Given her propensity for knot tying - slip knots, bows and half-hitches to infinity - I knew that she would pick up finger knitting quickly. And she is the age - four - when finger knitting is typically taught in Waldorf. The rhythmic activity appeals to them, and it allows appeals to the will and to the physical body. A young child is said to be awake in the body, and only dreaming in feelings, while the mind is still asleep.
Her character is such that she is literally offended at being instructed. This is one of the reasons we decided to educate Lela ourselves. Yes, there may be a time to be instructed, but certainly it is not when a child is young. They learn by doing - engaging the physical.
Saturday night I sat knitting, thinking about how to approach finger knitting with Lela. We already had one "failed" attempt months ago. I tried to teach her, she balked and that was the end of it. I decided to finger knit myself - I knitted a long chain in creamy white wool, and put it around the candle on the kitchen table for her to find.
Sunday morning, sitting down to breakfast, she found it. She knew what it was:
"Momma, did you finger knit this?"
"Yes, I did it last night."
"Why?" she asked, fingering the looped chain and putting it around her neck.
"Because I thought it would make a beautiful decoration."
Now, I knew what was coming next - she was going to ask me if she could finger knit too. And sure enough, she did. I had decided on Saturday night to not overthink it, just to go with the conversation and let my heart take over. Therefore, it was only natural that I would come up with the perfect response to her question:
"Yes, let's do it together. Just the two of us."
I was instantly rewarded with a huge hug and kiss.
And so we did - sat and finger knitted together. I used the knitting rhyme:
In through the front door
And run around back
Peep through the window
And off jumps Jack!
She has taken to calling the loops on her fingers "Jack"s. She loves to use rainbow yarn so she can have a different colored Jack each time. There are now finger knitted chains all over the house - made into necklaces and bracelets for friends, herself and family. The dolls have necklaces too. Daddy received a special ring tonight as well. She even finger knitted something for a special surprise for someone......hmmmmm.....
In hindsight, saying "Let's do it together" was the real key. Not, "Yes, I'll teach you." It became a experience for us to share in together.
I'm so proud of you Lela!
