French Knitting

Each week, we like to have an ongoing project that we consider a "homesteading" project.  This means  that it has something to do with the improvement or care for the home.  This week, we worked on French knitting.

The first step was making the spools, which involved toilet paper rolls, decorated tongue depressors, and duct tape.

Once the spools were made, the kids took turns getting hand-over-hand help in wrapping the stitches, grabbing one at a time, and carefully pulling it over the top of the prong.  This took some very fine motor skills, and the kids did great.  They caught on, and watched as the tail slowly emerged from the bottom of the tube (spool).  The steps for French knitting went like this:

1.  Wrap around each prong 2 times (one over the other)
2.  Grab the bottom loop and pull it over the top; do this all the way around.
3.  Grab the "tugger" and tug a few times.
4.  Repeat, repeat, repeat.

This project required fine motor skills, patience, good listening skills, and provided some sensory stimulation as well.  There is also value in working side-by-side with an adult who is walking through the process with you.