Since Roy first made a finger-knitted skipping rope, he has noticed a lot of interest in his finger-knitting projects (to see the first two projects click here or here). It seems everybody is looking for something to do with their long, thin pieces of finger-knitting, so he and I have been going through our old patterns to see what we could adapt to finger-knitting. We came across a lovely knitted clown doll which we thought would be perfect and, after a little experimentation, we have it all worked out. This doll would be a perfect gift for a small child (it's completely safe) or you could make one in Christmas colours, or even the colours of your football team! So this week Roy creates a finger-knitted clown doll.
You Will Need:
- A ball of brightly coloured wool - Roy decided to use one which changed colour to make it look really clown like.You could also join together lots of little pieces of wool, or even short pieces of finger-knitting.
- A ball of neutral, face coloured wool, light pink is perfect.
- Wool for facial features, for a bow and hair
- Scissors
- Sewing cotton to match your wool
- A sewing needle
- A wool needle
- A little toy stuffing or balls of cotton wool
Method:
- Tie a loop in the end of your wool. This loop should fit comfortably around your index finger (the one next to your thumb). Turn the knot so that it is under your finger and the tail of your wool is heading towards your little finger.
- Wrap the wool around your index finger once, in front of the original loop. Don't do it too tightly, you don't want to cut off your circulation!
- Lift the back loop (the original one) over the front one and off your finger.
- Wrap the wool around your index finger once, in front of the loop left on your finger.
- Lift the back loop over the front one, as you did before.
- Continue this process until you have finger-knitted the whole ball of wool, or as much as you want to use to make your clown (a whole ball makes a big doll). You might like to roll your finger knitting into a ball as you go or you will get tangled up.
- When you get to the end of the ball of wool, pull the end through the last loop and pull it tight to stop it from unraveling.
- Now, you are going to finger-knit your finger-knitting again. Tie a loop of the finger-knitting which will fit over your index finger and start finger-knitting just as you did before. When you get to the end, finish the finger-knitting the same way you finished the first time, by pulling the end through the last loop.
- Again, now you reknit your finger-knitting. Take your finger-knitting and tie a loop at the end to fit over your index finger. Start finger-knitting just as you did the last two times. It will be a bit more difficult because it is becoming like a rope, but it isn't too hard! Again, when you get to the end, pull the tail through the last loop and tighten it.
- Weave the loose ends of wool back into the rope of finger-knitting. You don't want to cut them off, in case the finger-knitting decides to unravel.
- Now fold your fingerknitting in half and make a great big loop in the middle. Roy and I did this by folding the rope of finger-knitting in half a second time. The loose ends are your legs and you will be making the looped piece into arms. Tie a piece of wool just below the arm loop to keep them in place.
- Fold the loop back towards the legs, making 2 separate loops out of the big one. This will make 2 distinct arms. Secure the arms in place by tying each one off with a piece of wool at the 'shoulder'.
- Make hands for your clown by tying a piece of wool around the arms, about 2.5 centimetres from the end. Now you have legs and two arms!
- To finish the legs, make feet by tying a knot in the finger-knitting, at the bottom of each leg
- If you like, you can also tie a piece of wool around the middle of the clown to make a 'body', or you can just let the legs hang loose.
- Now, you need to make a head. Cut a piece of the pink wool, about 16 metres long and finger-knit it as you did before. You don't need to triple finger-knit it, twice will do fine.
- Choose the end with the smallest tail left and begin to coil the pink finger-knitting around. Using doubled over sewing thread, weave stitches between the coil as you go to secure it. When you reach the end, use the tail to complete the circle by weaving it back into the circle of finger-knitting.
- Repeat these two steps to make a second circle, the same size as the one you just finished.
- Sew the two coils together, leaving a little opening at the bottom to push some stuffing into.
- Stuff the head with toy stuffing or cotton wool (if you use cotton wool you won't be able to wash it)
- Push the hole over the 'bobbly bit' at the top of the clown's body. Sew the opening shut, holding the bobbly bit inside the head. This will keep the head upright.
- Make your clown some hair by cutting pieces of brightly coloured wool, about 2 inches long and then tie them firmly together to prevent them coming out.
- Use thick wool to stitch a face onto your clown. Roy used cross stitch for his eyes, a French knot for the nose and back stitch for the mouth. If you want to find out how to do these stitches, visit a stitch guide by clicking here.
- Finger-knit one more length of wool, in a bright colour which matches the body. A single finger-knit will be fine. Tie this in a bow around your clowns neck. You could use a piece of ribbon instead if you wanted to.