Learn
to Knit with Your Kids
By Brenda Massei of Pail & Pie
At
a local outdoor trades fair my boys and I saw a woman dyeing and drying wool
yarn. Her skeins looked like drying pasta on handmade racks and drew us in.
Naturally, I started asking her about her yarn and then steered our conversation
towards knitting, a favorite pastime of mine. She pointed to my sons, then ages
six and four, and said, "How old are they? On the prairie, that one
(pointing to my six year old) would be knitting his own socks or he would have
cold feet." My son looked at me and I at him in disbelief. Hand knit socks
by children? She had my attention.
Beyond
having warm toes on the prairie, knitting has many other lifelong benefits.
Waldorf schools have children knitting at the first grade level citing benefits
such as focus, concentration, left to right progression pre-reading skills,
fine motor skill development, delayed gratification, and confidence building.
Ruldolph Steiner said children should knit because it was working on their
minds. Children must problem solve, pay attention, and form judgments while
knitting. He believed that repeat movements created stronger mental
connections, linking a child's thinking to his fingertips. Knitting learned as
a child can be carried on through adulthood and has been cited as providing
health benefits like lowered blood pressure and chasing away depression. A
little while after I was inspired by the yarn dyer, my six year old son learned
to knit, to both of our delight.
A
mother in our homeschool group had this great idea. Knitters love to share
knitting and seniors love to see children. She has learned to knit alongside
her son at the local seniors center through weekly social knitting.
2.
Visit the local yarn shop.
Most
local yarn shops have classes, some free, on beginning knitting. It's good
business for them to teach you, so take advantage of it.
3.
Search your library.
Perhaps
you aren't ready to "sign up" for classes, but are interested in
learning at home. Search your local library for books and DVDs on knitting. Ask
your librarian to order in a specific book or DVD if they don't have it on
their shelf, they almost always can.
4.
Browse.
5.
Call Your Local Waldorf School.
Chances
are very good that someone who works at the Waldorf school knows how to knit. A
simple phone call could yield more information or connections, if not lessons.
6.
Check out Ravelry.com.
This
website is dedicated to bringing "ravelers" together. Click on the
"groups" button at the top bar and find local knitters. Contact them
through the site for more ideas on knitting.
7. Ask.
In
conversations with the neighbors mention you would like to learn to knit. I
always appreciate my friends as amazing resources. At the mere mention of a
topic there is usually someone who can chime in. Perhaps the neighbor's mother
knits or perhaps she just saw a free class at the library you missed. You never
know unless you ask.
Simple ways to share knitting with your children if you already know
how to knit.
It
may sound silly, but just letting your child see you knit is a good way to
introduce them to it. Your enthusiasm for a hobby can become enthusiasm for
them. When they ask if they can try, take advantage.
2.
When showing your child the knit stitch teach them this rhyme:
In
through the front door
Come
around the back
Out
through the window
And
off jumps Jack.
3.
Find simple patterns.
Waldorf
patterns are amazing for their ability to turn squares into the sweetest little
animals. Some books to try are Kids Knitting by Melanie Falick, A First Book of
Knitting for Children by Bonnie Gosse and Jill Allerton and Creative Play for
Your Toddler: Steiner Waldorf Expertise and Toy Projects for 2-4s by
Christopher Cloud.
4.
Be Patient.
5.
Try different things.
If
you knit, you have different needles and yarn around. My son learned on very
large needles with thick yarn. Others have said their children have learned on
small needles. Everyone is different. You can experiment and see what your
child has the most success with.
6.
Guide their hands.
My
younger son holds the needles while I knit. He tells me he's knitting with me.
I have held, guided, and showed him the process while knitting my projects.
7.
Try finger knitting.
If
knitting is not working out for you, don't despair. Try finger knitting or
crochet. The repetitive motions are beneficial no matter how you stitch it.
Thanks
to these sites for their articles on the benefits of knitting:
A special thank you to Brenda Massei for this post!
Please visit her Waldorf on Etsy shop: of Pail and Pie
