aliceones said:
i would like to know how to teach my 8 qnd 5 year old grandchildren how to knit without pulling out all my grey hair. the 5 year old has made a half an inch of messy knitting and has picked the color and pattern and wants to start a sweater for her doll. she is very determined HELP
just a couple of hints. buy 10 1/2s...bigger and they can't handle them and smaller and the yarn holes are too small for them to handle...then buy 1 red pair and 1 other pair of any color....split the pairs so that they each have a 'red' needle.....R for red, R for 'right side' (of fabric), red for 'right hand'. teach them to finish with the other color when ready to stop for the session, so that they have just purled (i even use this method when just doing garter st.... just to be consistent) or used the 'other color' for the last row....now they are all set with the 3 Rs when they pick it back up.
secondly, use a chair for the little ones to sit in that you can get behind. they will pick up what you are doing on their needles much quicker if they can see it as you stand behind them and are reaching over their shoulders for a few stitches and then staying there while they repeat what they've seen....i taught a 6 yr old this way in just a few minutes...she 'got' it for the first time when seeing it from her own 'point of view'....
the last thing i would suggest is to teach them to cast on a few stitches and knit till their piece is a square. then bind off and begin again...the success rate is helped hugely when they have something, anything, FINISHED.....then as the squares (they do not have to be the same color or the same size)...accumulate, show them how to lay them out, trade colors here and there if different colors are used, and then put together for 'barbie blankets'... or the last few inches on each end of a scarf that you make for them (this is a BIG favorite....."see the scarf grandma and i made"... and they really only need a few squares to do it. it could be one row of three or four different colors or 2 or 3 rows, depending on how many squares the girls are interested in doing...having something finished will really encourage them to try another set of squares or a something small.....
almost forgot...when teaching how to increase (not the first project, or the 10th, but when....) a really cute and simple and fast project is to CO 3 sts, then increase 1 st on the beginning of every row. when the triangle is about 1 foot wide, you can crochet a chain on each end and have a little 'bandana-style' head scarf for herself.... if they can't make it to 1 foot....you only need about 5 inches to make a stole for barbie....
good luck....you will have made a wonderful memory for the girls and maybe they will be knitters or maybe not, but someday they will tell someone on their knitting forum about how their grandmother taught them to knit....
) *scratches head and wiggles toes*
