This last January, we had quite a cold patch (if you are reading this in the Midwest or on the East Coast, I rescind that statement; it was comparably balmy here). At any rate, I found myself in need of something warm, fast. Disregarding my usual inclination to cast on a sweater, I decided to try my hand (or arms, rather) at Arm Knitting. I was reluctant at first. I had previously shrugged this off as a silly fad, but the allure of a super bulky scarf in 20 minutes was more than I could resist when it was so few degrees out.
Arm Knit in Cascade Magnum Paints
I have to say, I was quite happy with the results. In spite of the gigantic stitches, the cowl is really warm and the process, it turns out, is a fun, mind bendy little exercise. While there are a few YouTube videos out there, I thought it might be fun to go through the steps as well. Here we go.
As with most knitting projects, the arm knit cowl starts with a cast on. In fact, I started mine with the Knit Cast On, the same one that I would use were I knitting with needles. I begin casting stitches onto my left arm. Now, I should say that I am left handed. I don’t know if that really makes any difference, but, if you find that what you have been doing is different, or what someone else is doing is different, let’s blame that. The decision to cast on to my left arm, however, has nothing to do with my handedness. We generally cast onto our left needle when knitting and, while we will be working off both our left and right arms, I wanted to start us out with something familiar. (click on the image to see it larger)
Once I’ve cast on as many stitches as I need, I begin knitting. Moving on…
Row 1.
See, it’s just like the other kind of knitting. Well, there is one little difference. The way I have placed the new stitches on my right hand, the left leg is in front of my are (normally, at least for me, the right leg would be in front). Just saying. You can really let the stitches sit however you like on your are. The important thing is that, when you begin your next row, you need to reach through whichever leg is closest to the working yarn.
Row 2.
There we go. Repeat rows 1 and 2 until you are just about out of yarn, then bind off. The bind off is really exactly the same for arm knitting as it is for needle knitting. While you can start the bind off with the stitches on either the right or left arm, starting with them on the left arm will be a little closer to what you are most likely used to.
At the end, cut the yarn, leaving enough of a tail to sew the two ends together if you want a cowl.
That’s it. 20 minutes. Bam! Cowl. I used one skein of Cascade Magnum Paints, held double. To do this, I wound the yarn into a cake and used both ends. This can potentially lead to a little bit of a tangle, but it’s not like it will last very long. These Arm Knit scarves are also a great way to use up odds and ends.
Have Fun!
Abundance 