Do not doubt the determination of a 7 year old

My daughter was home sick with me for a few days in December and what did she want to do? Have me teach her how to knit a hat to give to her Grammy (that's Grandma to you ;) for Christmas.

Now, she learned how to knit last summer, and made herself a cute scarf but didn't have too much knitting time with school and all. She recently wanted to try to use my "fancy thick and thin yarn" which is challenging to knit with and keep even tension. (and it's expensive, but she was so passionate about trying, I thought we'd give it a go)

WELL!

She learned to use circular needles (knitting in the round) AND then she switched to double-pointed ones - which means she was using 5 needles at once. And look at her go!

Her tension is incredible (tension is a good thing, non-knitters- it means keeping your stitches even, which is no easy feat on this yarn, not to mention when using 5 needles at once!)

For you knitters that haven't tried knitting on double points- SPLURGE on wooden or bamboo needles! It makes ALL the difference! The yarn sticks to them more (a good thing when you have so many needles going at once!) Metal doublepoints had me completely frustrated when I first learned to use double points! They kept slipping and dropping to the floor! 

And then she picked the perfect button to accent it and sewed it on herself. 

I could BURST I am so proud of her!

And then she made a matching scarf out of the same yarn on giant size 17 needles ( Her Grammy actually commissioned her to make a scarf for her- amazing huh? First commission at 7! But my little miss O wanted to make her Grammy a surprise present too, hence the hat!)

She got to deliver them in person to her Grammy when we went to visit over the holiday break! Look how excited she is to tell her Grammy that she has something else for her….

Ta-Da! Here is the finished set!

I honestly don't know which of the three of us is more proud. I do know that Grammy has been wearing this non-stop (thank goodness for that cold spell, otherwise she might be melting in it!) I have to say, she wore it when we were together visiting and numerous people stopped her to compliment her on it and she happily regaled the story of how her then 7 year old granddaughter made the ensemble for her. A knitter who heard the story told us, "I've never tried double points, I've been too scared. But if your 7 year old granddaughter did it, I am going to try it too!) Way to inspire, LMO! 

After finishing her hat, my daughter asked me when she would be old enough to have her own label. 

I think I have given birth to my competition. : )

The lesson of the day - Share your passions with your children and if they are interested in something else, let them try it! You NEVER know where it will take them. 

And let them use that expensive ball of yarn!