Have You Taught Kids to Knit?
Tuesday June 23, 2009
If any of you out there have a lot of experience teaching young ones, we'd love to know what age you think is best and any tips you have for teaching kids how to knit. Others who've taught kids, I'd love to know how it went, at what age you tried and what worked or didn't work for you.
Comments
Actually, my kids taught ME to knit!
We were taught to knit in school at about age 7, and I remember our teacher knowing a “special” technique for someone for was left-handed. And we could choose whether to put our thumbs above the needle or below, whichever felt easier. At the end of the term she sewed up however big a bit of knitting we’d done and created ears, then embroidered a simple face on it.
I tried to teach my daughters to knit when they were young but it didn’t go very well.It seemed that neither one of them inherited the “knit gene”
I was taught how to knit left-handed (Continental style?). I don’t know if I could teach a child to knit “normally,” and wouldn’t want to teach them to knit my way because sometimes it’s frustrating.
I’m about to embark on teaching 60 kids how to knit, sew and crochet with very little experience myself! Thank goodness for the internet and all the You Tube videos and online communities!
I have taught Girl Scouts to knit! They were between the ages of 6 and 8. I have to say that the 8 year olds were able to pick it up better than the younger girls. They retained what they learned a little better too!
I was fortunate enough to have an aunt who lived temporarily with our family and she knitted – taught me to knit when I was 3 – do you want to guess how much I have knitted in the past 77 yrs? Including items for servicemen in WWII – now all my knitting is still “charity”-Hospice & SCAN -
For two years I taught children to knit in the after school program at the local grade school. I designed a dish cloth that required them to cast on, knit, purl a little, and bind off. I wanted to start with 8 yrs. old and up, but had some 5 yr. olds who just wouldn’t be turned away. My best knitter was a 12 yr. old boy! In all cases, the final product had many “design features” the children had inadvertently included along the way:-}
I help out with the knitting (after school club) at the local library.The kids are really attentive and want to learn how to do many things.We do have some tears when a stitch is dropped but after we teach them how to pick it up they are all smiles because they just learned a new skill.