Learning to Knit: Second generation

I taught my oldest son to knit tonight. I had to, there was a class project for the 100th day of school and they had to bring in something they had made with 100 items. (We had managed to bag ahead of time the 100 marshmallows to contribute to the class’s communal bucket of trail mix.)

My son himself suggested knitting. I swear, I swear I did not initiate this. But Sunday night was busy, and Monday night was busy, and last night we had a scout meeting, so it was tonight.

Did I mention that, due to all the snow days, this year’s 100th day did NOT fall on Mardis Gras, but is, in fact, tomorrow?

So. I set him up with yarn that wouldn’t split, and a pair of size 9 bamboo single points. By “set him up” I mean that I cast on 10 stitches and had him watch me knit while I recited “through the door, catch the sheep……” and he actually watched “Fairly Oddparents” while pretending to pay attention to me. But after a couple of rows, when he seemed to catch on, I started doing the knitting hand over hand. He wanted to hold the needles at the far end, as if they would explode/drop/shatter if he lessened his grip in the slightest, and he hadn’t noticed the need to scootch the live stitches toward the tips.

But with everything else going on (Mr. Beth out of town, three siblings squalling, and did I mention “Fairly Oddparents”?), the only thing I managed to pass on was my own beginner’s anxiety about knitting. His rage was priceless.

“Don’t touch the yarn, Jack! Don’t touch the yarn!!”

“Mom, Leenie’s completely unraveling the ball of yarn!”

“I am SO MAD!!!”

“ARRRRRGH!!!!!!”

So we took a break. While the kids ate their dinner I remembered an episode of Knitty Gritty where Vicki Howell sat on a playground swing in a fake flashback, doing finger knitting and making a superlong thin chain. Aha!

Ravelry. Forums. Search. “Finger Knitting.” Link to a Knitty article in the first post. Aha again!

I practiced with my own fingers first, to be sure this was really going to work. And it did.

[No, I didn’t knit as a kid. I was hopeless with “girl stuff” as a child and much more comfortable playing kickball with the boys or chasing the girls with worms. Yes, worms. Ask my mother. My attempts at “cat’s cradle” are embarrassing to recall. ‘Nuff said.]

I told him what we were going to do and he thought it was amazing. KNIT with your FINGERS? WOW.

This time, we didn’t start until two siblings were asleep and the youngest was strapped into his high chair and numbed into sleep with music from the 70’s channel.

And it worked it worked it worked! I wound the yarn around his fingers, and he pulled the loops into place. There were some oddities I noticed later, with loops that weren’t secured into their neighbor loops, but by the time I suggested that the whole chain might fall apart if he pulled too hard in those places, he seemed finally at peace.

“Mom. It’s just for the first hundred days. It’s not like we’re making it for a famous actor like George Lucas.”

He was all jazzed when he bound it off, so I tucked the rest of the ball of yarn in with the chain. He wants to give lessons to everyone in his class.

“Do you think I should charge for the lessons? We’re going to need 18 balls of yarn….”
“No honey, I think the lessons should be free. And maybe you should teach one person at a time.”
“Okay. Thanks, you’re a wonderful mom.”

I can almost take the night off.

Naah, too much knitting to do. I finished a Valentine’s Day surprise knitgift for my mother — a square lap-sized afghan out of Red Heart Lite & Lofty in the Wine colorway. Mr. Beth got to deliver it to her in person today, as he’s in Columbus on business. She’s very happy with it — whew! (Finished it yesterday evening.)

I’m also working on another Irish Hiking Scarf, which will be a raffle item to benefit the Irish Currach Club of Milwaukee. It’s being made with handpainted wool/silk in a black-and-blues colorway that the dyer calls “Stormy Sky.” (Thanks Cathy-Cate for the gift of the yarn lo those many moons ago!) It’s a thick/thin yarn but I think the finished item will look very nice. I’m much more comfortable with the pattern now and I’m aiming for two repeats a day if at all possible, just to stay on track.

What else is there? It’s cold, there’s a bunch of snow on the ground, every politician is in Wisconsin this week to stump for themselves because we have a primary on the 19th, and I’m working my way through the 2006 season of Doctor Who. David Tennant is slowly growing on me, but not as quickly as the fellows from Top Gear on BBC America. We just can’t get enough of those guys!

I’m going to try to blog more often. But if I don’t blog, it’s probably because the kids have a snow day. Check the Weather Channel, I’m within the triangle of I-94 (Milwaukee to Madison), I-90 (Madison to Beloit) and I-43 (Beloit to Milwaukee).