Learning To Knit

I want so much to learn to knit That Grandma said if I would sit Quite patiently, nor fret, nor pout, Should all my work be raveled out, She’d try to teach me, for I ought To learn while still a child, she thought.

“You hold the needles so,” she said, “And round your finger wind your thread. Take up a stitch and knit it plain, And then another one again; Be sure and do not knit too tight, Keep all the stitches well in sight.”

“Don’t split a stitch, don’t twist the wool; Slip off the loop and never pull; Don’t drop a stitch, do what you will, For such a gap no art can fill. See that the work looks smooth and plain; If rough, then all your toil’s in vain!”

The while she talked, her fingers flew As swift as birds across the blue; Her needles twinkled like the rain That dashes down the window-pane; Her ball went round at such a pace You held your breath to see it race.

I wonder if in Grandma’s day Their grandmas taught in such a way! A modern child’s too slow, by far, To learn from such a shooting-star; As well a rabbit might, for fun, Instruct a tortoise how to run!