I am extremely bored. Not being able to use my right hand at all is slowing me down so much. I am trying to stay away from activities that will introduce dirt to the wounded finger, I don’t want to get an infection. No gardening and no outdoor work. No spinning or weaving as both those crafts need nimble fingers. I am left with knitting and a few small jobs around the house (like vacuuming). I have always knitted in the English style, but that involves me using my right hand. Time to find a new way to knit.

Who knew there were so many ways to knit with one hand??

I found these inspirational tutorials: style one, style two.

I also remembered Continental knitting, which I tried to learn many years ago to be able to knit faster. I never did learn to speed knit, but this method might be the answer to my present problem.

The main issue I am having with knitting is the immovable nature of my right hand; I can’t hold the yarn with any tension and I can’t ‘throw’ the yarn over the needle to make a stitch at all. With Continental knitting, the yarn is held and tensioned in the left hand while the right hand holds the knitting and moves the stitches to where they need to be. I have found that I can knit this way in a slow and halting way, but it is no fun at all and I make a lot of mistakes.

Enter the Sentro knitting machine.

I saw this little machine on YouTube, and I realised I could use it to knit with only one hand. I ordered one, it cost about $40, and when it arrived, I started knitting. All you need to do is wid the handle, once the stitches are set up. The result is certainly not high quality knitting, but it is usable and functional knitting.

Two pairs of socks (with no heels) later, I found the larger machine for sale and bought that too. I was able to make a hat or two, and have started dreaming about making a vest or a sweater.

These little machines will keep me busy making while my hand heals.