Monday, April 02, 2007

How Young Were You

My 6 year old Princess keeps asking me to teach her to knit. I keep telling her she first needs to learn to tie her shoes. She does have a little dexterity issue so I want to make sure she will be able to tie and knit so it is a very slow going process but it keeps me thinking, how young or young at heart are most when they learn to knit?

I keep seeing lessons advertised for knitting for 8 year olds, kits for as young as 8, I even just saw a class at my LYS advertised for 3 class for as young as 7 (my daughter could take that one next year!) but you hear these tales of being taught as young as 5 or 6 from your grandmother. Then on the other side you hear about people deciding you learn to knit when they have children or grandchildren. They start with a simple scarf or blanket and work their way through the more beautiful art pieces.

I for the life of me cannot remember why my Grandmother and Great Aunt decided to teach me to knit or if I actually asked them to do it when I was 9 but there they where with this bright orange acrylic yarn from Woolworth's (anyone remember that store?) and green metal #8s. I made a blanket for every single one of my Barbies. Some tube dresses too, I think. Perhaps a scarf. When I was done with my bright orange I got some bright yellow. It was the late '70s early '80s, bright was in. I guess after that I got bored and moved on to some other craft at the time and it took me several years to come back to knitting.

Now my daughter has caught the crafty bug. She sees me knit and she wants in. She wants to create things too or perhaps like me wants to see what can happen with her little bits of yarn. I guess another generation of knitters is soon to be developed and I get to pass the craft down to her. I think we just need to wait till she is just a little bit older.

4 comments:

Jenn said...

I think how old a kid is when they learn to knit totally depends on the kid. A patient child who is determined could learn at age 5, another child won't have enough attention span and patience to learn until age 30. If your daughter really wants to learn and is patient, perhaps check out a book about teaching kids to knit from the library. Possible choices are "Kids Learn to Knit" by Lucinda Guy & Francois Hall (aimed at 5-10 year olds) or "Kid's Knitting" by Melanie Falick.

Beadknitter said...

I was taught to knit by my father when I was 9 years old. One day he came home from work and said "I'm gonna teach you how to knit." Up to that point, I didn't even know he could knit. I have recently thanked him for teaching it to me because he's given me one of the greatest joys of my life.

For your info, I've taught 3 year olds how to knit. It depends on the child, and how much patience they have.

gypsyknits said...

Hi, Thank you for the compliment on my yarn. I appreciate it.
I was taught by my mom at the age of 9 yrs when she caught me trying to teach myself to knit on her Aran sweater. (the sweater survived my experimenting)
I taught my 3 yr old to knit with bulky yarn and dpn's She had no fear of the dpn's. She is 15 now and is an avid knitter who designs a lot of her own knitting. I have always been curious why children are not afraid of dpn's but some adults are terrified of the prospect of dpn knitting. She was afraid to knit with 2 needles at the age of 7. Isn't that weird?

B said...

My grandma taught me how to knit when I was in either Kindergarten or first grade. I don't remember how to knit from then, but I do remember that I had it with me on the bus and one of the needles fell out, and she didn't teach me what to do when that happened. I unravelled the whole thing and remember how much fun it was to pull on the yarn and undo the stitches! :)