Monday, June 22, 2009

Book Review: Kids Knitting by Melanie Falick

I think I've finally found a knitting book for kids, that has projects easy enough for kids to do, but still interesting enough that they'd want to do them. I picked up Kids Knitting by Melanie Falick at the local library, but after working through one of the projects on my own, I think I may take the plunge, and go ahead and purchase it to have on hand for the kids.

The projects are simple (which is good for those of us who are just learning), but build on each other, adding one or two new skills with each project. This is not a kit, so you have to provide your own yarn and needles and such, but each project lays out exactly what you should have on hand before you begin. There is also a small section on making felt, knitting with alternative yarns, and spool and finger knitting.

For a test project, I followed the instructions for a simple teddy bear. Everything was straight knitting (no pearling). There was a little bit of increasing and decreasing for the head, and extra casting on and binding off for the arms, but very good instructions were given for both. What I liked best, was that the project was divided into short steps. This is excellent for the shorter attention span of children, or for mothers on the run.

For the teddy bear it was:

Step 1: Make the first leg


Step 2: Make the second leg


Step 3; Make the lower body


Step 4: Make the upper body and arms


Step 5: Make the head


Step 6: Make the second side (and add a face - instructions for sewing on buttons and simple embroidery are provided)


Finally, it's just sew, stuff, and add the ears. Then make five more, so the children don't pull it apart while deciding who gets it.


Some of the other projects include the usual hats and scarfs, but also socks (I've always wanted to know how to knit socks), bath puppets, and even sweaters (really simple ones). It almost makes me appreciate the weeks worth of rain in our forecast. Maybe there will be more for the kids to do than play video games (after they finish their math of course!)

It's great to be a homeschooler.

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