Friday, 15 November 2013

How to knit tinsel for Christmas.

When you think of making Christmas decorations you may recall struggling with glue paper and card.
However you can make fantastic decorations with sewing and knitting. We've shown you how to make an advent calendar, a Christmas bauble and how to use ribbon and cinnamon for a simple decoration. To knit  this tinsel we are going to knit a scarf almost, of 5 stitches in width. But with a little twist. I must stress I'm very new to knitting, and I suffer from "sausage fingers" and even I managed this project!

Now our wonderful COO has shown me how to make tinsel by knitting! you will need:
Can Can knitting yarn.
Double Knitting Pins. 4mm

Can Can yarn comes in a ball like other yarns, at first glance it looks like a thick cord.












However when you tease it open you find it's more of a ribbon of mesh.













Casting On
Casting on with Can Can is simple.
Just slide one needle through the yarn on one side.









 3 cm along the yarn slide the needle through the yarn again. DO this until you have the needle through the yarn five times. That's it, we've cast on, see, simple!

 The Knitting. 
Slide the second needle UNDER the first THROUGH the loop it's made in the yarn.



 Loop the yarn around the front of the first needle.
Slide the second needle through the yarn about 3cm along from the first loop in the first needle.
Slide the second needle around  to the right and poke the needle through the loop on the first needle again.


 Just like this. Slide this new loop off the first needle, it should now be on the second needle. Repeat this for all five stitches.


 Rotate the second needle and then wrap the yarn around the front. Then slide the first needle under under the second (which now has the stitches on) and knit as you did before.  And that's all there is to it.









 Keep up this process until you run out of yarn and you should have a beautiful length of tinsel, or indeed a scarf.


 These lengths of tinsel look beautiful in any colour, and make fantastic boa style scarves for the new year.










You can also knit up multiple lengths and twist them together for this beautiful candy cane effect.


Finally we have a video where I attempt to knit on film! As I've said before I'm VERY new to knitting but even I have managed this project!

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