Please help me help DS learn to knit!

[IHateCoronavirus]

DS is 5 and all he wants to do in his little life is knit a blanket. It is all he talks about.

Unfortunately he has me as a mother and I am as uncoordinated as can be, so I have no clue where to even start. MIL tried to teach me once and I ended up with one needle wedged between my knees to free up a hand, to weave the wool and I’m sure teeth were involved too!

Can anyone advise me what he will need, how to support him, where to look to find an easy technique? Your advice will be much appreciated

YouTube videos, chunky yarn and appropriate sized needles (it will tell you on the paper band round the yarn). He can knit squares.

Someone else might be able to recommend a book but IMO you could do worse than buy a knitting magazine, they often have extremely clear basic instructions and diagrams. If you get one with free yarn and needles it will likely be horrible quality but that’s ok for the initial stage of learning.

Wool and the gang have videos on YouTube that are informative.

Google wool shops near where you live, the one by us has lessons, craft groups, regular meetings again now restrictions have eased, they might be able to teach him or point you in the right direction.

I think 5 is rather young, although you know your 5 year old.
A blanket also sounds quite ambitious in terms of size if not technique.
Anyway, good luck! YouTube is your friend.

Good point about yarn shops. They are often run by lovely enthusiastic people who are happy to show you things informally and tell you what to buy.

Ask your MIL if she will teach him.

Thank you all. Love the idea about yarn shops, he’ll enjoy picking out colours too. I will also pick up a few magazines.

He can knit a blanket for Freddy teddy to start with, if size becomes an issue.

Unfortunately MIL lives overseas and is in poor health, otherwise she would ha e been my number one choice.

A blanket is ambitious but if you do squares you can stop at whatever size you get to and make it a doll’s blanket/baby blanket/lap blanket or whatever.

My MIL started my son off with a knitting doll and he went from there. There are lots of sets on Amazon for kids. He got the hang of it but the needles had to be quite thick and that meant that the knitting was very holey and not close together if that makes any sense.

This is a idea
Try to find sewing classes locally. Find books at your local library too.

There’s some great guys who do YouTube knitting videos as well.

Look up loom knitting or finger knitting as a place to start for both of you. It helps get to grips with the fact that basically all you are doing is making a knot either at the front or at the back of your piece of work. You're just doing it with a tool (fingers, needle, loom).

You can get the hoop looms in discount stores or places like Amazon, hobby craft easily and they're very straightforward to use.

@HalfShrunkMoreToGo

Look up loom knitting or finger knitting as a place to start for both of you. It helps get to grips with the fact that basically all you are doing is making a knot either at the front or at the back of your piece of work. You're just doing it with a tool (fingers, needle, loom).

You can get the hoop looms in discount stores or places like Amazon, hobby craft easily and they're very straightforward to use.

I have ordered him a loom. Thank you. It looks quite achievable and as pp have said, if he does it in sections he can stitch them together. ah I’m quite excited for him.