Part II: Make Your Knitting Needles
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Materials Needed
To make one pair of knitting needles:
~ one 1/2 inch wooden dowel to cut into 2 ten inch lengths
~ a bead for the top of each
~ sandpaper
~ glue
~ a small chunk of beeswax and a cloth rag for polishing
::
Begin
Gather Your Materials
Cut the wooden dowels to be ten inches long.
Sharpen them with a pencil sharpener.
Sand them all over and pop a top on the end. We used beads that fit just right on the end. If you have an acorn cap, that might fit nicely on the bead with a little beeswax or glue to hold it on. Clay works too.
Rub them with beeswax.
Knit Something with Them!
Now you are ready to begin your first project.
Go to -> Part III: Teaching Children How to Knit by Angela Mobley, a Waldorf School Handwork Teacher for step by step knitting instructions.
Consider local resources for knitting support: grandparents, neighbors, friends, senior citizen centers, homes for the elderly, you may be surprised at the connection that can be made around knitting and at the wisdom just waiting to be shared. A sweet bonus is the creation of community for you and your children.
Lisa Boisvert Mackenzie is the Editor and Publisher of The Wonder of Childhood and has spent the past fifteen years with one of her own children in early childhood (under seven years of age.) She was blessed with a wondrous, rhythmic and outdoor childhood on the coast of Maine. Lisa has worked with children and their families for the past twenty two years, initially as a homebirth midwife. Lisa’s home based program The Children’s Garden began twelve years ago on a remote tropical island in the Pacific Ocean. Lisa’s current focus is on supporting parents of very young children and exploring the needs of boys in relationship to the Waldorf curriculum and ways of implementing support for those needs within the Waldorf curriculum. She lives with her family in Vermont. Lisa blogs at Celebrate the Rhythm of Life and Caring for Children in Celebrating the Rhythm of Life through the Year and hosts a discussion groups for parents of young children here.
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Do you publish on this site your actual knitting story from which the rhyme flows? Thanks.
Hi Bailey, Sorry, it is not here. Over on The Waldorf School of Atlanta site, you can read about how a first grade handwork teachers introduces knitting with a story. http://www.waldorfatlanta.org/blog-gen/?p=912
Thank you for this article. I think that I will try to do it with my daughter. She is four years old, do you think she might sucess to do it ?
Thanks,
Adeline
PS : Sorry for my bad english !
Hi Adeline, Thanks for stopping by! Your daughter could help you make knitting needles for someone else, you maybe? or as a gift? Four is young to have the dexterity to knit with needles. She might like to finger knit, here’s an example of finger knitting: http://waldorfmama.typepad.com/waldorf_mama/2009/02/first-knitting.html