french knitting

You know when you see something on Pinterest and you can tell it is going to change your life.

Well, life changing may be a stretch, but this was a fabulous addition to our practical life shelf.

A few weeks ago, this Pin, was on my Pinterest home page. A large, stable looking French knitter, and I knew it would be perfect for the class.

Years ago, when my stepdaughter was 6, I bought this French knitter.

It was terrible. The pegs weren’t long enough, you really needed a crochet hook to pull the yarn up and over. For us, it was a work that was past her frustration level, and that’s not where I like to be.

I then continued to buy little French knitters over the next few years, plastic ones, cute doll looking ones, but never did I find one that was really a tool young children could use. I gave up the search and embraced finger knitting as the knitting work my classroom. You can read about finger knitting in the class here.

Then, I saw The Pin. And thankfully, Imogen hoards toilet paper tubes and my school has many colored popsicle sticks. The next morning, in about 10 minutes, the work was ready. My only disappointment was that I didn’t know about it sooner.

French Knitting with a Toilet Paper Tube

Materials

• Toilet paper tube with 4 or more popsicle sticks taped securely to the side
• Yarn (I used the same yarn that we have set up to finger knitting)
• Basket to hold materials

Presentation

• Child takes work to her table
• Thread the end of the yarn all the way through the tube so it peeks out the end
• Starting with the stick at 12 o’clock, wrap the yarn around once in a clockwise direction
• Move to the stick at 9 o’clock and wrap in a clockwise direction
• Repeat for the 6 o’clock stick
• Same for the 3 o’clock stick – (it should look like a square spider web)
• To knit, have the child place the yarn over the next stick on the outside of the tube (continuing to work counter clockwise) and then pull the bottom yarn over the top yarn and off the popsicle stick
• Continue in a counter clockwise direction (it is easy and natural for the child to hold the tube near their stomach and turn the tube as they work.
• To finish, cut the working end from the ball, and then thread the end under the loop and then remove the loop from the stick. Repeat for all sticks.
• To make it really secure, I then loop the end through the last loop that was removed and tie a knot.

Notes:

• My coteacher and I help the child get set up and usually help them make the first round of stitches. I am sure with time, they will be able to get started on their own, and then the older children can help the younger one, the same way that finger knitting works in our class.
• I still use the same story that I use for finger knitting. The first loop on the stick is the sheep and the child builds a fence (lay the yarn across the stick, above the first loop), but the sheep still jumps over (move lower loop over top loop).
• I am sure there is a true way to cast off from a French knitter, I just improvised and did what I do with finger knitting since the children were already familiar and independent with this step.
• For more information visit My Material Life. The video of the little boy is too adorable. She also has many posts about projects to do with your knitting.

I don’t know how this will fit into our knitting sequence (now that there are two lessons I get to call it a sequence!). Right now, I am not sure which one I want to introduce first next year. I think the French knitter may be easier, but did it only seem that way since everyone who used it this year already knew how to finger knit? However, I do think there is something wonderful about the children just using their hands when they start knitting, and then bringing out the French knitter is a new exciting variation. We will see how it works out in the fall.

One thing’s for certain, I need to order this book, so the children can make more than belts, necklaces and bracelets with all their knitting.

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