Teaching Young Children To Knit
August 24th, 2009 by BJB
Very young children can be successful knitters, given the right teaching techniques.
Right Hand vs. Left Hand Knitting
The ‘English’ method of holding the yarn in your right hand and throwing it over the needle, as opposed to ‘Continental’ which has the yarn in the left hand, seems to be easier for children to learn. They’re able to drop the yarn and pick it back up again more readily with the ‘English’ method, in the early stages.
A Knitting Mantra
Over the fence
Catch the sheep
Back you come
Off you leap
Teaching this verse to a beginning knitter will give them a handy mnemonic device to help them remember the multiple steps required. It works like this:
Over the fence: wrap yarn around the needle.
Catch the sheep: hook the yarn with right needle tip
Back you come: pull the yarn just hooked through the opening
Off you leap: remove newly made stitch to right hand needle.
Once children have been shown these 4 steps a few times the verse helps them remember the order in which they are performed.
Beginner Projects
A bookmark is a fast, rewarding project for a beginner.
Cast on 10 stitches and work 10 garter stitch ridges, or 20 rows.
Cast off leaving a 10 inch yarn tail.
Tie this tail to the cast on yarn end to create a bookmark which can be draped through the center of the book. With this project a child learns to cast on, work in garter stitch, and to cast off.
From there, the young knitter will soon graduate to creating headbands, washcloths, scarves, and eventually, mittens and sweaters!
With each successive project, they’ll acquire a new skill: purling, decreasing and increasing, and following a pattern.
Spool Knitting
If your young knitter is having difficulty mastering these 4 steps, try easing them into it with spool knitting. These are wooden or plastic tubes with nails or hooks around the top. They’re available at craft stores for $4-5. Wrapping the yarn and securing it hook by hook produces a knitted tube. These are fast and fun and kids love them! Spool knitting is a first step in helping children develop the ability to do more than one thing at a time, such as holding the yarn while moving the stitch.
Passing the Torch
Knitting is a social, as well as a functional, craft. It has united old and young in the creation of articles to keep us warm and provide comfort, for many, many years. Passing this skill onto the next generation ensures that our timeless knitting traditions will not be lost in our high tech world.