If you know a tween who you'd like to get interested in knitting, you might try giving her (or him) the two-book collection Show Me How: Knitting by Susan Levin and Gloria Tracy.
The books are two small paperbacks presented in the pockets of a hardcover book with a Velcro closure to help keep them together. One book tells the story of Mary Ruth learning how to knit while the other includes basic knitting instruction and a handful of easy patterns.
A Knitting Story
The story about Mary Ruth learning to knit is pretty brief (the whole book is 24 pages with illustrations). The idea is that Mary Ruth and her brother, Jacob, are going to their grandmother's house for the weekend.
Jacob, being a typical boy, loads up with his laptop, video games and other electronic devices, while Mary Ruth, good future knitter that she is, brings tons of books and her cat.
Jacob's plans for a weekend without human interaction are thwarted when a storm knocks out the electricity. Their grandmother had been planning to teach Mary Ruth to knit (she decided to have her make a cat blanket so Mary Ruth could reclaim her favorite sweater that the cat was always sleeping on) so she goes ahead and teaches both the kids, both of whom enjoy it, of course.
The How to Knit Book
The second book contains 48 pages and covers the basics of casting on, knitting, purling, binding off and sewing up projects.
Step-by-step instructions with drawings are given, and the instructions are written in the voice of Mary Ruth, so it should be encouraging for kids.
As a first project the book suggests a "learning strip" of 12 stitches on which both knit and purl stitches are practiced. It says these strips can be folded and sewn into headbands or glasses cases, and any holes can be patched up or hidden by sewing buttons or beads on top.
Other patterns described in the book include a knit ball for a dog or a baby, a hat, a cat or doll blanket and a skinny scarf knit with smooth yarn and an eyelash yarn held together.
The patterns all focus on straight knitting and sewing pieces together after the fact (even each stripe of the cat blanket is knit individually and then stitched together) and there's an emphasis on the idea that there's no right way to hold the yarn or do anything, really, as long as the stitches look good to you.
This cute set of books would be a fun gift, along with some needles and yarn, for a young person you'd like to introduce to knitting and will give them a decent grounding in the basics and hopefully a love for knitting that will last a long time.
Publication date: December 2007.
