collected orange

introduction to knitting

T has been showing an increasing interest in my knitting of late.  It’s gone from help feeding me the yarn, to interest in manipulating the needles, to a somewhat maniacal scissor experience on Tuesday when she really wanted to snip the tangled part.  After the blood-draw, I started thinking about safer ways for her to participate, and then I remembered this little gizmo that I bought during the summer sales.  I intended to save it for Christmas–and I really don’t know how anyone “saves” purchases from these sales for more than a few weeks–but the time was right yesterday.

I wish I could have taken a picture of her doing it, but my fingers are still essential for the process to work.  We worked on the chain for almost two non-consecutive hours yesterday–clearly a hit.  It’s a bit too much for small hands to master so I hold the spool and do the initial wrapping around the prongs and she lifts the loops with her “needle.”  We changed colors a few times and waiting to see the new color emerge from the bottom of the spool proved to be a big motivator.

It’s started me thinking about other fiber-related skills she might try at this age.  Perhaps one of those potholder makers?  As for me, I might have to get one of these for myself, or possibly start amassing a collection of vintage ones.  I’ve always hated making i-cords and wrapping yarn around a cute mushroom will be a good solution.