DIY Finger-Knit Infinity Scarf

As the dry and bitter cold returns once more to our beloved capital, my DIY projects turn from fun to practical. While commuting and daydreaming in -30 degree weather, I find myself brainstorming less about crafts, and more about whether or not I could cut holes in a shirt sleeve to fashion myself a face mask.

I don't think you can talk about useful winter projects without talking about knitting. I started to play around with an old trick: finger-knitting. If you're unfamiliar, it's exactly what it sounds like. I used to do it as a kid, and would make these long chains with just yarn and my hands. I tried to find online patterns for finger-knitting something substantial, but all I could find were finger-knit "scarves." I'm no fashionista, but I would argue that these thin strands of yarn aren't quite classifiable as scarves, nor do they look particularly warm.

You can find the step-by-step instructions of finger-knitting on youtube - I unfortunately (or fortunately) am not into uploading videos of myself to the worldwide web at this time. Clear instructions on the basics can be found here.

I knitted a chain until it was long enough for an infinity scarf - which you should be able to pull over your head to wrap around your neck at least twice comfortably. Then I brought the tail end of the chain up to my left hand which has the loops on it, and looped my left pinky through the loop on the very edge of the chain, so that there are two loops on the pinky. Continue looping the yarn around your other fingers and pull the bottom loop over the top as you had before, but on your pinky you'll be pulling two loops over the top loop. Link your pinky again through the next row's loop, and repeat. You'll be making a kind of spiral. Keep going around until you have the width you want, and then cut the yarn so you have about 6 inches. Take your fingers out of the loops, and thread the end string through them all to keep it from unraveling. Tie it to the edge of the scarf to close it off, cut the excess thread, and voila!