Pass It On

I was honoured to be asked to teach a child how to knit.

It's been a while since I've started someone from scratch. UBC was a good time for that and Nursing School.

This is a little girl who comes to the rink with her babysitter and she has actually pestered me and didn't believe I would do it.

She's about 8, but funny and funky.

I grabbed some needles from my extensive stash. I've inherited needles from my family, D's family and the past aunties of many friends. These are for sharing.

I cast on 15 stitches and showed her the rhyme again. She already had memorized it a few weeks before. I got it from Melanie Falick's Kids Knitting.

Under the gate

Catch the sheep

Back we come

Off we leap

She sat close to me and we worked the needles together. I knew I had her when there was no break between taking a stitch off and starting the next. Good girl.

She was very philosophical about mistakes and accepted the ideas that we share in this virtual network: everyone makes mistakes. Some of them are to be fixed and some of them are to stay. Learning how to fix your own mistakes is the goal- not not making mistakes.

I hope she comes back next Wednesday. She will be the only one in her family who is so gifted that she can knit.