sheep in the city

She is so sweet! It will be so fun when you can finally teach her how to knit :) She'll be an awesome knitter some day!

The SGSS is looking good :)

Wow you've gotten quite a bit done.

Alice is so cute; she's trying so hard :)

I wonder if she could get that finger knitting thing rather than using the needles?

I know it's not knitting, but maybe you could start out with potholders done on the potholder loom. The cotton loops are better than the nylon ones. I think the thing to do is work on the love of fiber and color.

I seem to remember hearing the age "four" bandied about . . . I'm not exactly sure, since I have no kids and none of my nieces are interested, but for some reason the number four strikes a tiny neuron.

How about starting her with a spool knitter (knitting Nancy)? I have successfully taught 6 year olds to knit.

I remember doing the cotton potholders as well. Also, when I was young there were cardboard sewing cards with punched out holes that could be laced together. My mother said I really enjoyed those as a girl. My daughter only wanted to read when she was four...picked up crocheting much later.

She's so cute!
I second (or third) the potholder loom suggestion. My boys loved that when they were little.

If it helps any, I started at 7 when I saw my aunt knitting baby sweaters. I'd say..when she wants to, so long as she shows the interest, let her at it! She might not keep up with it at her age, but if she has her own 'stuff', think of what an ego boost she'll have at being accepted by the 'big folks'! At being 'important' enough to be considered an equal.

When my aunt gave me my own needles and yarn, well, I still have those needles and the memories of how special I felt. Nothing will ever take that away from me. I was allowed to grow at my own pace and my own desires to knit the w's...who, what, when, where, etc...

It's like kids asking about the birds and the bees...kept it to her 'asking' level, and you'll answer what her needs are at that point. (just remember the story of the woman who gave graphic details on the babies, when all that was asked was if they came from the store?)

enjoy!

What a sweetie! I love the look of concentration!

The pictures are so sweet!

When I taught knitting to some Girl Scouts a few years ago, the younger kids had trouble with it. They instead bought those circular knitting looms. That worked well and they made hats, but they were older than your niece.

Man, she is so cute and the story about her friend's new-born sister is hilarious - she really, really wants a sister!

O.K. the the girly sweater is looking super cute already! Great colors. Oh and your little niece is so darling! She is going to pick up and go one of these days with your knitting needles and you will be shocked! Knitting its in the blood:)

I have 3 nieces 6 and under. The 6yr old wants to learn but wants instant gratification, and wants to make a pair of long "stockings" like some kneesocks I have made. I can't keep her motivated right now to learn much. However I also spin and that's all she wants to do when she's here. So there's hope yet. The 5 yr old wants to "mit" everytime she comes over, but all she's doing is using those plastic craft squares and circles with the holes in them and sewing yarn in them. There's absolutly no hope right now with the 3 yr old she's going through one of her many phases.

I say as long as they like yarn you can't go wrong!!

My MIL swears she learned at 3 but my almost 5 year old still doesn't have the patience for it. I'm actually thinking of making a swatch with live stitches at the top and then sew along the top so that the stitches can't unravel and having her use that to practice slipping stitches from one needle to another. (I can't take full credit for that idea, Cheryl Oberle gave the idea for the slipping stitches, I just thought it would be easier to slip them if you didn't have to worry about it coming apart in the beginning.)

maybe start with some God's eyes. yarn + sticks are involved, right? She's SO cute. Maybe too cute for her own good.

I'll chime in here to say that I taught a 6-yr-old the spool knitter, for the same reason--she really wanted to learn. It was a breeze to teach her, and she enjoyed doing it. ONCE. Now she says she knows how to knit and just doesn't want to do it.
So I'd say that it is not just motor skils, it is patience and attention span. Of course, every child is different.

Absolutely adorable! I love it!!

I have heard to start them out with finger knitting and around age 6 they are ready to GO!

SO PRECIOUS!!! I have two nephews, one is 5 the other is 6 months. So far, no interest!

Why not try to teach her finger knitting? It's a bit easier since you don't have to deal with the unweilding sticks, you still get to play with the yarn and you get something out of it.

Gwen

Awwwww... she is so cute!!!! I wish I had a niece so I could teach her how to knit, but I only have nephews....

@Megan
Boys can knit too. I plan to teach Liam (or at least have Stacey do it).

Awww...thanks Drew. And thanks to everyone else for all the good advice! We might spend the evening that I babysit this weekend learning to finger-knit!

Not that I'm a mommmy-type but I remember I had one of those spool thingies (looks like one of those felting needles upside down and not sharp) whan I was a kid that you used to create I-cords and then you could braid them all together. It seems like that might be a little easier for tiny fingers and it's easy to set down without getting to the end of a row.

I remember having a tool kinda like this http://store.knitting-warehouse.com/073132.html when I was really little (though since I remember it I'd say I was 6ish). That might be fun for her. You can sit it down without worrying about being at the end of a row.

The first two things that jumped into my mind were also the pot holder loom and the peg knitting things. Even the crank-it-out i-cord thing might work, though I'm sure she'd burn through yarn fast that way. But I remember coming up with creative uses for those cords of knitting as a kid too.

You have an adorable (and well mannered) niece!

My god, she is adorable! Good luck to the cutie and her friends sweater. I wish I still had imaginary friends. Good times.

I would say let her do it if she shows the interest. The other thing you could do is get her a knitting loom. There are some relaly cool projects out there. There are even a couple ofwebsites and book dedicated to loom knitting.

Alice is adorable! I've taught kids as young as 5 years old. Maybe she could try a knitting spool or a loom to get her going. Pom-poms are a fun thing for the really little ones to learn, too, and they can make so many things out of them.

I love the photo of the two of you. Very sweet! :-)

I was told that once they can tie their shoes, they are ready to knit.

Hi Stacey. I'm delurking to share soulemama's blog post about teaching her oldest boy (he's six, I think) to knit: http://soulemama.typepad.com/soulemama/2007/09/in-the-air-in-m.html. I love the poem she uses to guide him along.