conversion

I received one of the best text messages ever last Friday afternoon from my sister-in-law, about my little Brooklyn nephews.

Apparently, my nephews tackled my brother as soon as he walked in the door from work that night.

"Who do we know who knits?" they demanded. 

"Hmmm," my brother replied. "Let me think about that..."

Once I had my assignment, my wheels started turning in overdrive. How to adapt a hat so it will be a success for a six year old beginner? An emergency trip to Michael's later, I came up with some bulky yarn and 16" size 11 circular needles.

Note to Michael's: enough with the goofy yarn already! Between that damn ladder ruffle "yarn" in a zillion colors and a bunch of fun fur (people are still knitting with that? that much? really?), I had a hard time unearthing some solid bulky yarn that wasn't Homespun. I may have had to dig into the totes under the shelves, but I'll never cop to it.

After my convert pupil was done skating and I could measure his head, I cast on 52 stitches, did a quick inch of k2p2 ribbing for a brim, and let him take over. He only needed a bit of help to remember what he had learned a few days ago, then he was off to the races. I figure that he can knit around and around to his heart's content—no need to turn around at the end of a row—and hopefully that will be in the ballpark of a hat, which I can finish off for him in a couple of weeks using double point needles.

Obligatory mug of post-skating hot chocolate at hand.

My boys' response: "MOM!!! Did you turn him?"

Nope. Someone else did it for me. But I was thrilled to hear that he knitted all the way home, and in front of the TV the next day. He'll have a hat's worth of knitting in no time flat. And what better way to create a new enthusiastic knitter than letting him make exactly what he wants?