Pass It On

Today was the big day. I loaded up all my stuff in a big bag and headed to my daughter's preschool. At circle time, I found myself staring at 25 little kids. Who knew kids could be so intimidating? But they were a good group and listened very attentively. I wore one of my cardigans, and I brought along a few other examples of knitting. We talked about how some of them had on sweaters and scarves that had been knit. One little girl knew that her stockings were an example of knitting (way to go!). Then I explained that if they were wearing T-shirts (most of them) or socks (all of them), then they were wearing knits.

I asked if they knew what we use for knitting, and they knew we use yarn and that it comes from sheep. I showed them pictures of some other animals and plants that are used for making yarn--llamas, goats, rabbits, silkworms, cotton, flax, and bamboo.


They laughed at the idea that some people even make yarn from their dogs' fur! I brought along some different yarns for them to pet. These kids have good taste--they really liked the Kidsilk Haze.



Next, I demonstrated a little bit of knitting. I panicked a bit this morning when I went to go get the Big Wool I was planning to use and suddenly remembered that I had sent the extra ball of it I had to Iraq. Luckily, I rummaged around and managed to find some remnants that I could splice together.



Finally, it was time for finger knitting! Now, I had heard of finger knitting before, but I had never done it myself, so I spent some time on Google and YouTube trying to figure it out. There are methods that basically produce a single chain loop, but most produce 4 stitches by using 4 fingers. I settled on this version that produces a 2-stitch i-cord. I passed out yarn wrapped around "bobbins" made out of index cards. My husband wondered aloud whether I had enough yarn in my stash for all the kids. LOL! Ummm, yeah, Honey. I think I've got that covered :-) This was a great way to use up remnants, but because not everyone was getting the same thing, I had to remind them of what their teacher always says: "You get what you get, and you don't get upset!"


It's one thing to teach your own daughter one-on-one, but it's another to manage a whole class. Some of the younger kids ended up doing their own interpretations, but several of the older kids really got the hang of it. My daughter still remembered her lesson from earlier in the week, so she was on a roll by herself.


I left behind the yarn for them all to take home, along with a little instruction sheet so that their parents or the teacher could help them later if they wanted.

And that, friends, was my knitting adventure for the day.