Knit Sisters

In celebration of our nation’s independence (hard won in a bloody revolutionary conflict and now being squandered three ways from Sunday by our political leadership…one could weep, absolutely weep…but I digress), I have a little Independence Day photo gallery. With commentary, naturally.

Stifling heat and 99% humidity punctuated by short, furious thunderstorms could not keep the Bales/Wellerstein Partnership away from the grill. A small but delightful cookout was staged on the back porch. The lastest sock visited the chip bowl and enjoyed a Sam Adams:

Shelley watched over Darwin’s Garden to keep it safe from British incursion:

Eternal vigilance is the price of being a dog.

Meanwhile, Dave and Alex discussed patriotic topics like Paul Revere’s ride and Battlestar Galactica,

while Nasser shared important new information about himself, like the fact that his two favorite Saturday Night Live skits involve Jimmy Stewart.

But wait! What do I yonder hear? Does a Red Coat draw nigh?

Nah. It’s the 21st century already. It’s just a cat.

Since the United States itself was a rogue nation in the 18th century, it was only fitting that progress be made on Rogue, even though the room had to be air conditioned down to about 42 degrees before I could even think about picking up that wool. Here’s the front of the sweater, now missing only a hood and the sleeves:

A detail of the Celtic cabling on the side:

And a close-up of the motif on the front out of which the hood will grow. Whenever I can get back into the air conditioning.

(By the way, I took Rogue for show-and-tell at my knitting group on Monday night and much was made by Julie, the one spinner there, about what nice yarn Sarah had spun for me and how great it works with this pattern. She admired Sarah’s spin craft (is that what you’d call it?), and I could not have agreed more heartily.)

When all meat was fully grilled, we celebrated the 4th of July in a classic American way by gorging ourselves on hamburgers, blue corn chips, guacamole, tomatoes, and hot Italian sausages. The sausages were a late entry and motivated by the exciting World Cup semifinal victory of Italy over Germany in what I like to think of as “extra innings.”

At the end of the day, there was the simple fact of a man and his mint julep.

And a hope for genuine liberty and justice for all.

Ellen, here are a couple more knitting rhymes for your future teaching pleasure:

Under the fence
Catch the sheep
Back you go
Off you leap

Stab ’em
Choke ’em
Drag ’em back
Throw ’em away

(This latter is for the “really tough guys”  aka boys 7-9 years old, and is obviously a variation of the one that the lovely Lorinda left in the comments for us.  Thanks, Lorinda!) I have many more rhymes where these came from, as well.  I can’t claim that any of these are original or even the result of extensive research on my part.  I acquired them from that best of all possible knitting lists, Ample Knitters.

I am nearing completion of the simple summer sweater.  I finished the second sleeve last night.

 

I also started working on the neckline edging.  I started with an simple lace edging from Knitting on the Edge, but discovered before I got very far that, though it is indeed simple, it was not simple enough.  So I ripped that out and simplified it further, eliminating the edging points.  (Do you sense a “simple” theme here?)  Here it is, only a few repeats in:

 

I like this, although I think I’m going to rip it out once again and use a smaller needle.  I’m not sure why I didn’t think of that before I started, but there it is.  I’m planning to go down to a #2 needle; the rest of the sweater (as you may recall) was knitted on #4’s.

I’ve been spinning those handpainted rovings, as well. 

And, because I just can’t stop myself, here are two of the completed skeins.

 

See that furry paw in the lower left corner?  That’s Tortellini, our old and grouchy cat.  She wouldn’t stand still for a proper photo, but here she is lurking around on the front steps.

 

And Hugo, looking out the front door in the sure and certain knowledge that, if I’d just let him out there, he could get her.

By popular demand (hi Amy!), I’m going to talk more generally today about teaching kids to knit, a topic with which I have gotten a lot of help, aid, and succor from members of the Boston Area Stitch ‘n Bitch groups.

I really needed the advice, too, because I am neither a parent myself, nor do I work with younger kids, so I tend to have only the vaguest sense about the developmental stages of children. In other words, I’m clueless. I had also had the experience of attempting to teach an adult friend in Berkeley to knit, only to discover that I really no longer had any conscious awareness of how I do what I do when I knit. I had to return to the fundamentals: what are the individual components of a stitch when they are broken down into units of motion? As I successful teacher of things like English grammar and history of science, I also learned very quickly that teaching someone to do something with a strong physical component was a whole other barrel of monkeys, an unfamiliar barrel of monkeys.

Long story short, what started out as a lesson for my friend became a genuine learning experience for me. It was humbling. And useful. And fun.

Teaching a kid to knit has all those same rewards–and isn’t it great, ultimately, to welcome a new knitter to the fold?–but I knew I should probably get some more expert advice. Here’s a compendium of the good advice and helpful tips I got from those more knowledgeable than me:

1. Some five- and six-year-olds can knit, but not all. Kids will be at different developmental points with their hand-eye coordination and small muscle control. Some kids won’t be ready to knit until they are seven or eight. How to gauge their readiness? The advice I got was that the child is probably ready to learn to knit if s/he likes to draw, can form letters reasonably well for his/her age, can tie his/her shoe laces or make a braid, button small buttons etc.

2. The great needle debate: here there was frankly no consensus. While some people suggested US #5, 6, or 7, this met with an unfavorable response elsewhere by those who swore by US #9 or 10. A maverick even threw down the gauntlet when she argued strongly for US #15.

No shots were fired, however.

There was no agreement on materials either. Acrylic, plastic, bamboo, or good old Boye aluminum?

Well, ask a contentious question, get a contentious answer. I should have known that knitters would have strong opinions about the tools of their craft. (I, for instance, knit almost exclusively with Addi Turbos and have sunk a dollar amount close to the 2005 GNP of Moldova into their purchase. I will admit, however, that they aren’t the best needle for lace. But that’s as far as I’ll go in my concessions…)

So in the spirit of traditionalism, I chose for Miss A. the closest approximation of the needle I had learned on, lo these many years ago: the Susan Bates US #8 aluminum. It was a short needle although the exact specs elude me now.

3. Which brings us to…yarn. Since this is my blog, I’m just going to pull rank on this one and say that you should go getcha some Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride worsted.

Fabulous, fabulous results because this yarn is a bit sticky so that when mistakes are made (as they inevitably are) or the needle slips out and clatters to the floor (as may well happen), the stitches just stay put. Most excellent! And as you know, Lamb’s Pride comes in a vast range of delightful colors, many of which are bright and would appeal to children. Find out your pupil’s favorite color and go with that. In A.’s case this was easy: pink.

Luckily, both A. and I are pink freaks, so I felt well qualified to help choose a pink yarn for her. We went with the fuschia. We’re nothing if not subtle.

I would not choose a color that is too dark because it makes it harder to see the stiches and therefore more frustrating.

4. Scale. A small project like a potholder or a little garter stitch dishcloth is a nice, doable kind of thing. Here’s a couple of the latter, now faded, but still doing their job:

Or you can just cast on 12 to 15 stitches for your student.

Take-home message: nothing too big or too daunting.

If your student gets frustrated, suggest a break. Most people recommend 10-15 minute sessions. I found that with my little friend that she could knit for quite a bit longer than that, but that she was very astute about when she needed a break. So I could just wait for her to make the call. I’m sure this varies with the kid’s personality.

5. Teaching the knit stitch. It helps to use this rhyme:

“Up the tree
Around the back
Down the tree
Off jumps jack.”

I believe there is a purling rhyme too, but Miss A. and I have not gotten that far yet.

6. Technical advice. Here I will just quote Allison, from Circles, upon whose wisdom I cannot improve:

“I usually cast on and then start knitting very slowly teaching the
child the rhyme. Once she has mastered the rhyme, I have her put her
hands over mine while we go through the motions and repeat the rhyme.
Then I put her hands under mine. Then I let her hold the needles while
I wrap the yarn (and keep the yarn tension). Then I let her try to put
it all together.

I’ve had five year olds that get it in one session and others that took
several times and some that simply needed to wait.”

7. Books. I didn’t use them, but some that were suggested to me were:

Kids Knitting, by Melanie Falick
Kids’ Easy Knitting Projects, by Peg Blanchette
The Workshop Book of Knitting, by Ursula von Wartburg (Out of print; probably best found in your library or on eBay)

I can’t opine on these, but others seem to have used them successfully.

8. If you knit with your student, let him or her see you make lots of mistakes and then model an “appropriate reaction” by being breezy and cavalier about it as you masterfully fix them and show your student how easy this is.

This is great advice. The problem in my case is that this tactic involves, ahem, quite a bit of acting talent. But a lot of you are probably better people and can do it with no problem.

9. Patience is a virtue. Cultivate it, for it will be required.

10. Have fun and hang loose.