My son has a new friend in his life. This seven year old boy is eager to learn new things. He approaches everything with enthusiasm and confidence as in "I am good at math or I am good at hockey.
During one of his visits to our home, I was knitting and he sat down beside me to watch. Immediately he wanted to learn to knit and asked if I had knitting books. He picked up a book of sock patterns but decided he'd rather knit a hat and he would like it to be red.
The next week I put a ball of red yarn and some size 9 knitting needles in a small canvas bag. When I came home Friday afternoon, I found him sitting quietly on the living room love seat. He looked at me with big brown eyes and said, "Will you teach me to knit now?" We sat on the couch and I used the children's knitting rhyme: "In through the front door, around the back, peek through the window, and off jumps Jack," to teach the knit stitch. He allowed me to show him exactly three stitches before he wanted the needles in his own hands. Hand and over hand, I helped him for five or six stitches and he was off. As with all knitters, his tension was tight, the knitting twisted on the needle, and he dropped a few stitches. I assured him that knitting can always be fixed. When I told him this swatch could be a practice piece, he informed me he was making a hat.
All the while we were working, he was chattering about how he wanted to make hats for his Mom, my son, and his stuffed animals. He informed me he was good at knitting and asked to take his knitting home. Before I sent the bag with him, I made sure he understood knitting needles are not to be used as swords. My son and I also told him he couldn't take the knitting to school. As a teacher, I don't want to be responsible for sending nuisance items to second grade. Even after all our precautions this little guy made a very perceptive comment. He discovered "knitting is way better than TV!" Amen.
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