Question from Gina: My son had a hard time with knitting in first grade. He didnt want to stick with in for more than a few minutes at a time, complaining of his hands hurting or wanting to do somethimg else. Now we are moving on to second grade where crochet comes in. Do you have any tips or recommendations for me? I am thinking we should really get more into knitting before we start crochet, but I dont really know.
Answer from Waldorf Teacher Diane Power: Gina, I wonder … did your son struggle with playing the flute, beeswax modeling, and writing letters? It sounds to me that his fingers need strengthening. For handwork in second grade, our students made a knitted gnome doll that took some students the entire year to make. Crochet came at the end, in spring, as an introduction and was deepened in the third grade.
If he can only knit for a few minutes, incorporate that into your school day. Have him knit a bit or one/two rows before you begin, in between subjects, and again at the close of the day. Monitor his strength, increase the time or amount of rows as you see him progress. Dpm Keep it challenging and stop before he hits exhaustion.
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