Hook 'em young

Probably needless to say, Ian has been around knitting since the very beginning.  When he was tiny, I perfected the art of knitting while he slept in my arms (and sometimes even while he was nursing, if I was situated correctly).  I think that because it's been a part of his environment for, literally, his entire life, he doesn't pay much attention to it -- it's not a novelty (unlike, say, my spinning wheel) so he pays about as much attention to me knitting as he does to me doing dishes.

Until now, that is.  These days, Ian really enjoys making projects, and he's starting to understand where things come from.  He knows that his grandma House made him his favorite dino quilt and that Mommy made him one of his knitted blankets and his beloved hat.  It seems that all of a sudden, he started to put two and two together and connected the act of knitting with the finished product at the end.  A couple of weeks ago he abandoned his toys and climbed up to sit with me while I was knitting one night; he held my ball of yarn and unraveled it when I told him I needed more.  I thought his attention would wander after a couple of minutes, but he sat there with me for probably a half hour, unwinding yarn and asking me lots of questions in that inimitable toddler way.

And that's always the first step, right -- watching someone do something, and deciding that you find it interesting?  A couple of nights later, he picked up the needles I'd just finished using and told me that HE wanted to knit.  So I gave him a little ball of scrap yarn, and he had a blast fiddling with it.

And now, it would appear that I've created a monster.  Every night, he grabs his needles and little ball of yarn and sits next to me.  Two nights ago, I was counting to myself as I picked up a bunch of stitches for a buttonband, and I suddently realized that he was muttering numbers to himself under his breath as he wrapped his yarn around the needle; guess that's what I sound like while I'm knitting!  And then, last night we had dinner at House's house, and when we came back home, Ian took off his hat and coat and put them on the coat tree, ran over to the couch, climbed up, and patted the seat next to him.  "C'mon, Mommy," he said.  "Come sit here.  Let's KNIT!"

So I got my project, and I snuggled up with my boy on the couch, one of us knitting, one of us "knitting," watching the Rockefeller Center tree lighting on TV.  And I'm not going to lie -- Mommy got a little bit teary.  How'd I get so lucky?

So, what do you think....when will he start actually knitting?  Will he still be little enough to get away with sitting around in unzipped footie jammies with his belly hanging out?

Comments

[Lori aka knittingfool]

Adorable! Cast on and knit a couple of rows (so it's not so fiddly), and let him go at it!

[Anna B aka wooliewoman]

And I love the picture with his "knitting" in hand and bat in his lap. Very well balanced boy. :) Adorable is right.

[Kim]

So, so sweet. And awesome. You did get very lucky.

[Jenn C. aka Siercia]

That is so sweet, and he is just adorable!

I would think he'd be ready for "real" knitting at about 4 or 5, maybe get him a spool knitter to fiddle with now?

[Susan]

Heck, I'm teary and I don't even know him. So very sweet!! When my niece was young I was into quilting and such and she would get out her box of 'fabwick' and plot out designs. Unfortunately by the time she was skillful enough to use a real needle, her life was all about softball :)

[Stephanie S]

He'll be knitting at four -- He's bright. :-)