Spot-clean only (washing machine not recommended). Put water and a small amount of laundry detergent in a bowl and use a cloth or microfiber to gently scrub the yarn. Let it air-dry (dryer not recommended). A lint roller works well to remove any dust and lint in between washings.
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VIDEO INSTRUCTIONS
If you want to follow along with a video showing how to make this project, you can watch at the link below! I highly recommend that you follow along with both the video and the written instructions.
https://showcasefk2.betterdaybooks.com
Password: SUG-37OH46
WELCOME
Hello! Welcome to the Sugarplum Christmas Tree Super Simple Finger Knitting Kit! I’m so glad that you picked up this kit and that you decided to give finger knitting a try (or to continue in your finger-knitting journey).
My name is Sabrina, I am the owner of Sab’s Stuffies, and I have a passion for teaching others how to finger-knit, especially complete beginners. I started my journey back in 2019, when I made my very first chunky-knit blanket. Although this first blanket didn’t turn out great, I was still so proud of it and what I had accomplished. I had learned a new skill, and I didn’t want to stop there.
Fast-forward to the summer of 2021, when I started figuring out how to make stuffies. I loved designing them and coming up with new patterns. Once I realized that so many other people were interested in learning how to make them too, I decided to try creating video tutorials to teach people how to make my stuffies! I haven’t looked back since, and it has given me a new purpose in my business.
I hope you enjoy making the Sugarplum Christmas Tree. Happy knitting!
Sabrina-Rose
BEFORE YOU BEGIN
Make sure you grab a tape measure or ruler before you start knitting! It’s easy to accidentally overestimate or underestimate the sizes of your loops and yarn lengths, which can ultimately throw off your finished result.
Also, if you’re a beginner in finger knitting, try to make your loops and stitches small and tight. Beginners can sometimes make things too big and loose because they are trying to make sure they can see what they’re doing, but if you do this, your tree may end up much bigger than mine, and there’s a risk that the fiberfill will escape from inside.
STARTING THE TREE
00:12
STEP 1 Using the pink yarn, start by creating a slip knot, leaving an 8" tail of yarn. Here is a step-by-step breakdown for how to make a slip knot. First, grab the yarn with both your left and right hands, with around 4" of yarn held in between them and the 8" tail of yarn to the left.
STEP 3 Insert your left thumb and index finger into the loop you just created.
STEP 2 With your right hand, bring the yarn to the front of your left hand so the yarn is crossed over and you have created a loop.
STEP 4 With your left thumb and index finger, grab the working yarn (the yarn to the right) and pull it through the loop to create another loop.
STEP 5 Keeping hold of the new loop you just created, pull down on your tail yarn to tighten and secure the finished slip knot. The loop of this slip knot should be about 1 1/2" wide.
02:01
STEP 7 Row 1 (continued): To continue, you will do what is called chaining on loops. This is a movement whereby you stick two fingers through the existing loop, grab the working yarn, and pull up a new loop of the working yarn through the previous loop. This photo shows sticking your fingers through the loop. . .
STEP 6 Row 1: Here is your finished slip knot! It is the beginning of what we call Row 1. We’ll continue working on Row 1 in the next few steps.
STEP 8 Row 1 (continued): . . . and this photo shows after having pulled through a new loop. For this project, you need to chain on a total of 8 loops; the first slip knot you just made counts as the first loop of the 8. Keep pulling up a new loop of working yarn through the previous loop made until you have your target total number of loops. Each loop should be around 1 1/2" wide. Measure the loops if you can, to make sure you’re starting off with a good foundation.
STEP 9 Here is the finished chain of 8 total loops! Make sure your work looks like mine before proceeding. If it is too big and loose, you will have trouble later. It’s easy enough to redo this chain now!
04:29
STEP 11 Row 2: Now let’s learn to knit onto our chain to create a new row—in this case, Row 2. To “knit,” you pull up loops through each top loop of the chain row (or previous row), working to the right around the chain. So, start by putting your left index finger through the first chain loop (the next available chain loop after where your working yarn is). For step visibility, I have turned the work slightly so the top is facing left in this photo.
03:52
STEP 10 Make a circle by pulling your tail yarn through the last loop (loop 8 of your chain row) until you’ve pulled it through all the way to the first slip knot. Ensure that both your tail yarn and working yarn are pointing in the same direction now, away from you or to the right.
STEP 12 Row 2 (continued): Grab and pull a loop of the working end of the yarn through the loop so it comes out the top (shown as the left here). (You must always ensure that you keep the work oriented to yourself so that you are pulling through on the same side: top, or left, depending how you’re holding your work.)
Working yarn
STEP 13 Row 2 (continued): Continue the row by repeating this grab-and-pull-through knit action in each top loop of the chain row, always working to the right and making sure each new loop is the same size, around 1" wide. Row 2 will contain a total of 8 loops knitted this way, but for now, proceed only to a total of 6 loops, then read on.
STEP 15 Row 2 (continued): The eighth loop that you make will be in the chain loop directly after that as normal, even though that chain loop might be a little twisted or harder to locate than previous chain loops. I’m sticking my index finger through it in this photo, before pulling the eighth loop through it.
Tail yarn pulled through the center and now facing down
Working yarn moved out of the way
STEP 14 Row 2 (continued): The seventh loop you make in this row will be through the same chain loop as the tail yarn is hanging through. Before you pull up this seventh loop, though, you need to feed the tail yarn through the center of the work so it is going out of the work on the opposite side from your working yarn. Then knit the seventh loop as normal.
STEP 16 Go ahead and pull it through. Now you’ve finished Row 2!
Tail yarn
STEP 17 Now flip your work to the opposite side so that the side with the tail yarn is facing you and the tail yarn is sticking out toward you
Working yarn behind the next loop, getting ready to pull up a new loop 08:00 08:55 09:37
STEP 19 Row 3: Rotate the work so that it is on edge with the working yarn facing you, then move the working yarn so it is facing up and back toward the inside of the project, to the left of the last loop you made.
STEP 18 . . . and then push your work (Row 1 and Row 2) inside out. As you do this, feed the tail yarn back down through the center so it is sticking out of the underside again (visible at the top in this photo).
STEP 20 Row 3 (continued): Now, you are going to knit Row 3, but working in the opposite direction: pulling up loops toward the left instead of right. Here’s what I mean by that: In the previous rows, you were pulling up loops and moving your way loop to loop toward the right; you would stick your left index finger into the next right loop over and pull up a new loop. For Row 3, though, this is reversed: You will start pulling up loops and moving your way loop to loop toward the left; you will stick your right index finger into the next left loop over and pull up a new loop.
STEP 21 Here, you can see I am pulling up my first new loop through the existing loop toward the left.
MAKING BOBBLES
11:15
STEP 23 The next row, Row 4, is going to consist of knitting 8 bobbles—one bobble in each of the available loops from Row 3. Let’s break down how to knit a single bobble over the next several steps (steps 23–32). To start a bobble, first knit 1 like normal—meaning, pull a loop through the first loop of the previous row like normal. Important: You should still be using the “opposite” directions established for Row 3.
STEP 22 Row 3 (continued): Following these directions, knit a total of 8 loops for this row. Remember, you are moving to the left as you pull up loops!
STEP 24 Next, bring the working yarn to the outside of the project (down and to the left of the loop you just made).
STEP 25 Now you are going to push up a second loop through the same loop that you pulled the first loop through when you started this bobble (step 23). Notice how I say “push up” instead of “pull up”—that’s because this second loop should be pushed up from the outside of the project, toward the inside. In this photo, I’m showing how I’m finding the hole of the same loop that I pulled the first loop through . . .
STEP 27 Next, bring the working yarn back to the inside of the project, to the left of the 2 new loops. (Remember: The “outside” is the side the tail yarn is on, and the “inside” is the opposite side of that.)
STEP 26 . . . and in this photo, I’ve pushed the second loop up through that hole. My working yarn is still facing down toward me, and now I have 2 new loops total sticking out of the single original loop. It will look a little bit like a bow if you did it correctly!
STEP 28 Now it is time to “decrease” these 2 loops. Decreasing essentially means to transform 2 existing loops into just 1 loop. There are different ways to decrease. To decrease in the context of making bobbles, we will pull up a new loop through both of the 2 existing loops, doing one at a time. (You can do both at a time if you want, but your hands will get extra tired if you choose that method—which is why I’ll teach you the one-at-a-time method here.) Start by sticking the fingers of your right hand through the leftmost of the 2 loops from the right side . . . 12:07 12:52
STEP 29 . . . and pull a loop of the working yarn through (that’s what I just did in this photo). You can see that the second of the 2 loops we will be decreasing is chilling at the bottom of this photo.
STEP 31 . . . and pull that loop down through the second loop as well. This means that the new loop you created in step 29 goes through both of the original 2 loops.
STEP 30 Now, from the right/bottom, stick your left pointer finger up through the second of the 2 loops as I’ve done here. We’re going to grab the loop we just pulled through in step 29 with our left pointer finger now . . .
14:05
STEP 32 This means you will be left with just 1 loop. This is a successful decrease as well as the completion of your first bobble! The bobble is simply the bulky excess bump of yarn that was created by what we did here.
Bobble New loop
STEP 33 Row 4 (continued): Remember, Row 4 consists of knitting 8 bobbles. Now that you know how to knit a single bobble and have successfully done so, go ahead and knit the remaining 7 bobbles to complete Row 4. You’ll make a bobble through each of the remaining 7 loops from Row 3. As you work, really try to make sure that you pull each new loop through as close as possible to the previous bobble to ensure your work stays tight without big gaps. This photo shows the completed Row 4 from the inside of the work.
19:09
STEP 35 Row 5 (continued): Now it’s time to decrease 1. Decreasing in the context of a normal row is a little different than in the context of making a bobble. To decrease in a normal row like this one, instead of pulling up a new loop in the next loop over in the row, you will instead grab the next loop over and pull it down over top of the previous loop you just made. This essentially eliminates the next loop in the row. This photo shows the third loop I knitted in step 34 (to the right) and the next loop in the row (to the left).
KNITTING A ROW WITH DECREASES
17:56
STEP 34 Row 5: It’s time to continue building out the tree by moving on to Row 5. Row 5 consists of knitting 3, decreasing 1, knitting 3, and decreasing 1. At the end of it, you’ll have 6 loops left in your completed Row 5, instead of 8, because you decreased twice, meaning you “lost” 2 loops along the way. We will break it down step by step in the following steps, but first, go ahead and knit 3—that is, pull a new loop through each of the first 3 loops from Row 4, continuing to pull up loops, moving your way loop to loop toward the left and making sure you’re keeping the new loops you pull up as close together as possible. These loops should be the same size as we’ve been doing—that is, about 1" or 2 fingers wide.
STEP 36 Row 5 (continued): Stick your left pointer finger and thumb through the next loop in the row (from left to right). With those fingers, grab the third loop you just knitted in this row.
STEP 37 Row 5 (continued): Pull the next loop in the row (the one your left fingers are sticking through) down over top of the third loop, gently pulling the third loop up through it snugly.
STEP 39 Row 5 (continued): Continue with the rest of the row as instructed. That is, next knit 3, then decrease 1 again. This completes Row 5, and you should be left with 6 loops total in your completed Row 5. Before continuing to Row 6, however, carefully tug out and adjust each of the bobbles from the previous row (Row 4) to make them more visible (that’s what I’m doing in this photo). There should be two visible loops within each bobble that you can pull on a little bit to make them more pronounced. Hold on to the loose loops from Row 5 as you tug on each of the bobbles to make sure you don’t accidentally lose a loop.
STEP 38 Row 5 (continued): Adjust the third loop to be the same size as the other new loops in the row. There you go—you’ve just decreased by 1!
BUILDING OUT THE TREE
21:26
STEP 40 Row 6: Knit 6 bobbles. We’re finally starting to get into some simple repetition of rows and concepts that you’ve learned in order to build out the tree. So, for row 6, just like you knitted 8 bobbles for Row 4 (one in each of the available loops from Row 3), you will now knit 6 bobbles (one in each of the available loops from Row 5).
STEP 41 Row 7: Knit 2, decrease 1, knit 2, and decrease 1. This is just like Row 5, where you knit some loops like normal but also decrease a couple of times. When you’ve completed Row 7, you will have 4 loops left. Before continuing to Row 8, pull out each of the bobbles from the previous row (Row 6), as before, to make them more visible.
STEP 43 Row 9: Knit 1, decrease 1, knit 1, and decrease 1. When you’ve completed Row 9, you will have 2 loops left. Before continuing to Row 10, pull out each of the bobbles from the previous row (Row 8), as before, to make them more visible.
STEP 44 Row 10: Knit 2. 25:20 24:08
STEP 42 Row 8: Knit 4 bobbles. By now, you know the drill! You can see how the tree is starting to really shrink toward a point now.
STEP 45 It’s finally time to close off the top of the tree! To do this, pull the last loop you made through the second-to-last loop you made. Make sure it’s the correct one! The last loop you made is the one that moves/changes if you tug on the working yarn.
STEP 47 Weave the working yarn down through several loops along the outside of the tree, near the top, to secure it. When you don’t have much length left, tuck the remaining end all the way to the inside of the tree. Then stuff the tree from the bottom with fiberfill. Be sure not to overfill it—a little goes a long way for this tree!
FINISHING AND ADDING THE BOW
28:14 30:15
STEP 46 Cut the working yarn to leave a tail of about 6". Pull this working yarn through the very last loop. Gently pull to tighten and securely close off the top of the tree.
STEP 48 After stuffing, it’s time to close off the bottom of the tree. Working to the right, feed the tail yarn through each of the inside loops around the bottom hole, pulling the tail yarn in from the outside toward the inside for every loop, similar to an overhand stitch or whipstitch. (Note: It’s important to work to the right here, not to the left.) Tighten as you go to close off the hole by the time you’ve made your way all around the bottom.
STEP 49 Once the bottom hole is closed, make a double knot at the base of the excess tail yarn, snugged up neatly against the bottom of the tree.
32:11
STEP 51 It’s finally time to add the bow! Find the loop at the very top of the tree. Pull the white yarn through the loop so there is an equal amount to either side.
STEP 50 Now find the center of the hole that you just closed up. Push the remaining tail yarn and its double knot up through the hole so the strand of yarn and the knot are now entirely on the inside of the tree.
STEP 52 Tie a bow, just like you would tie a shoe, with the white yarn. Trim the excess yarn to make the tails of the bow the length you would like them to be.
Congratulations, you made it! Your Sugarplum Christmas Tree is complete!
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If you loved this kit, be sure to check out the Jiggle the Jellyfish kit and the author’s book, Get Started in Finger Knitting!
The Jiggle the Jellyfish kit is just like this kit—it includes the yarn and fiberfill you need to knit an adorable jellyfish, a full instruction booklet, a collectible sticker, and access to an exclusive knit-along-with-the-author video tutorial.
ISBN 978-0-7643-7044-1, $29.99
If you want to really learn the fundamentals of finger knitting and how to make 17 diverse projects, then grab a copy of Get Started in Finger Knitting: Patterns and Instructions for Making Chunky Blankets, Cozy Pillows, and Cute Stuffies by Hand! Through this 144-page book, you’ll start with the basics, learning the best yarns to use and mastering techniques like making a slip knot, adding rows, and increasing and decreasing. Then you’ll dive into 17 super-soft, beginner-friendly projects, including a cozy blanket, a pillow, and adorable animals like a hen, bumblebee, and whale.
ISBN 978-0-7643-7004-5, $19.99
Sabrina-Rose Benedict rocketed to internet fame after her finger-knitted blankets and pillows charmed followers around the world. Now, her not-so-small business, Sab’s Stuffies, carries blankets, pillows, animal stuffies of all sizes, and a collection of DIY kits on everything from ghosts to snowmen. Find out more about her at www.sabsstuffies.com.
