Finger Knitting

I did lots of pictures.  Boomer enjoyed helping with this part.  Here's what can be done with the oddball plied acrylic yarns.  Tie a slip knot & slip it on your non-dominant pinky finger.

This is an exaggeration of how the loop is before it is looped over each of the remaining fingers.

Four fingers looped:  check!

I went along for quite awhile as you can see by what boomer has grabbed.

Bring the yarn up over the index finger & down across your palm.

It doesn't matter what your preference is to start at the top or the bottom as long as you are consistent.  I start at the top.  One at a time loop the link closest to your palm over the draped strand to the back, without allowing the draped yarn to be dragged off too.  That makes a new loop on your hand.  Index, middle, ring then pinky...  I skipped posting pictures of index & ring progression.

There's pinky waiting to be looped... 

Save your spot, Boomer needs some scratchies.  If you need to stop at any time & slip in  a pen with a pocket clip, this is how you know where to pick up again.  Top of the pen is top of your hand, easy peasy.  I only had a pencil handy for this picture.

See where the tip of the pencil is in the picture below? It kinda looks like a hollow in the tube.  

See how Boomer is such a big help.  This goes along quick because it is such a chunky yarn.  Don't forget to tug the tail down periodically as you go along.  Not Boomer's tail!

Now you have a giant coil of finger-knitting, its very similar to spool knitting.   Tie it off by pulling the end through the loops & tugging tight.  If you leave an un-knit tail about twice as long as the coil you can use it to do the stitching.   

I used a pipe-cleaner twisted into a needle.   Grab 2 loops each pass to connect them...

A little trial & error to make it into a chair mat.  Boomer was done playing with the yarn & moved on to playing with the pipe-cleaner.  If you are too generous leaving more & more spaces to get it stitched up faster it makes the edge rippled & its not as cushy.   This isn't a new project, but its relaxing & easy to do during TV plane or car trips.

Plying Yarn

What's this?

Boomer thinks they're good cat toys.  A friend saves up her oddball acrylic yarns for me.  No landfill for these yarns.  If you have old yarns, give them away, even the smallest amounts, some crafter somewhere is happily scrounging goodwill stores for these oddball treasures.

The smallest balls get grouped together into similar colours.  Blues & greens & greys.  Reds & yellows & oranges & pinks.  I'm not too fussy but I try to keep warm & cool colours separate so they don't visually fight.  

The runt balls get knotted together to be wound into one continuous ball.  Boomer really wants to go take one for  a test run around the house.  When a cat gets ahold of yarn in our home its called kitty knitting.

3-4 balls of acrylic yarn get plied together on the spinning wheel to become a thicker yarn.  Yes I have a spinning wheel & know what to do with it.  No I'm not a crazy old lady.  No I'm not cracked, well, maybe slightly at times, LOL!  Trust me, its relaxing, functional, & perfectly sane.  Y'know the trendy knitting yarns that are really expensive & exclusive in the stores?  Spinners are the ones who know how to make it themselves, without a big pricetag either.

 This is my Ashford spinning wheel.  I know its slightly twisted, poor thing needs some TLC.  If you really want to learn to make your own yarns, support your local Spinning & Weaving Guild.  They are enthusiastic, intelligent welcoming people, there is a wealth of information to tap into.  Support a guild & you get a whole new network of creative people to share with.

 I've looped onto the bobbin leader & twisted it in.  Learning to ply is one of the first things taught to beginning spinners.  It lets you get the feel of how the wheel operates without getting too fuddled up.  Kinda like learning to drive in an automatic car before learning to drive standard.  Learning to spin is like that, its a physical & mental learning.  There are plenty of youtube videos & blogs devoted to spinning & weaving so I'm not going to max this post out with a spinning tutorial.

 See, here's some kitty knitting.  Boomer really does like to help!

 Uh oh, one of those oddball yarns ran out.  No biggie, tie a knot with another colour & keep going.

Here on the bobbin you can sorta see 2 colour transitions.  There's 3 for sure.

 My bobbin is full, time to unload.

See that ball?  Thats what I rolled off the bobbin.  Each ball can make a mat about as big as what Boomer is sitting on.  We have a family friend who is legally blind.  He learned to do bulky spool knitting before his sight got too bad.  My family plies the acrylic yarns thick, and he spool knits them.  It takes about 30-45 minutes to make a plied ball of yarn.  It takes him about 8 hours to spool-knit & stitch them into mats.  Thats indomitable spirit in action!