Yay or nay: Teaching young kids to knit

I have a friend, Evan, who has wanted for more than a year to learn to knit. He mentioned the topic frequently, and finally I agreed to teach him. Normally, I jump at the chance to teach people to knit, so why was I hesitant in this case? Evan, who's now five years old, was not even four when he first became interested in knitting. I don't know where he even got the idea, but when he decides he wants to do something, he doesn't give up. His parents bought him a knitting loom, but it was too fiddly to easily use; besides, he said, he wanted to the do the kind of knitting where "you take two sticks and rub them together"!

I consulted other knitters and a couple of knitting communities, and the general consensus seemed to be that five was too young to learn to knit. Most people recommended children be 7 or 8 before they take up this craft. But these people don't know Evan and how determined he can be!

A few weeks ago, Evan and I sat down to give this craft a try. I brought him some short plastic knitting 6 mm (U.S. size 10) needles suitable for a child (he really liked the happy faces on the knobs) and some brightly coloured variegated acrylic yarn. First, we talked about the terminology -- "knitting needles" and "yarn" -- and safety rules: don't run around with the knitting needles; if carrying them, hold them points down; don't poke your sister with said needles.

I quickly cast on a few stitches, having decided to hold off teaching casting on until a later time. Then, I taught Evan a little rhyme to help him remember the motions involved in knitting: "In through the front door, around the back, out through the window, and up jumps Jack!" He really enjoyed reciting the rhyme and learned it very quickly. Then we went through the motions together, repeatedly, with both my hands and Evan's on the needles, so that he could get the feel of how to knit.

For now, Evan needs an adult's help to actually knit, but he really enjoys it. He may be a bit young to do it independently, but that doesn't matter: he's having fun, and learning a new skill. For him, and for other children, I recommend working on small projects, with frequent short sessions of practice. This way, the child remembers the process and enjoys it. And I'm sure that, before long, Evan will be knitting on his own!

In the photo, you see Evan and his twin sister Elora, playing with their knitted cats at the recent Worldwide Knit in Public Day here in Vancouver, B.C., Canada.

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