Is My Knitting a Square?

I get this question all the time from new knitters!

In Waldorf schools, children learn to knit before they learn to read (it helps strengthen the brain's ability to pass information between the two hemispheres) so Waldorf teachers have tons of patterns for adorable stuffed animals. We start out with animals that are made from just squares.

The progression I use most often with children is

kitten (square - knit stitch, how to cast off, how to sew up)

chicken (square - how to make a slip knot, how to cast on)

lamb (how to read a pattern, how to increase and decrease)

Then they make a second choice of animal using just the knit stitch (lion, elephant, pig -- these each introduce different skills). When they are ready to learn to purl, we make a square again all in purl stitch. This gives them enough time to get muscle memory for purling. We sew that square up into a turtle, and slip a tiny freshwater pearl into it to celebrate their new skill!

From there, they will combine knitting and purling to make a star gnome in stockinette stitch (knit a row, purl a row). It is exciting to see the V's form!

The lamb, lion, elephant, and pig patterns are all from A First Book of Knitting for Children. The kitten I learned from Nicole Nicola Rodriguez, the chicken I learned from Barbara Dewey, and the turtle I learned from Dan, a fellow student in my Handwork Teacher Training.

A First Book of Knitting for Children
by Bonnie Gosse and Jill Allerton

How do you know if your knitting is a square? When do you stop knitting?

when I explain this to kids, I tell them to "fold it like a paper airplane"

simply fold your work to make a triangle along the needle

if the folded portion completely covers itself, with nothing sticking out,
you have a square! no ruler needed!!

sometimes children will be eager to be done, so they will pull hard on their work and completely cover the lefthand needle

this won't be a square when you go to sew it up!

make sure that the knitting needle is still showing to the left of your triangle

this looks like a square, but is it?

not yet... one more row to go

NOW it's a square

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Here are all of the blog posts in my Handwork Series:

Handwork Series - K

Handwork Series - grade 1

Handwork Series - grade 2

Handwork Series - grade 3

Handwork Series - grade 4

Handwork Series - grade 5

Handwork Series - grade 6

Handwork Series - grade 7

Handwork Series - grade 8

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I received this question from a mom in my First Grade Immersive who is also herself a new knitter. I am happy to write blog posts or do a phone or video call to answer questions; just let me know what's on your mind!

First Grade Immersive Experience
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