November 29, 2011

little knitters

We have little knitters in the house. Little hands making Christmas gifts for each other and for others. After some internal debate about the whens and wheres and hows of teaching them to knit and some advice from a friend, I scooped up some knitting looms that someone offered to me and have set them working.
Briton has already completed one project, a hat for Eliza that he made from one of my small balls of self dyed, spindle spun yarn, and is now working on another project for his sister. He's a little faster at it once he gets going, but Evelyn is pretty efficient at it as well, and she's a bit more dedicated to her task. Her project is bigger. A grown up hat for a grown up person she wanted to make a gift for.
I used to love finger knitting and spool knitting - of course, my spools were actual spools, with nails hammered into the end - and I sometimes find myself looping over a row for them when I find it sitting, abandon for some other project. Because it's still fun.
I never knew what to do with all those yards of cording that both finger and spool knitting produced (although I spotted some in a knitting store the other day sold as yarn, so there's an idea) but these looms make something more substantial, which is nice. Both kids seem to find it gratifying to find, at the end of a few rounds, that they are actually getting somewhere (bulky yarn helps!) So I'm hoping this interest in handiwork is a growing trend around here.

Did you spool knit as a child? Do your kids knit or crochet? How did you get them started?