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Is Your Child Ready to Learn to Knit?

July 18, 2012 by Sarah White

knit with kids Madame La MarchandeMy daughter is almost three, but she thinks she can knit. She likes to take my needles (usually pulling all the stitches out in the process), rub them together and call it “knitting.” It’s actually pretty cute (cuter than the ball of yarn she destroyed “knitting” me a “coat”), but the truth is she’s still pretty far from actually being able to teach how to knit.

I’ve heard of some people who learned as young as 4, but 5 or 6 seems to be the standard age to teach kids to knit. And of course you can try with the needles, or use a knitting device with knobs (sometimes called a knitting Nancy, a knitting doll or a French knitter, among other things) or teach them finger knitting.

If you’re ready to help your child or someone else young in your life get acquainted with the knitting life, check out these tips and ideas from Craft Foxes. If you ask me, it’s almost never too early to start raising up the next generation of fiber lovers!

Have any tips for knitting with kids? Spill ’em!

[Photo of Knitting with Kids kit from Madame La Marchande, via Craft Foxes.]

Next Pattern:

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Comments

  1. Ms. Ramya says

    July 19, 2012 at 3:17 am

    IT’S 6 MONTHS SINCE I’M TRYING CROCHETING.I MAKE SURE I TAKE SMALL PROJECTS THAT I COMPLETE IN A WEEK, THOUGH TRAINED PEOPLE CAN DO IN FEW HOURS. THIS GIVES ME THE JOY OF COMPLETION AND CONFIDENCE TO TRY MORE.THIS COULD BE A GOOD IDEA FOR KIDS TOO

  2. Karen says

    July 19, 2012 at 8:58 am

    My six year old grand daughter really wanted to learn how to knit and crochet. I tried teaching her but it was difficult. We tried spool knitting but that was too tiny for chunky hands. Then my daughter discovered finger knitting on the internet. She bought big, soft, thick yarn at Zellers and they started finger knitting.
    They have made a very cute long scarf and are now working on a second.
    I have never heard of finger knitting and I am amazed at how fast and easy it is to do. Please pass this message along to all grandmas who want their grandchildren to learn the value of making useful items with their own hands.

  3. Karen says

    July 19, 2012 at 9:04 am

    Have you discovered finger knitting? My daughter taught her little girl how to do this from an article on the internet. They bought big, chunky, soft yarn at Zellers and have made a really cute long scarf. What a fun and easy skill to learn that requires no tools, just your fingers.

  4. Karey says

    July 19, 2012 at 10:16 am

    I have one friend who, when she teaches kids to knit, let them make their own needles as well. She takes dowel rods cut down to size, lets the kids sharpen them with a pencil sharpener, sand them and then make the ends with clay which she “cooks” for them. The kids love it and it makes them really want to use their needles for knitting since they made them too!

  5. Andrea says

    July 19, 2012 at 10:54 am

    I have been teaching my daughter (6) to knit and some girls (9-13) at a camp I attend. I found several little rhymes on various knitting sites that the kids found extremely helpful.

  6. Helen says

    August 13, 2013 at 11:05 am

    When I teach kids to knit, I find that kids aged 7 or older manage better than younger kids. Also I teach with 2 different colored needles – I think it helps the kids to see the stitches better and makes it easier to explain the process.

Have you read?

Knit a Fish Pouch, for Reasons

I can’t resist a pattern that’s both useful and a little silly, and that’s exactly how I feel about the Rybka pouch pattern from the delightfully named Rat and Sea Witch.

I know you’re going to ask, because I did, too. Rybka means little fish in Polish. (And because you’re also probably going to ask, Rat and Sea Witch comes from people’s attempts to say the designer’s name, Ratasiewicz, which if you say it fast kind of sounds like rat and sea witch.)

It’s easy to make a little fish bag in different sizes to suit your needs. The pattern has specific instructions for an Airpods Pro case and a pencil case, but you could change the length easily to hold more stuff, and change the size in general by working with a different weight of yarn.

The pattern calls for sock yarn and mohair held together to make a fingering weight gauge, but you could try it with heavier yarn and see what size bag you end up with.

Whatever size you make it, this looks like a fun project for holding trinkets or everyday items. The mouth of the fish is the mouth of the bag, and it closes with a drawstring that is also the strap. I wonder, too, if you could make one of these with a small clasp frame that could be the fish’s mouth and then you could just work I cord straps that would attach to the sides of the fish.

I could also see stripes, or fish of different colors to use up your yarn leftovers. How about a sunglasses case with a little loop to attach to your bag? Once you start thinking about all the ways you could use a fish-shaped bag in your life, I think you’ll see that you probably need more than one.

If you make one of these I would love to know how it went!

You can grab a copy of the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Rat and Sea Witch]

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