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Old February 6th 06, 05:29 PM posted to rec.crafts.textiles.yarn
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Default old enough to learn?

(Richard Eney) wrote in
:

In article ,
enigma wrote:
snip

my son is 5 & he knits using a knitting frame, one of
those
round plastic ones they sell at craft stores. while he does
occaisionally miss a stitch or 4, it doesn't seem to bother
his perfectionist nature & he's made some nice hats. he has
asked for a rectangular frame next, for scarves.


While there's nothing wrong with a rectangular frame and
they do have some special possibilities, he can make a
scarf by going back and forth (instead of around) on the
round frame.


i found some project sheets for the round looms that show
scarves, plus different 'stitches'. he thinks that's pretty
cool.

if you do want to start her with needles, try a size
between
8 & 10. most of the kid kits i've seen have 15s or 17s,
which are actually really hard for little hands to hold.
they might be ok for 9 & up, but they're too clumsy for a 5
year old.


Right. If they're read to learn at all, they have the fine
finger dexterity. You just have to trust them with the
pointy sticks. And you can get just as uncomfortable a
jab from a thick pointy stick as from a thin one.
Actually, I think I'd suggest a size 6, or even the size
that is the same number as the child's age. Getting them
in a color that goes well with their favorite color of yarn
is nice too. And, of course, light colored yarn so they
can see what they're doing, at least to start with.


another trick my grandma used when getting to the point of
learning stockinette, was to use two different colored
needles, (in my case pink & blue aluminum ones. the blue &
green looked exactly the same to me). knit onto the pink
needle, purl onto the blue... that doesn't work quite so
easily with wood needles unless you put colored knobs on the
ends or something (although i have walnut & birch in 8s &
10s, so dark/light would be ok). knitting is excellent fine
motor exercise. it'll help prepare her for writing. Boo has
fairly poor fine motor skills, which is why i encourage all
his craft projects. it really helps.
lee
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