DIY Finger-Knitted Scarf
Cold, gloomy weather = the perfect time to wear a rainbow everywhere.
This cozy, fall-themed DIY will show you how to make your very own faux-knitted scarf. I say “faux” because for this project, you’ll be using your fingers to knit, rather than a pair of knitting needles. It’s super-simple to do (no ~technical~ knitting skills will be needed for this!) and the end result looks totally rad.
What you’ll need:
- Lots of yarn. Any kind, from medium to bulky weight, will work, but yarn described as superfine or lightweight is too thin. I went for a rainbow theme with my scarf, so I used yarn in all the colors of the rainbow, plus some white for clouds.
- Scissors.
How to do it:
1. The base of the scarf will be made from of long, finger-knitted “ropes.” Start off with a piece of yarn that’s still attached to the skein.
2. With your palm facing you, hold the yarn in the space between your thumb and your index finger.
3. Wrap the yarn under your middle finger, over your ring finger, and under your pinkie. Bring it back over your pinkie, under your ring finger, over your middle finger, and under your index finger. Repeat the over/under wrapping process two more times, until you have what looks like two dashed lines of yarn across your fingers, like in the fourth photo above.
4. Now it’s time to start knitting! Pull each individual loop from the bottom row of yarn (the ones marked in the photo) up and over the top row of yarn and your fingertips.
5. You’ll be left with just one row of yarn facing you. Reposition this line of yarn so it’s farther down on your fingers and repeat the previous steps (weaving over/under/over/under) to create another line of yarn on top. Pull the bottom loops up and over your fingers again and continue repeating this process until you have something that looks like this:
This is what your finger knitting will look like once it begins to take shape! If you kind of tug on it a bit it’ll start to look more like a rope:
6. When your finger knitting reaches the length that you want it to be, finish the end off by weaving the tail in and out of the loops on your fingers, then removing it from your fingers and pulling on it to tighten it up.
This is what you’ll have once you’re finished knitting each rope for your scarf, but in a much longer length. For reference, my finished ropes were about 60 inches long.
7. Pair off your ropes in whatever color combinations you like, such as red/orange, yellow/green, and blue/purple, and tie the loose ends on each side of the ropes together.
8. Using a crisscross pattern, lace each pair of ropes together with a piece of matching yarn.
Gently tug on the yarn as you go along to help close up the gap.
10. Once you’ve laced the entire thing up, tie the loose ends together and snip off the excess.
11. To make this scarf actually look like a scarf, you’ll need to lace all three of the yarn rope pairings together, just like in the previous step. If you don’t want to bother with the lacing, you can braid the ropes together instead, or even just wear them as-is! It’s up to you.
12. Wrap the yarn around your hand (or a small piece of cardboard) multiple times to create a bundle. Make it as small or as big as you want! Place the bundle on top of another piece of yarn and triple-tie it tightly in place. This will create a bunch of loops on either side of the knot. After you’ve tied your yarn bundle together, you might be tempted to snip the extra strings off—don’t! You’ll need these later on, so mark them with a piece of tape or a pen so you won’t get them confused with the rest of the pompom later. Cut all of the loops open with your scissors and give the pompom a trim! Don’t be afraid to cut off a lot—pompoms usually look more pompom-y once you’ve cut away a good portion of the yarn.
13. To attach the pompoms to the scarf, weave the strings that I told you not to snip through the ends of the scarf and tie them together to secure the pompom in place.
And there you have it! Your super-cute new rainbow scarf is perfect for wearing on gloomy late fall days, wouldn’t you say? ♦