chained

Today I'm going to share with you a super quick and fun little pattern that's a bit ace for many reasons. 

It's number one ace because it's free. 
It's also ace because it's quick to knit and uses up leftovers, and oh how do I like that.
It's ace because it's completely seamless, absolutely no seams or weaving here.
It's ace because the kids just love playing with them and it gets their creativity flowing, and that I adore!
It's very ace because they're fun and just a bit cool to knit with a "how did you do that?" moment.

This is a new little pattern called chained. Chained because it looks just like paper chains only knitted.  I originally knit them as a Christmas decoration but there is sooo much more to them than that! 

Here's the thing about these little things. 

They're knit entirely in the round with no seaming or weaving on small circular needles, teeny in fact. Truth be told, if you knit the stocking stitch version you don't even need to weave in ends. Just tuck them inside as the chain rolls inward.

I knit one lot of chains on a 12"/30cm circular and the other on a 9"/23cm circular. Some people find these needles a bit fiddly, others love them. Why? They're great for knitting socks and sleeves for kid's jumpers on.  If you're not into such small needles you can also knit chained using any other small circumference knitting technique such as:

Double Pointed Needles

Magic Looping

Two Circulars

Travelling or Single Loop

Click for external video links on each technique.

Have you ever thought about knitting socks?
Or even trying a different technique to your usual one?

Chained gives you a good chance to experiment with different small circumference techniques without having to commit to knitting a whole sock. Let alone a pair...

And that's just where the experimenting begins. 

I've knitted these in stocking stitch and garter stitch but can you imagine one knit in linen stitch using leftover variegated yarn?

You can also make a complete loop to make a necklace using the same joining technique demonstrated in the pattern. I have some Dairing Silk Stainless hiding somewhere in my stash and I might just be earmarking it for this. 

I may also just be thinking about some yarn bombing possibilities, but keep that one quiet hey.

And if you get bored with all the play I guess you can always hang it in a tree.

So do you think this is something you would knit? 
Are you  frivolous with your knitting or do you always knit useful things?

If you are keen for a quick bit of fun, you can find the pattern on Ravelry here.