Over many years I have been collecting ties at garage sales and have perhaps a hundred, oh, likely more. They have been used in various projects, two pieces of artwork. The last piece of art resulted from a sudden awareness that ties were lengths of fibre…..one can knit with lengths of fibre….one would need large knitting needles to knit with ties as fibre….my arms were large knitting needles…..
The challenge, of course, was how to throw the yarn while knitting; a third arm not being an option I devised a way of using what I had at the ends of my arms – my hands.
Here is how to do it.
Gather a bunch of ties.
Join them together narrow end to large end. For this demonstration I have pinned them but for the art piece I used French knots to attach them. For this I chose randomly from the pile.
Randomly does not mean without awareness. I pay attention to the colours, the textures, the look and the feel, the way they go together, the price tags! (I usually pay 50 cents to one dollar for ties at sales)
When they are joined together, I cast them onto my arm as I would yarn. And then I begin to knit. Here there are four stitches on my left arm. I will reach through that first stitch, hanging over my thumb, with my right hand, reach down to the dangling tie/yarn, pull it back up through that first stitch and slip it onto my right arm; this is now the first stitch on the first row. Continue along row.
Four stitches now on right arm.
Now I knit from left to right, putting left hand into first stitch on right arm (the last one knit, technically the fourth stitch on the first row), reach down and catch the dangling tie/yarn, pull it back up through the first stitch, slip it onto left arm. Continue along row. And so on.
Here is the view of the knitting as it progresses. I stand up to knit on my arm with ties because it helps to keep the tension more or less equal and even. When I come to the end I cast off as in knitting: knit two stitches, lift first stitch over second, knit another stitch, lift previous stitch over this one etc.
It's fun, it's freeing. It puts you – literally – in touch with the fibre and the tools because the tools are your arms. I always feel an increased appreciation of the act of knitting when I arm knit.
This is the piece I knit for this demonstration. I did not cast it off since I would have to take it apart and sew the ties together if I want to make something from it. It has been hanging on a hook on a door for a day or so and I have been considering what it could become. If sewn into a cylinder and something circular attached to the bottom (a round from the sweater I felted to make pot holders awhile ago would likely work) and the end tail of the last tie turned into a handle, it would make an interesting yoga mat bag. Left flat it could become a panel in a cool weather vest. Tacked to a floor cloth (hessian backed by non skid material) it would make an unusual rug. It could also be attached around a tree in the garden and become its garment. Or……?