Ruth and I had read Primrose Day together. Merrie, the little British child who goes to the USA during the London Blitz, knits her father a scarf for a Christms present. Ruth said she would like to learn to knit. I said I would try to teach her. She warned me absolutely NOT to buy a child's kit but to get the real thing.
My daughter-in-law Susan reminded me that years ago I had tried to teach Katie, my other grand-daughter now 22 years old, to knit and that they still had the knitting needles. Katie cheerfully said she would be happy to have someone else make use of them. She did not need them!
So I got the large purple needles from her and ordered some thick and soft yarn from Amazon. With some hesitancy, I wondered if I would remember how to cast on stitches. I practiced and with some trial and error, I cast on 20 stitches--enough to make a doll's blanket.
Yesterday we drove to Ocean Grove where Ruth and her family were staying. As it was a rainy Sunday, it was a great time to sit down and give knitting a try. Ruth and I put on our masks Covid19 style and went to work.
How many steps are there to knit one stitch? You can break it down to at least four steps. Through-over-through-off. How many hands do you need? You need more than two which is why I brace a needle against my stomach. Ruth used her two hands while I held the left needle in my hand.
Ruth actually caught on quite quickly. I was watching carefully lest any step got missed. Occasionally she would be chatting and looking at me and I had to direct her eye to the needles again. I had to resist taking over because it was so much easier for me to do it rather than to show her how to do it. I wanted to teach her to do it entirely independently. I kept thinking of my mantra when I was tutoring children with reading problems--"I'm trying to work myself out of a job."
We kept counting to 20 so we knew we had not dropped a stitch. We could see the rows grow and the colors change with the multi-colored yarn.
I warned Ruth to keep the yarn and needles away from a little brother. In Primrose Day, a pet dog got into the project and unraveled Merrie's Daddy's scarf.
We will be going back to Ocean Grove in a few days so I will see if Ruth has made any progress on her own. If not, we will sit together and do a few more rows. If we give up on the doll's blanket, she thought a potholder would be less ambitious. Now if Grandma can just remember how to cast off stitches. A friend gave me a tip this morning and another friend suggested a you-tube video. I think that when I get those needles in my hands again, I will remember when my motor memory takes over.
How nice to have a grand-daughter that wants to do a project with her grandma!
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Ruth called me this afternoon on her watch. She said she did some knitting on her own today and did drop one stitch so there was a small hole. She said she was upset but her mom helped her get over it. Now she wants to make something else--like a sweater or mittens. Hmm. I don't think I am ready for that!
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August 19 I successfully cast off but somehow the 20 stitches turned into 35 stitches! However, it looked like a very nice doll's blanket. I cast on 9 stitches and knitted a few rows to get Ruth started on a doll's scarf.
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