends of your yarn to tighten. At this point you should be left with a piece of yarn sticking out of both ends of the chain. To hide yarn, you can weave the ends of the yarn back through the knitting and cut the ends off so that they won't be noticeable.

Starting the Blanket

Gather your materials. To finger knit a blanket you will need yarn of any color (it is helpful to have bulky or weighty yarn so that the blanket will be thicker) and scissors. It can be beneficial to have a stitch holder to hold your stitch in place if you don't knit in one sitting, and a crotchet hook used to pull the loops over your fingers. The amount of yarn depends on the size of blanket you want. You may have to use several balls of yarn and tie them together at the ends if one ball is not enough (which it most likely won't be).

Create the length of blanket you want. Now that you know how to finger stitch, to begin your blanket you'll need to finger knit as previously explained until you achieve the desired length of your blanket. After you have reached your desired length, instead of tying it off, you will leave the final loop. This is what you will use to create width for your blanket. Essentially your blanket will be many rows (the number depends on the length of the blanket your desire) of the finger knits lined up next to one another.

Place the last loop on your pointer finger. Take the one loop that you left on your knitting chain and place it around your pointer finger. Turn your knitting over onto the backside. Your knitting will usually curl up a little, with the front curling towards the back. To find the back, lay out your chain and find the side that has its sides curling towards the back. This is the front, so you'll want to flip it over for the backside. If you can't find a backside, don't sweat it. It affects the look of the blanket somewhat but it won't affect the actual knitting process.

Create a loop to "cast on" your yarn. With the rest of your yarn, you'll want to loop it around your fingers. To do this, place the yarn in front of your middle finger (palm side), then slide your thumb underneath the yarn with your thumb moving towards your palm. Then, twist your thumb upwards until the yarn forms into a loop. Move the loop behind your middle finger, and then place it over your middle finger. As you are making the loop you might have to hold onto the cross section of the loop with your hand so that the loop doesn't come undone.

Repeat this process on your other fingers. Using the same technique to create the loop around your middle finger, you will create similar loops around your ring and pinky fingers. If you turn your hand around on the knuckle side when you've finished what you should see is one loop just around your pointer finger, and then a line of yarn coming from your chain that crosses over your middle finger. Then, on your middle finger you should see that line of yarn, and underneath there should be a line of yarn that crosses over your middle finger and your ring finger. On your ring finger you should see that line of yarn, and then underneath that a line of yarn that crosses over your ring finger and pinky finger. Essentially the yarn loops are stacked, meaning the yarn starts higher on your pointer finger and by the time it gets to your pinky finger it is two levels lower than the yarn loop on your pointer and middle finger.

Knitting the Blanket

Lay the yarn across your fingers and create stitches. After you've looped the yarn around your fingers, you will lay your working yarn (the string of yarn still connected to the yarn ball) over the insides of your fingers (the palm side) going from your pinky to your pointer finger. Then, as you have done earlier, take the bottom loop on each finger and pull it up over the top strand of yarn. Once you have done this you should be left with one loop on each finger.

Insert pointer finger into a loop. Now that you have done a few stitches, it's time to start turning the blanket so you can achieve your desired width. Taking your chain of yarn, follow the outside edge, and look for a loop two stitches down. Then, pull that loop over your pointer finger. As you look at your chain of yarn, you should see many loops going across it. Essentially you want to use the loop on the outermost part of the chain, but the loop will have two strands of yarn in it. Do not place your finger through the outermost strands of yarn, but place it through the loop that those two strands of yarn are a part of. When you pull it over your finger, you should have one larger loop that is made up of two smaller loops (or two strands of yarn).

Pull the loops over the working yarn. Take your working yarn and place it over your fingers, above the preexisting loops. Then, on your pointer finger, pull the middle loop (the one that you just put onto your pointer finger) over your working yarn and up and over your finger, pulling it tight. Then, pull the bottom loop over the top loop you just created on your pointer finger.

Continue to pull loops over working yarn. You will repeat this same process by pulling the loops on your middle, ring, and pinky fingers up and over the working yarn, creating one loop on each finger.

Work your way back, creating loops. Take your working yarn (it should be beside your pinky finger now) and place it back over the inside of your fingers, above the remaining loops. Then, pull each loop up and over the working yarn and over your fingers to create one loop on each finger.

Pull another chain loop over your finger. Take your chain, and look for the outside loop that is two away from the one already on your finger (not the loop right next to it but the one after that). Then, place that loop over your pointer finger as you did in a previous step, knitting as before by pulling the second loop up and over your working yarn, then pulling the bottom loop on your pointer finger over the loop you just created. Continue to do this with all of your fingers, as you did in the previous steps, creating one loop on each finger. Finish the second row by laying the working yarn from your pinky finger over the inside of your fingers, above the preexisting loops, and pulling the loops over the working yarn, creating one loop on each of your fingers.

Repeat the previous step, going through your entire chain. To continue adding width to your blanket, after you create loops going across your fingers both directions, you'll add another loop from your chain to your pointer finger and continue the exact same process. Once you have finished that loop, you'll add another one until you go down the entire length of the chain, with only one loop left to do. Make sure you don't add the loop right next to the one you are working with. Each time you add a loop you'll want to skip the loop next to yours and use the one right after it.

Creating the Next Chain

Bind off your work. Take the last loop and put it over your pointer finger. Pull both loops on your pointer finger over the working yarn. Then, pull the loop from your middle finger over the working yarn, but instead of continuing to your ring finger, you will pull the middle finger loop up and over your finger onto your pointer finger. Then pull the bottom loop on your pointer finger over the top loop (the loop you just added).

Move the loop on your pointer finger to your middle finger and start again. After you have moved the pointer finger loop to your middle finger, take your working yarn and pull the loop on your ring finger over the yarn. Then, take that loop and pull it over your ring finger onto your middle finger. Take the bottom loop on your middle finger and pull it over the top loop you just added.

Move your middle finger loop to your ring finger. Pull the last loop on your pinky finger over the working yarn. Then pull that loop up and over your pinky finger onto your ring finger. Pull the bottom loop of your ring finger over the top loop and you should be left with one final loop. Move that loop to your pointer finger.

Repeat the process in "Starting Off Your Blanket," beginning with step three. You will continue to follow this process and move onto the knitting process of your blanket, repeating the steps previously mentioned until you have gone down the entire chain again. Then, bind off your chain, and continue onto your next chain, creating the desired width of your blanket. At this point, you will probably need to flip your blanket over, so that the side you are working on is closest to you. As you complete each chain, bind it off and then flip your blanket over.

Finish your blanket. After you have knitted your desired width of your blanket, create the last binding loop, and then cut the working yarn remaining from that loop. Then, put the end of the yarn through the loop, pull tightly so that it creates a knot, and weave through your blanket to hide the remaining yarn.