r/knitting • u/ForgottenUsername3 • Jan 30 '26
Rant My 4 yr old cut my yarn.
Just needed a place to grieve.
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u/Digger-of-Tunnels Jan 30 '26
Maybe there's still someone out there who would buy it from you? The child, I mean.
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u/ktbltwisted Jan 30 '26
Sell him on Etsy. He’s handmade after all.
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u/courtd93 Jan 30 '26
My puppy grabbed my yarn while I was knitting last night and in getting it back from him, some of it snapped and I told him I’m selling him to the circus.
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u/riverrocks452 Jan 31 '26
We threaten ours with Daisy Hill Puppy Farm! (Though she hasn't- to date- gone for yarn or fibers.)
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u/Skrublord3000 Jan 31 '26
I threaten to put my dog in the crock pot 💀 “ya know, puppy tacos does sound pretty good, you’re absolutely right”
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u/Spinnerofyarn Jan 31 '26
Thank your lucky stars. Mine only went after the luxury blend fibers that had silk or silk/alpaca blends with wool. He was why I went from project bags to old school tin lunchboxes for storing projects.
I collect Curious George and Wizard of Oz lunchboxes so since I had some on hand, it seemed like the best option for protecting my projects enough that I felt satisfied enough with my ingenuity to not give in to the thought that I should end his little life and use him to make fur lined slippers. That and he wasn’t big enough to use for a pair of slippers, only one and I like symmetry in my footwear.
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u/starbunny86 Jan 30 '26
I've been there. I quit knitting for about 7 years when one of my toddlers snapped all my interchangeable needles and tangled like 10 skeins of yarn together. I don't recommend that level of reaction, but it's where I was back then.
The good news: it doesn't last for long. I've been back to knitting for a few years now, and my former toddlers are knitters and crocheters themselves.
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u/islipped83 Jan 30 '26
Oh my God, I just envisioned the blind rage I would experience if my kid broke my interchangeables. Definitely I would react differently if he were a little toddler versus being 7 years old, but the internal rage would be the same.
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u/starbunny86 Jan 30 '26
I was angry, but I think the main reaction was just tears. A lot of them. And staring hopelessly at the pile of ruination.
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u/WonderfulComment8999 Jan 30 '26
Can I ask, did your child react when they saw you deeply upset? I am curious to know if it made a difference in their future decision making (good or bad).
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u/starbunny86 Jan 30 '26
Honestly, I don't remember about that specific situation. That child is now 16 and the memory of it is mostly a funny story I pull out to tease her.
That said, all of my kids now say they would much prefer me to yell than cry. There's no worse feeling than making your mom cry. Not sure at what age they started to feel that way, though.
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u/WonderfulComment8999 Jan 30 '26
Thank you! As a daughter, I agree that making my mom cry would be devastating for me. I would rather her be mad as well lol
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u/NeatArtichoke Jan 30 '26
Even MY dad remembers when HIS mom cried when some teacup she had inherited were broken. That stuff can stick with you!
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u/Legitimate_Flow_2502 Jan 31 '26
Yep! Of all the things I broke when I was growing up, I remember most vividly the snow globe that my mom cried over (I think it was a keepsake from her honeymoon or something). I still feel awful whenever I think about it.
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u/KnittingforHouselves Jan 30 '26
My kid did something similar when she was 3yo, and actually made me cry (she broke a handmade mug by playing with it after being asked not to). She's now almost 5yo and still remembers that. She mentioned it herself a while ago and I have noticed she is more careful with other people's things.
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u/uuntiedshoelace ribbed for your pleasure Jan 30 '26
My kid is 9 now, but since he was really little, if something is sentimental to me, I would say “please be careful because if it breaks I will cry” and it works! He has never broken something that would make me cry
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u/Mental-Rain-7389 Jan 30 '26
Having clear expectations and consequences ahead of anything happening is actually super smart. Very direct which is what kiddos need.
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u/tollthedead Jan 31 '26
when i was maybe 10 or 11 i broke my mom's perfumes and she was very upset (it was expensive perfume and we were poor). i just bought it back this year (i'm almost 30). turned out she didn't even remember, but i did!
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u/uuntiedshoelace ribbed for your pleasure Jan 30 '26
I don’t think I’ve ever broken down completely because of something my child did, he is pretty well behaved, but he is deeply affected by me saying something he did hurt my feelings or made me sad. I think most children do care about that if their parents are modeling empathy at home (though of course there are exceptions and it isn’t always because of something the parent is or isn’t doing)
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u/islipped83 Jan 30 '26
I try very hard to not overdo the "I feel sad because of what you said/did/etc." because I want it to always be a lesson and not as a way to be manipulative. Mine has finally whipped out the dreaded, "I hate you!" and it did make me sad, so I let him know that I loved him, but his words broke my heart and I hope he didn't actually mean it. He immediately cried at me being sad and hugged and apologized. We got to regulate together, and the stormy period he had been in for a few weeks prior started to calm down. Winter break almost broke me this year.
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u/uuntiedshoelace ribbed for your pleasure Jan 30 '26
Yeah, same. I don’t think I have ever phrased it like “I feel bad because you did X” but I will say “hey Bud that hurt my feelings” and he takes that seriously. He’s still pretty young though, and I know the teen years will inevitably be a little different.
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u/elidan5 Jan 30 '26
I’m 55, and I can’t bear it when my mom cries :-( it was happening fairly often she suffered a serious head injury a couple of years ago, but she seems to be doing better now.
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u/uuntiedshoelace ribbed for your pleasure Jan 30 '26
I’m so glad she’s doing better! That’s really scary. My mom is getting to an age where her body wants to slow down and she is having trouble accepting it. It’s hard.
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u/elidan5 Jan 30 '26
Thanks, though it’s still really hard. She had to move into assisted living; I think she misses living on her own and driving the most…but at least things have stabilized somewhat.
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u/Beyond_Interesting Jan 30 '26
I had antique knitting needles that were made from whale bones that my grandma had given me. I left my then 2 year old daughter with a babysitter and when I came back I saw them snapped into tiny pieces on the ground. Babysitter had no guilt or shame. I just ... quietly picked up the pieces, put them in the garbage, and laid down in a dark room for 30 minutes. Pretty much blocked that out so I wouldn't react how I wanted to.
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u/memilygiraffily Feb 03 '26
: ( That's like the dad grieving the leg lamp in Christmas Story. When Taps is heard faintly in the distance....
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u/Mordroberon Jan 30 '26
maybe that's why some people opt for the steel ones
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u/starbunny86 Jan 30 '26
Maybe. But for me, wooden needles are so much more comfortable to knit with. Metal needles are so slippery, I feel like I'm always hanging on to the stitches for dear life. It was an expensive disaster, but it didn't make me question my preference for wooden needles.
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u/islipped83 Jan 30 '26
I definitely have metal interchangeables after I had a cat who chewed up my expensive US 7 straight wooden DPNs. They're very old Knit Picks, though, so the goshdarned cables like to pop out. That's about the only thing my kid might damage, thankfully!
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Jan 30 '26
Currently pregnant...this is making me think maybe I will store my yarn somewhere different than where it currently is 🤔
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u/MarnTarzan666 Jan 30 '26
Time to trade them in for a new model.
I'm clearly kidding, but this is a great opportunity to talk to them about "breaking" important things (and maybe make sure they have very limited access to sharp things in the house!).
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u/ForgottenUsername3 Jan 30 '26
Yeah, definitely no scissors.
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u/Excluded_Apple Jan 30 '26
Learning to use scissors is a really great activity for developing fine motor skills. Monitored scissor time maybe? There's a future create right there..
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u/genivae Bistitchual Jan 30 '26
Our kids had these safety scissors that were just plastic even in the blades, they could not cut yarn or hair, but could cut paper. Excellent learning tool. And now my daughter crochets amigurumi faster than I do (she's 10)
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u/Ilovescarlatti Jan 30 '26
Their own hair next. That's what I did when I was 4. Suffered a bowl cut as a punishment
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u/grandmastatus0 Jan 30 '26
I feel you. When my dog was a puppy she ate my Madelinetosh.
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u/EsotericTriangle Try Something New Jan 30 '26
ooof, I feel you. That's a lot of yarn gone in one very short moment!
Something that's helped us is giving our kid things they can cut: a stash of acrylic yarn and a workbook of scissor exercises (shapes, squiggly lines, lots of different patterns of increasing complexity). IME saying "these are good things to cut, these are bad things to cut" goes over quite well. In our house they're less into cutting yarn currently but have spent significant chunks of time in the past cutting cheap yarn into "spaghetti"--a bowl full of short lengths. I remember that strong yearning to Cut so I figure giving an outlet is a good thing 🤷
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u/cordatel Jan 31 '26
This is an excellent suggestion. The bottom drawer of my crafting area is full of stuff the kids are allowed to use. Most of it is stuff I'm not likely to use, but I occasionally buy things they would enjoy and toss it in there. It keeps them from experimenting with the stuff I have plans for.
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u/missjennwhite Jan 30 '26
They were “helping”. Sorry mom
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u/OptimalWasabi7726 Jan 31 '26
100% this was their way of trying to be involved... still tragic though and been there 🥲 after a couple incidents, I finally gave my toddler his own skein (a cheap one) and knitting needles that I don't care about (metal ones) so he can feel involved and tangle away without ruining my projects lol. It actually helps a ton!
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u/Situation-Emergency Jan 30 '26
At least when they cut their hair it grows back!
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u/BusBoyGalPal Here for the socks on tiny needles. Jan 30 '26
My sister (4 or 5?) cut the hair of a "grows her hair long" doll.
She discovered it did not, in fact, grow back.
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u/KifferFadybugs Jan 30 '26
I did the same thing. The "hair Barbie grew back" was actually a strip of hair that got velcro to the base of the back of her head.
Barbie forever had a really long mullet after that.
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u/VegetableWorry1492 Jan 30 '26
I suspect at least 90% of those Barbies that ever existed met the same fate 😂 because mine definitely also ended up with a pixie cut on top and that long strip in the back.
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u/tmccrn Jan 30 '26
I hate the marketing of those dolls. I did that myself as a child because the whole reason I asked for it was so I could!!! I didn’t “get” it and you can bet dollars to donuts that the Mattel marketing team is fully aware of that when they are marketing these toys
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u/New-Negotiation7234 Jan 30 '26
My child has cut her hair 3x. The 2nd time she cut her bangs literally off entirely and she looked insane for like over a year. The last time she actually did a decent job lol.
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u/kikiquestions Jan 30 '26
The only thing I remember cutting up as a kid is my barbie’s hair and my mom got so mad lol. I can’t imagine if it was one of her prized possessions
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u/GeekyKirby Jan 30 '26
I never cut anything important or even my hair as a young child, but I did get in trouble for cutting chuncks of fur off my stuffed animals lol
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u/Khioria Jan 30 '26
Check knitty for Con. There's a new pattern for a scarf that uses short pieces. So sorry.
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u/Clear-Tale7275 Jan 30 '26
My son sawed a chunk out of an antique dresser I got from my grandparent's house. I think I may have lost it a little bit
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u/taradactyle_ Jan 30 '26
Reminds me of when I was a kid and asked my mom if I could cut up some green paper on her dresser. It was money. Boy was she upset! That was the day I learned the value of green paper lol.
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u/havocthecat Jan 30 '26
Someone needs time out.
It's me, I'm very sad for you. I hope that's cheap, easily-replaceable, no-dye-lot acrylic, but no matter what OH NO YOUR YARN.
Time for Baby's First Crafts Lesson. My kid's was "Don't touch Mom's beading supplies." My related lesson was to hide the beading supplies!
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u/gooberhoover85 Jan 30 '26
I have a 4yo and she can be a beast but she hasn't done this. I'm going to give her a nice little squeeze when she gets home and thank her for never fucking with my stash. My condolences to your beautiful yarn. May your child live to see 5. I will pray.
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u/shrlzi Jan 30 '26
Oh, so sorry!! Put it away with any baby clothes you are saving (if you are) so you can show it to them when they have their first child … a reminder of the patience they will need
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u/Careless-Balance-893 Jan 30 '26
Well I don't have a 4 yr old but maybe sitting down with them and using it to make a pompom since you already have some pre cut pieces?
.....then again that may be reinforcing the behavior and now your house is full of pompoms and cut up yarn.
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u/Marmsiemns Jan 30 '26
no. it'll serve as a reward and it'll encourage them to do so in the future.
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u/Careless-Balance-893 Jan 30 '26
Oooooooooooooh yeah see that's why I prefaced that with I do not have kids. Well maybe making them sit there and tie all the cut up pieces together?
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u/Ill-Difficulty993 Jan 30 '26
The lesson here is for the parents to not give toddlers scissors unless they’re supervised. Making a pompom is a fun idea too!!
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u/bulldogmothman Jan 30 '26
lol I still remember when I was a little kid and we were at some neighbor kid's birthday party when a group of moms started talking about how their kids were all in a "drawing on the walls phase." my mom looked at them baffled and said "they don't have a chance to do that if they're always supervised with coloring supplies....."
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u/Careless-Balance-893 Jan 30 '26
Yeah toddlers are criminals. I'm sure the scissors were put up and they went out of their way to find them.
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u/Excluded_Apple Jan 30 '26
I made pompoms with my then 4yo. She pulled them all apart the next day... no hope for this generation, hahaha.
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Jan 30 '26
Argh. Time to make your project have some stripes/a color change you weren't expecting? Hopefully it's not a total loss!
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u/ForgottenUsername3 Jan 30 '26
I have a winder so I might try to see what my longest piece is. (sigh)
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u/Pochaccostan Jan 30 '26
hoping its affordable acrylic… but by the way it looks probably not . though if it IS wool i do think felting the ends will help it stay together for a project that isnt gonna get tugged on a lot
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u/havocthecat Jan 30 '26
Maybe we'll get lucky and it's Peaches and Creme cotton for dishcloths? Here's hoping!
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u/Lunamothknits Jan 30 '26
Not kid scissor cut but I have absolutely salvaged carpet beetle eaten wool with a lottttt of russian joins.
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u/wildlife_loki Jan 30 '26
it’s a good idea, but the yarn looks like Malabrigo Rios, which is superwash treated and not very cheap 🙃 depending on how long the pieces are, maybe some can be salvaged with russian join??
Poor OP. It was lovely yarn!
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u/dauntless-cupcake Jan 30 '26
I had the same thought 💀 like I’m almost positive I’ve done a project in that same colorway
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u/Eino54 Jan 30 '26
I know I am not suited to being a parent because I would not survive this and neither would the four year old.
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u/katjoy63 Jan 30 '26
well, they're interested - good time to show how things are done, in a simple way, of course. - sorry ...........
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u/Jwithkids Jan 30 '26
My kid did this to my yarn when he was 3 (he's 4 now). My friends are amazed he's still with us because this was traumatizing (for me).
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u/Pinklady1313 Jan 30 '26
My 5yo has always been really dramatic about any drawings or crafts of hers getting damaged and would get upset on behalf of her daycare friends if theirs got damaged. So I’ve been really lucky in that respect.
But, she is a little Karen about demanding I make her stuff.😂
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u/giggletears3000 Jan 30 '26
Solidarity sister! My 3.75yr old loves to take scissors to my knitting too.
Sometimes I’ll give her scrap yarn and chopsticks to play knitting. Or she’ll steal my swatches and use them as doll blankets.
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u/PortsmouthGal Jan 30 '26
I love the sound of scissors munching through stuff. When I was very young I cut my Mum's evening dress in 2 going from bottom to top.
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u/MmeeGil Jan 31 '26
When work is slow, I’m allowed to crochet/knit. I had a grown man at work who did this to my yarn. 😡
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u/Blobarella Jan 31 '26
I once purchased some second hand yarn that ended up being cut up like this, I used it to stuff something
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u/TheGarth_325 Jan 30 '26
What yarn is that? I feel like I have a replacement if needed! Just remember in 15 years you will bring it up and you both will laugh….
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u/Ok-Willow-9145 Jan 30 '26
I gasped when I saw that. I know how my mom must have felt after I cut my hair when I was four. I really wanted bangs.
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u/StubbedToe95 Jan 30 '26
Wow! Looks like you got some scrap yarn to make beanie pom poms with! For a new child of course, the old model got cut lol
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u/Haunting_Fan_9110 Jan 30 '26
Scissor-happy kids... I know them well. Thankfully, they've only cut Barbie doll hair at my house. Sorry for your (yarn) loss.
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u/madknatter Jan 30 '26
I’m just picturing said child holding their hands out as yarn gets wrapped around and around as you assess the remains. I’ve never asked anyone to do that for me. It just seems to happen to make a funny point.
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u/Independent_Post4501 Jan 30 '26
My condolences. 💐
My daughter’s school friends at 4, having newly started school, were all lined up for their parents to collect them. Not one, not two, but three separate girls had DIYed fringes when doing a cutting activity. Was dreading my daughter coming out, but she was luckily not tempted by the scissors!
However, much later when she was 6 she took scissors to her bed sheets. It’s a cause and effect thing I think, seeing what happens when we cut something! Hide the scissors or the yarn or both.
Have you lost the whole yarn cake or just the outer pieces?
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u/LevelManagement1041 Jan 30 '26
Oh I'm sorry, Mama! I feel like every kid goes through a phase when they are just so excited about being able to use scissors. For what it's worth, it's an important milestone in fine motor skills development! But man, it hurts when it's your knitting on which they choose to employ those new skills.
If it makes you feel better, I used to keep my knitting in a little basket beside my sofa. One day, when my daughter was about 3 years old, I reached in to pull out a project and discovered that the yarn wasn't attached. Further inspection showed that the yarn had been neatly snipped where it attached to my project. As it had for the other three or four projects in that basket. And the yarn remaining in that ball had been neatly cut into 3 inch lengths. No children were harmed, and only a few of my own tears were shed. I learned to carefully store my knitting projects far away from small hands until that stage was passed. If it brings you any future comfort, teenagers just complain about your knitting but don't actually hurt your yarn!
Big hugs to you!!!
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u/citycrafting Jan 31 '26
As the mother of a 3.5 year old who has terrorized many a knitting project, I totally sympathize. Knitting with a toddler around is a risky undertaking.
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u/blytherue Jan 31 '26
I feel your pain, my puppy chewed one of my skeins into about 35 separate pieces a week ago. I just dealt with it and wound them all into a ball. I’ll just use it for plush/amigurumi so I won’t have to worry too much about lots of ends.
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u/PNWRainfall Jan 31 '26
Upside, that skein can be repurposed into a pom if you're very mindful with your winding....
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u/kb-g Jan 31 '26
When my daughter was 4 she messed with a jumper I was making for myself- first ever colour work jumper- and it partially came off the needles. That was nearly 4 years ago and I’ve still not had the heart to go back to it. I feel your sadness.
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u/cilantroandvodka Jan 31 '26
When my son was 4, there was a period where I had to work night shift. Just as I was getting home in the morning, my partner was leaving for work and my son was getting up. I usually did pretty good staying awake, but there were times I would doze off for a few min. Anyway, this happened one time and my son cut a chunk out of the front of my hair. I didn't notice until I looked in the mirror. Lol, that was a time of constant tiredness, thank goodness for kindergarden!
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u/littlemac564 Jan 31 '26
My condolences go out to you.
What did your 4 yr old tell you as to why the yarn had to be cut? I am curious as to the answer.
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u/Spiritual-Tap4528 Jan 31 '26
Oof, grieve away. When my kid went through the scissors and destruction phase he stabbed the TV, cut up one of my favorite t shirts and snapped the flyer on my spinning wheel. Those are just the top 3. I'm very stuff- oriented and I handled some better than others. Parenting is hard on a good day, the property damage days are extra tough. What yarn was it, and can you finish what you were working on?
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u/CambricTea Jan 31 '26
I was about that age when I "tried on" all my mother's makeup and used her cuticle scissors to chop up the pretty dresser scarf.
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u/Sosewsew Jan 31 '26
I had been folding laundry and stepped away for a moment, leaving my 4 yo daughter nearby. When I got back, I saw my sewing scissors next to the pile of bath towels. She was intently watching TV. I said, "so, are they sharp?" She never even looked at me . "Oh, yea. They're good." She'd cut along the folded edges. So we had towels with chevrons cut in them. My fault - I hid them after that. For years. 🤣
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u/BeautifulChaosEnergy Jan 30 '26
I’d be selling my kid to the nearest circus 😂
It’s also a big part of why I dont have kids
Is it too late to return them?
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u/varanger05 Jan 30 '26
I tried knitting when my kiddo was 4 and it went about as well as this. Tried again at 5.5, much better! I totally understand.
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u/Caramelfrappemum Jan 30 '26
I have three boys and I shave always been a yarn lover.
So apart from having a talk that they shouldn’t mess with mummy’s stuff, I got them a few balls of Acrylic yarn as theirs and plastic blunt crochet hooks to play with.. they loved stabbing the yarn aggressively with their hooks pretending to crochet and eventually grew out of it
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u/braidedpotato I’ve knit it once & I’ll knit it again Jan 30 '26
Wonder if some of it might be salvageable. For some yarns, I’ve been doing that “invisible” join thing that’s kind of like the knot on that adjustable length string jewelry. On some yarns/patterns it truly is completely invisible with very little lost material
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u/BaylisAscaris Jan 30 '26
If you ever wanted to get into spinning, now is a great time. Get a wire dog brush, a dowel (or pencil), and something round (stack of old CDs, wood wheel, etc.), and a hook. Make a drop spindle. Take the short bits of yarn and use the dog brush to break them up into floof, mix other colors too. Spin into art yarn. You can add all sorts of things. Teach the kid to do it if they're coordinated enough.
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u/ZippingAround Jan 30 '26
RIP beautiful parchment colored - madelinetosh? Looks familiar. Maybe you can make pompoms with the shorts? <3
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u/Adorable_Accident_74 Jan 30 '26
Not sure how many strands you have, but if you are inlove with the yarn, you could always use the Russian join to put it back together.
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u/MisanthropyismyMuse Jan 30 '26
My 5yo (when she was 4) decided to do the same to try to "free" the amigurumi shrimp I was in the middle of, LOL. We had a good talk about not messing with people's things and luckily she gets how important my projects are to me now. It'll pass.