What age were you

Anyone tempted, like me, to get the knitting needles out and start making something?

I was four when my Grandma taught me.
I remember thinking I had worked out a quick way to knit, by simply slipping stitches from the left hand needle to the right.
It took me some time to realise that if you did that, the knitting wouldn’t actually grow.
Later on my friends could all knit & we would sit in each others’ houses, talking and making clothes for our dolls.
I used to love going to the wool shop with mum & looking at all the different coloured wools and patterns. They sold ribbon too & I would mither mum for new hair ribbons.
When I was 8 I made a pink cardigan for myself.
I love knitting but I still don’t like sewing the pieces together!

Like Kittye I never managed to master crochet either. My mother gave up trying to teach me and I never tried again. I tried to teach my own DD to knit and she couldn’t master it.

Aw they sound lovely Coolgran, what fun!

I used to always have something on needles especially Aran sweaters but eventually they for a bit heavy to handle for my hands and wrists.
Nowadays I still knit but it's likely to be squares for a blanket or funky hats. At the moment the wee ones all want cat hats and I'm putting bells on the corners for fun.

I was 6 or 7. My mum was always knitting, so it seemed perfectly natural to knit as well. I used to knit things for my dollies . I've knitted on and off all my life, but now it's not so easy with the carpel tunnel syndrome I have in my left wrist. I can only knit 2 or 3 rows before my hand goes numb and I have to stop till the circulation starts up again. It gets rather tedious!!!

Thank you Bragg’s, I’ll have a look for some.

I was five, and had measles. My aunt came to stay and, to keep my occupied, she taught me to knit. I'll always be grateful to her for one of the few skills I possess.

Forgot to add. I am left handed so sort of knit in my own way. An acquaintance said I knitted like a cow.!!

I was 8 and in primary school. We used grey , oily wool to knit kettle holders, I loved it and still knit a lot today
My DH remembers spending hours holding a skein of wool whilst his Mum or Gran wound it into balls.
I was fascinated as a child by an aunt who knitted Fairisle jumpers. She never seemed to look at the colours of the wool.

I learned at 13. I made a short sleeved summer jumper with tiny cables after starting with scarves stc. This jumper lasted for years. I also learned to crotchet and make granny squares for blamkets. I still do both

Yes, you can still buy skeins of wool, especially "posh wool".

Just seem Maywalk’s post. I used to help Mum and Granny unravel old jumpers and cardigans for the wool to be used again. Spent ages rewinding it. Am I right in thinking that wool could also be bought in skeins that had to wound into balls before it could be used? Can these still be bought?

One of my very early memories is of sitting on our neighbour's kitchen table being taught to knit. I was four at the time. Of course I wasn't very proficient for a long time after that but I did knit. I even developed my own consistent mistakes such as always knitting into the back of the stitch!
My mum corrected that some years later.

My eldest DD learned to knit when she was five and was very good at it forever thereafter. She also learned to tie shoelaces at the age of four and a half, nae bother.

DD2 who is left-handed learned to knit at a similar age just to prove she could too.

DD3 was nine or ten and didn't really take to it. Nor to tying shoelaces.

Probably about 10. Not knitted for years since my children were small. Didn't knit much at all for GC I think parents preferred shop bought. Charity shops are full of hand knitted children's jumpers and cardies, think they are out of fashion nowadays. I never managed to master crocheting despite trying on and off for over 50 years ?

Thankyou for the welcome Scribbles.

I had to learn to knit for Brownies and I never got on with it. Mum used to knit my Dad’s socks and she taught me to darn the holes (also for Brownies). This was a much preferred pastime. I’m still sewing but did some knitting recently and it’s growing on me.

Thanks for the comeback ladies. Yes Buffybee I am 88 years old now and lost count many years ago of all that I have knitted. Started with socks and balaclavas for the troops in WW2. One of the biggest nightmares during those far off years was having to undo an old jumper to reuse the yarn. Had to be done because wool was in short supply and we were on coupons. IF it could be saved we had to unravel it.

I think I was about 6, my 4 year old sister learnt at the same time and was better than me. She knitted curtains for our dolls house.

I have knitted in fits and starts ever since, but I am not very good at it. In recent years I have mainly knitted dolls clothes, although DD volunteered to make a Katy Morag skirt for DS's daughter and said that I would knit the sweater to go with it for World Book Day. The pattern had a circular yoke, way above my pay-grade of knitting. However I gritted my teeth and did it. I felt very proud of myself, but never, ever again. The things we do in order not to disappoint a grandchild!

I can beat that, Greyduster. I have a part-knitted jumper that's been waiting for me to finish it for at least 3 years now. It's a very simple design because I'm a very simple knitter; I only really learned how to do it in my late 50s, about 10 years ago.

Unfortunately, the tension of my knitting reflects my state of mind. If I'm relaxed and chilled out, the knitting is large and loose. If I'm stressed or cross, it's tight and tiny so I tend to produce garments where the back and the front end up entirely different sizes which results in hours of unravelling and re-doing.

I'm sure there's a solution; I just don't know what it is!

PS: Lovely to see you here, Maywalk!

I learnt at about 10 I think, I’ve been trying to teach my 13 yr old GD but she seems unable to get it ? we’ll persevere.

My mother taught me when I was eight or nine. I wasn’t a very willing pupil, but I’m glad I learned. I knitted most of my children’s sweaters when they were small; then cabled cricket sweaters for DS, and school sweaters for both of them. I knitted feverishly for GS; all kinds of lovely designs, but as he got older, he found any sort of wool that came into contact with his skin uncomfortable and refused to wear it (after having told me he would like a jumper with a Star Wars storm trooper knitted into it which took donkeys ages and was a complete pain!). Two years ago I started knitting a cardigan for myself. I still haven’t finished it. I think it is a lost cause!

I remember knitting a red cardigan (to fit me) at my country primary school when I was about nine. Boys and girls all learned to cook, knit and sew (including darning). I think I must have been able to knit before then as I succeeded in making the cardi!

You must have made a lot of jumpers, cardigans and other things over those years May.
I was taught to knit at about the age of 5 by a next door neighbour, who we called Auntie Jayny, she was looking after me as I was off school ill, with Chicken Pox, I think.
I was so thrilled when I managed to make a little scarf for my doll.
I'm not the best knitter but I can manage simple patterns, and my Grandma taught me to sew, by hand and machine at about 8.
My Mother who was a brilliant cook taught me from very young as well.
I taught my Grandchildren to sew, knit and cook at a very young age.
My Twin Granddaughters are at University and they can't believe they are some of the only ones who can sew and are always being asked to sew buttons on etc.
It's a shame that these simple skills are not being passed on any more.

About 7, loved it, a hobby which developed into designing and making knitwear and selling in craft fairs. Arthritis has robbed me of knitting, tapestry and cross stitch.