Assembling the Starter Piece

• 1). Cut a piece of wire about 12 inches long and wrap it loosely four times around your three middle fingers. When you remove the wire from your fingers, you should end up with four loops of wire about 2 inches long. When first starting, it is sometimes easier to see what you are doing if you use a different color wire for the starter piece than you intend to use for the project. You will remove the starter piece from the finished chain.
  
  
• 2). Twist the one end together several times to hold the four loops together.
  
  
• 3). Separate the four loops on the other end, spreading them out so that they form a shape like petals on a flower.
  
  
• 4). Press the one end of the dowel rod to the center of the wire "flower" and fold each petal down over the dowel. The petals should be arranged evenly around the dowel. You may want to tape the starter piece to the top of the dowel, leaving the bottoms of the petals uncovered, although once you do a few rounds of knitting, the chain itself will hold the starter piece in place. You will begin knitting on this piece.
  
  

Beginning to Knit

• 1). Cut about 18 inches of wire.
  
  
• 2). Find where two edges of the petals overlap. Pass about a 1/2 inch of the wire behind those edges from left to right. Pull the short wire to the left and the long length of wire to the right, forming a loop.
  
  
• 3). Secure the first stitch to the starter piece by twisting the short piece of wire several times around the wire of the starter piece.
  
  
• 4). Hold the long piece of wire to the right and pass it behind the next overlap of petals, from right to left this time, and pull it tightly to the right. This should form the next loop attached to the starter piece. Repeat this process, moving to the right, until you've formed four loops attached to the starter piece. Proceed by looping the next round of stitches through the row of stitches you just created.
  
  
• 5). Turn the dowel rod every few rows that you knit to assure that it is loose enough to remove. While perfectly even stitches aren't necessary--once you stretch the finished chain, you won't see minor inconsistencies in your stitches--you should try to keep your stitches somewhat even.
  
  

Adding More Wire

• 1). Continue the knitting pattern until the wire you have left is too small for you to work with. Use your wire cutters to cut it down to a 1/4 inch.
  
  
• 2). Tuck the end of the wire up inside of the knitted tube. When you stretch the chain, the end will disappear inside of the chain.
  
  
• 3). Cut another 18-inch length of wire and pass it through the last stitch you made, from left to right. Pull the short wire to the left and the long length of wire to the right, forming a loop, as you did when you first started. Tuck the short end inside of the tube and continue knitting with the long end. As you proceed, slide the finished chain off the end of the dowel and turn the dowel occasionally to assure that the chain doesn't become stuck.
  
  

Finishing a Chain

• 1). Remove the chain from the dowel and cut any remaining wire down to about a 1/2 inch.
  
  
• 2). Insert the starter piece into a hole in the drawing block that is slightly smaller than the diameter of the dowel you used and pass your finished chain through, using the pliers, if needed, to grip the wire. A drawing block is simply a piece of wood with progressively smaller holes drilled into it. With a piece of solid wood and a drill with different bit sizes, it is easy to make at home. Pulling your finished chain through it will stretch the chain into its finished shape.
  
  
• 3). Continue pulling the chain through progressively smaller holes in the drawing block until you cannot pull the chain any thinner.
  
  
• 4). Cut or unwrap the starter piece from the finished chain.
  
  
• 5). Attach findings or clasps to the chain using the 1/2-inch tails that you left at either end. The Vikings used simple fasteners, often just looping the wire tail a few times to form a hook or jump ring.