When she saw the needles sticking out of my basket, she just beamed! We finger knitted outside for a minute before going inside where there weren't 5 other children running around. (Between our two families we have 7 girls!) We cast on only 5 stitches, and then she began to knit.
She was concentrating so hard that she couldn't possibly say the rhyme along with me:
In through the front door,
Run around back,
Peep through the window
and off jumps Jack!
But once she had gone through 2 rows, she was into her own rhythm and finding her own way. Even though I cross my needles, she found that holding her parallel, a la my friend Apple, worked better for her. After 3 rows, she was saying the rhyme herself and I was barely making any comments (other than positive reinforcement). Her 4yo sister came over and picked up finger knitting quickly as well.
After about 6 rows, she was up to 12 stitches on the needles. Haha - she inadvertendly learned yarn-overs!
My favorite part was how proud she was of herself and kept showing her parents. She did such a great job!
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Also, Lela is now knitting. As in really knitting with needles. She will only do a handful of stitches at a time before putting down the work, but she is doing it beautifully and without aid.
She begged me to show her, and I did, thinking she would not be interested. Really, I don't want her knitting right now. I don't discourage her from knitting - her needles and ball of yarn are accessible to her - I also don't encourage it either.
Don't get me wrong, I give her the quiet praise that she deserves. I am very proud and continuously amazed at her skills. It's just that the finger knitting is fine for her, and I honestly worry that the needles are too mind-oriented for her at this point.
However, children are very wise creatures. And I strongly suspect that if she is not ready for this new skill, she will give it up. Sure, she will come back to it eventually, but I guess I have to have faith that in these matters, she knows best.
