Armed with yarn

I tried my hand (if you'll pardon the pun) at finger knitting especially when carrying knitting needles on airlines was forbidden. After I had done some finger knitting, I wasn't quite sure how I would use the long, thin fabric I had created. Somehow winding it into a ball and then knitting it on very big needles was too ironic.
I read about arm knitting on the Knitting Daily blog. Mmmm, I am suspicious of 'quick fix' knitting, but the prospect of running up a scarf or cowl in 15 minutes was tantalising. It helps that the picture is clear, the tutorial helpful and the yarn close to one of my favourite colours. I didn't have yarn that I thought was thick enough but I came across a couple of hanks of Moda Vera Liana yarn that was being sold for $2 per hank. It is a yarn that is usually made into 'frill' scarves and 15 minutes was about right to finish it after I had sewn the two hanks together.

This is the result

The pattern

Materials - two hanks of Moda Vera Liana
Implements - sewing needle, machine sewing yarn, arms

Instructions:
Unravel the hanks. Trim one end of each hank before overlapping them and joining using back stitch or another stitch that will stabilise the seam. You could probably use two lines of fine stitches if you have an obsessive compulsive bent, but you can tuck any ragged ends when the scarf is finished.

Follow Mari's method to cast on three stitches, arm knit your scarf until the hanks are nearly exhausted and cast off.

Variation: for pointier ends, try casting on one stitch at the beginning  and increasing to three stitches by increasing into the back and front of that stitch. In the last row, knit three stitches together.

Vegie knitting and more frills

While working through my stash I came across a ball of Morris Osten - clever name for those that remember Austin cars - that I had been given by a friend. It's very similar to a couple of balls of Katia Ondas, which I confess I had acquired at a great wool shop in Albury, NSW.
But how to knit using this stuff? There were printed instructions, and pictures too, but it wasn't until I saw the YouTube demonstration posted by the owner of the wool shop, K2Tog, that I felt confident to knit with those yarns.
Despite the awkwardness that I felt in managing the yarn in the first few rows, knitting with these yarns provides good 'veggie' knitting, the project grows quickly and looks pretty. One more scarf to go and I will have cleared these yarns from my stockpile.
Veggie knitting is mindless, rather than mindful knitting. If this style of veggie knitting is not for you, but you like veggie knitting with a purpose, each year K2Tog posts a simple pattern that can be made for Carevan, a charity in Albury.