Search - The Art of Knitting 4 Kids (Leisure Arts #4406) on DVD

Charming and effective knitting instruction for kids

JoAnne Zoller Wagner | 02/16/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Art of Knitting 4 Kids is great--very entertaining, with good teachers!

The DVD has four parts. In the first part, a 7 year old boy, Ryan, teaches you how to knit. He is adorable, straightforward, takes it slow, and does lots of repetition. The camera work is particularly good in this section. Ryan states his qualifications at the beginning of the session: "I've taught my mother and my grandmother how to knit." I believe him!

Part two: Dr. Elizabeth Seward tells a story about a set of twins who want to learn to knit. The story has several segments, each designed to help the kids visualize what they're going to do next. Then she teaches those skills to a little boy and a little girl.

Part three: Marcy Levitas Hamilton, a knitting instructor and the producer, teaches kids how to make a striped ball by knitting a rectangular strip and pulling each side together at the purl bumps. She has a lively and friendly style.

Part four: A visit to a real alpaca farm to learn about where knitting fibers come from, showing the fiber-making process, from shearing to spinning. Kids would love this, as most kids have no idea where natural fibers come from!

The video is very well done, and kids will have a window into three styles of teaching knitting. The animations for Dr. Seward's story were nicely done and in the style of Mr. Rogers--gentle and kind. Slow enough to get the point, too. I liked her story!

I only have two "wish they'd done it another way" thoughts:

1. All three knitting instructors showed bringing the loop through the stitch by pushing on the right needle with the pointer finger of your left hand. I have found that when new knitters do this, their pointer finger gets awfully sore! It isn't necessary, and can be avoided by turning the right needle so that it will bring the loop back naturally, without being pushed by the left pointer finger.

2. In Dr. Seward's segment, she asks the little girl to bind off more loosely, but she doesn't listen, and she ends up with the usual scrunched up top edge. This is a really common problem with beginner (and sometimes experienced knitters), but can be easily avoided by using a needle 1-2 sizes larger than the one used to knit the piece. Then you can just knit the way you normally would.

In addition, knitters who pick rather than throw may be disappointed by the video, because all three knitting teachers are throwers. That didn't bother me, but it might bother the "knit- picking" adult who purchases this to help them teach their child how to knit.

All in all, the video is very entertaining, fun, appropriately paced, and offers kids several excellent opportunities to learn to knit. I would recommend it for any kid who would like to learn to knit, and also for any adult who would like to see some effective "teach a kid to knit" teaching styles up close. Very nice!"