Today on Show Me How we are using our fingers and arms to create fashionable clothing items using recycled material from old-seamless t-shirts. Leigh-Ann Ferreira of Tarn S.A is going to teach us the art and craft of using T-shirt yarn to knit and weave. She will first show us how to make an arm knitted scarf and later she will show us how to make a necklace using finger weaving.
Arm Knitting – Infinity Scarf
By Leigh-Anne Ferreira
Tarn SA
Tel: 073 301 1512
Email: info@tarnsa.co.za [1]
Arm Knitting
Requirements
- Two balls of Tarn
- Your arms
- Scissors
Instructions
- Step 1: Double up your Tarn (use two different colours to make it interesting!)
- Step 2:You will be casting on 6 stitches to make your Tarn scarf. Make a slip knot and place this loop, as your first stitch, onto your right arm (don’t tighten too much initially). Remember to leave a long tail (approx. 1m)
- Step 3:Place your 1m Tarn (tail) around your thumb and you’re working Tarn between your pointer and middle finger. (The Tarn around your thumb will be held tightly in place by your pinky and ring fingers). This will form a “Z” shape of the Tarn, in your left hand.
- Step 4:Place your right hand under the 1m tarn, over the working Tarn and back through. You will be doing the motion of under, over and under this “Z” shape.
- Step 5:Continue to repeat this motion until you have 6 stitches on your right arm. Remember to tighten your loops as they are placed on your right arm.
- Step 6:We will now be moving & working these stitches over to our left arm. Now hold your working Tarn with your right hand, pull your first loop off your arm, and pull the working Tarn up through the loop, making an upside-down “U” shape. Then place this new loop you have created on your left arm. NB: Keep the “loose” end of the “U” towards you, therefore you may be turning it slightly before placing on your arm.
- Step 7:Then pull off another loop from your right arm and pull the working Tarn up through the loop to make another “U” shape. Again, place this new loop onto your left arm. Continue in this manner until all 6 stitches are on your left arm.
- Step 8:Repeat this process, of working & moving the stitches from arm to arm, until you have achieved the desired length of your Tarn Infinity Scarf.
To fasten off:
Step 1: To fasten off, begin as usual to make our “U” shape and place the new loop on your right arm.
Instead of continuing in this manner, you will make another loop onto your right arm, and then pull the first loop up and over the second loop, and off your right arm.
Step 2: Continue in this manner by placing a new loop onto your right arm, and then taking the first one up and over, and off your arm. This will function to fasten off your project.
Step 3: To end off, cut a 60cm string and pull this through the final loop.
Step 4: To join the two ends of our Tarn Infinity Scarf, simply weave the two ends together (this can be done by hand or crochet hook), and is done with the scarf being inside out. You can use your 1m Tarn string from the beginning to do the weaving. Afterwards, turn your new Tarn Infinity Scarf the right way round and wear it! Your scarf is now complete.
Finger Knitting
Requirements
- One ball of Tarn
- Your fingers
- 2 wooden beads
Instructions
- Step 1: Leave a long tail when you start (this will be one end of your necklace strap). Place the tail of Tarn between your thumb and pointer finger. Now wrap it behind your pointer finger, over your middle finger, behind your ring finger and over your pinky finger.
- Step 2: Now wrap the yarn going back through the fingers but this time behind the pinky, over the ring finger, behind the middle finger and over your pointer finger.
- Step 3: Weave back through fingers one more time. Behind pinky, over ring finger, behind the middle finger and over your pointer finger.
- Step 4: Now take the loop that is at the bottom of your pointer finger and pull it up and over your finger (completely off your finger).
- Step 5: Continue to pull the bottom loops up and over each finger. The tighter you keep the loops, the tighter your braid will be (not too tight!).
- Step 6: After you have pulled the bottom loops over each finger you are left with one loop on each finger.
Now weave the yarn over your middle finger, behind ring finger, over pinky finger, and back again (behind pinky, over ring finger, behind middle finger and over pointer finger). - Now you are ready to repeat steps 5-7 and pull bottom loops over your finger, weave yarn around fingers again and keep repeating until necklace (or bracelet!) is at desired length.
To fasten off:
- Step 1: Take loop from pointer finger and move it to the top of middle finger.
- Step 2: Take bottom loop from middle finger and pull it over.
- Step 3: Take remaining loop from middle finger and move it to the top of ring finger.
- Step 4: Take bottom loop from ring finger and pull it over.
- Step 5: Take remaining loop from ring finger and move it to the top of pinky finger.
- Step 6: Take bottom loop from pinky finger and pull it over.
- Step 7: You now have one loop left on your pinky finger
- Step 8: Slip it off your finger and draw end of Tarn through the loop. You should now have your intricate finger weave braid with one strand of yarn hanging off both ends. At this point you are basically done! You can add a bead to both ends and knot the Tarn to keep the bead in place.