Monday, January 31, 2011

Finger Knit (or Crochet) Hearts and Flowers - Hand Crafts for Children


We found this video demo for finger knit flowers, last week, through A Magical Childhood.



And, it's been just great, because I was having a terrible time teaching left handed, A (age 9), to crochet, and knit, and both crafts are too difficult yet, for the younger girls (ages 4 and 6). But, they can all finger knit, and crochet (what's in the video above, is probably what we would call finger crochet).

They've been having a terrific time crocheting out chains, and turning them into flowers.



Which we've hooked onto green pipe cleaners, with bits of white pipe cleaner...




...for pretty bouquets...



...and sewn onto single, finger crocheted, chains, for necklaces...


...and flower crowns.


We also found out we could turn the double crochet chains into hearts.

You have to begin with a chain that's about 6 feet long, then crochet it on itself, as for the flowers in the video above, leaving a long tail for sewing it up.


Lay it out flat, and fold both ends toward the middle (in the picture below, only one side is folded in), and sew them down.


Fold the ends in again, toward the middle (both sides are done in the picture below), and sew them down.


Stitch the loose end, on the needle, to the middle of one of the sides, and sew it through the middle of the other side...


...pulling the two sides together.


Then, stitch back and forth, through the sides, to the bottom, pulling the stitches tighter at the bottom, to make the point of the heart.


You can tie off, and weave your loose end in now, or run the needle with the loose end up through the top of one side of the heart...


...then through the other side, tying off...


...to make a necklace. I think it's a lot simpler, than I made it sound, so hopefully, I didn't confuse anyone, too much.


It's great to be a homeschooler.

11 comments:

Unknown said...

Fun!! You might want to hurry up and stamp your name on the first photo, its so cute!! Lol.

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

Whoa - C and E could do it too? I am so impressed - the results are beautiful.

An Almost Unschooling Mom said...

Raising a Happy Child - Yes, they are a little slower at it, mainly because their attention spans are shorter, so they do a bit, stop, and then come back to it later - but even C can do the crocheting on her own - I do help her with the sewing.

Ticia said...

Okay, I think I can do this. I can just imagine how cute a flower crown would be at a Ren Fest.

Unknown said...

Yeah! looks like fun!
I can not crochet (becuase my momsays my crochet left handed- with my right hand), but I can knot- both left and right handed.

(Our latest Forensic Science Activity: http://kabersblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/fatal-error.html)

Debbie said...

Wow, I wish that my mom and grandmother would have known about these neat crafts when I was first starting out with finger crochet. They never would have stopped me from making crochet chains.

Unknown said...

LOVE THIS POST! Jungle Girl has been watching me knit for a while and wants to learn- I think something like this would be fun for her to start with!

Amber said...

Very pretty, I especially like the flower crown chains!

Christy Killoran said...

I don't know how to knit or crochet, but I would love to learn. Maybe I can do this!

robbie @ going green mama said...

Just wanted to stop by and say how much I love the ideas on your blog! We rarely get the chance to try them out, but this ice storm is giving us an opportunity!

Anonymous said...

wow, this is great!!! I am definitely going to show my girls! thanks!