Prick the sweet potato all over with a fork, then wrap it in a damp paper towel and microwave for 7 minutes or until soft and cooked through. Alternately, you could just oven bake the potato.
Scoop the sweet potato flesh out into a bowl, go over it with a potato masher until you make sure it's all smooth and properly mashed through. Mix in the ricotta, 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese and salt until smooth and well combined. You may want to use your hands for this.
Add the flour 1/2 cup at a time, kneading very gently after each addition. Kneading too much could cause the gnocchi to get tough
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface, and form it into a loaf, about 9x5 inches. (think the size of a loaf of banana bread). Cut into slices of dough, like you are cutting yourself thin slices of banana bread.
Roll and stretch each slice until it's forms a long skinny rope shape. Cut each of these rope shapes into 1 inch inch segments with a sharp knife to form your gnocchi pieces.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add the gnocchi and boil until the gnocchi rise to the top. Drain and toss with a little olive oil. You can continue making the recipe using this gnocchi, or refrigerate or freeze them at this point.