Using a Knitting Thimble – Knitting Technique

Color work is an easy way to make beautiful knits, but it can be tricky and time consuming. Not holding the yarn correctly can cause puckering, the yarn to twist, and a whole host of other complications. The two handed knitting method reduces a lot of these issues, but sometimes it’s just too uncomfortable to use.

To help with comfort and still keep the yarn from twisting, I like to use this little guy – the knitting thimble.

Using a knitting thimble, you’re able to comfortably hold two strands of yarn in one hand, keeping them separate and untwisted (like the two handed method) for easy color work.

How to Use a Knitting Thimble

If you look closely at your knitting thimble, you’ll notice a slight taper on the body of the thimble. Slide the thimble onto your finger with the widest part going on first (facing your hand). That will allow it to sit comfortably on your finger. I typically wear the thimble so the left loop is sitting on top of my finger and the right loop is on the finger tip using continental knitting.

Then, you’ll want to feed your yarn through the loops on either side of the thimble. You want to do this so that the yarn comes through the center and goes to your knitting without twisting. It can be a little tricky to master, but some practice in loading your thimble will help.

Just like with the two handed knitting, you want your dominant or contrasting color to be on the left. with your background or main color on the right. This will allow the contrasting color and patterns to really “pop” on your work.

After your knitting thimble is on and loaded, you simply knit your piece according to your pattern, using the color yarn as called for. Be mindful to only grab one color at a time.

To demonstrate this, please watch this video.

Not only can the knitting thimble help with two colors, but it can be extremely useful when working with three colors as well. It’s an affordable knitting tool that can really change the game when doing color work, so I hope you give it a try.

I hope this explanation is helpful and encourages you to give the knitting thimble a try. If you have any questions or need any help, please leave me a message in the comments and I’ll try my best to help you.

Happy knitting!