Tween Knitter

Teen Knitting Club: Chill Out and Knit by Jennifer Wenger, Carol Abrams, and Maureen Lasher.  Photographs by Liz Banfield.  Artisan.  2004.

Got to love a good hobby.  A big part about learning how to knit is knowing your learning style.  Visual learners can look up how-to videos on YouTube:

Or if you're a more kinesthetic learner, there is nothing like a knowledgeable grandma, or a surrogate grandma at your local knitting club.  Also, knitting isn't just for girls.  In Sweden, everyone learns to knit, boys and girls, in the third grade.  Maybe they're onto something, teaching newly minted tweens how to make cool stuff out of yarn.

TKC is great because it demystifies knitting and provides patterns that are relevant to tweens and teens.  Nothing too difficult.  I think the headbands are a good place to start.  The project leads to faster results then the typical first project scarf, even though the there are plenty of scarf patterns in the book, too.  Trust me, when it comes to knitting, fast satisfaction is a great thing when you're first starting out.  There's actually a sweater pattern in the book I've been meaning to try, it's so hard to find a simple straight forward sweater pattern these days.

Also, the photographs are warm and friendly.  I want to make a cup of tea, grab my knitting bag and go sit with these tweens, ask them how their days were at school while I help them cast on and such.