Knitting For A 6 year old? (Updated)

#1

I need advice. My husband and I are going to be seeing his 6 year old grand daughter more often, and I wanted to knit something for her.
Now, I must explain here, that I don’t have much experience with children. I’ve never had any of my own. I’m the youngest of six, so my nieces were closer to my age than my sisters were, and I never baby sat when I was in high school. I have no idea what children her age like.
As you can see I need some guidance. I thought about a pair of mittens. Maybe some of the cute ‘bug’ mittens? The problem is that I don’t know what size to knit. I’d have to measure her hand, and then, wouldn’t she pretty much know that she’s getting mittens? Or maybe she’d prefer a hat? Socks? I just don’t know…What do ya’ll think?

#2

Maybe a little bag/purse? Most girls love a nice bag whatever their age!

#3

six year olds love dress up (at least, all the ones I know do). Maybe you should check out “New Knits on the Block”

#4

[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=DarkOrchid]I used the mitten pattern at Needlenook for my grands. I made up my own numbers for my six year old grand son, right in the middle of the small and medium.

However, I’d agree with the suggestion of a non-clothing item for now and then when you are together, take measurments. She’ll love to trace her foot and hand on a piece of paper. If you have a drawing of a sweater and pants and then measure her, have her write the numbers down.

Then you’ll have accurate measurements for about six months.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

#5

A small purse would be great or some scarves. I gave a couple of scarves (not winter kind) to a 7 yo and she loves them. One was st st about 10-15 st across and about 4 1/2 - 5 ft long made with Lion Boucle. I wanted it to curl so it came out the way I wanted. The other was made with three kinds of yarn.

I would suggest a pretty purple or pink or both. Whatever you choose I’m sure she’ll love it. Little girls are usually very easy to please.

Mary

#6

I agree with the idea to knit her a bag or little purse-my DD (who is 4) LOVES to play with bags and carry them around-I bet that would be a well received gift.

Have fun :knitting:for her! And enjoying her company-it should be a lot of fun!

#7

I knit my 5 yo niece a sweater (3/4 sleeve cropped cardigan). In pink. I don’t think she would have cared what I knit for her as long as it was pink. Or, on an off day, purple. I made her a tam last year.

#8

yeah- I agree with most of the things above- and 6 y o are trying very hard to be “grown up” and might not want “babyish” stuff- pink (baby or hot) seems to be almost universally loved by that age group, along with glitter, fun fur or fringe.

a little booga bag with fur trim would be really cute, or a fun scarf. HTH

#9

Hi

I think they’re really great ideas to knit her a bag or something she could carry - she’ll be ever so pleased.

Before you give it to her, maybe pop a French knitting doll inside and if she likes, you could show her how to make a little mat from an I-cord. Of course, I’m not suggesting you use this as a sneaky tactic to get her interested in knitting:whistle: Perish the thought!!!

All the Best
Ellie
http://www.countonknit.com

#10

My daughter is 5, will be 6 in February. Some of the things I’ve knitted for her that she absolutely loves:
Monica tank from Knitty- I didn’t measure her, just made the size 6 and it fits great. I would make the shoulder straps ‘tie’ straps though, since you won’t know exactly how long to make them.

‘ballet’ slippers from Knitty. I made the ‘child’ size, and they are just a tiny bit big for my daughter. She’s wearing size 10 shoes, which is pretty small for her age. They’re not so large that she can’t wear them, which means room to grow. :slight_smile:

Both of these projects were quick knits for me- 2 to 3 days at most, and that’s between taking care of my kids and working full time, and I have not even been knitting for a year yet.

#11

Does she have one of the 18 inch dolls? American Girl or one of the many similar dolls on the market? You could knit up a sweater for the doll. I took a Baby Surprise (Elizabeth Zimmerman’s pattern) class and one of the women knit the sweater for her niece’s doll using sz 2 needles and Koigu fingering wt. yarn. It was adorable. She used snaps for the closure if I’m remembering right.

#12

I made all my granddaughters and great neices purses with funfur trim, then made matching skinny corkscrew scarves out of the funfur to match.

#13

Thank you all for the wonderful Ideas. I just can’t express how much I appreciate your help.
I really like the idea of a little purse, and the ballet slippers. I’m sure I can find out her favorite colors before Christmas. It used to be pink, but the last time she was here she said she only liked pink okay. Of course, next time she’s here, she may just LOVE pink. who knows? lol

#14

I happened across this pattern the other day and LOVE it! I wonder if it would be hard to just knit both the body and ruffle in the round, and then attach them together. I hate sewing seams! Finishing stuff is always my weak point… stuff lays around not quite finished because I don’t want to sew things together. :fingerwag:

As for the original question, maybe an easy poncho like these…

http://forum.knittinghelp.com/t/baby-toddler-poncho-easy?t=28554
http://www.maizehutton.com/easyponcho.html
http://cache.lionbrand.com/patterns/kbcl-funFurTrimmedPoncho.html

… trimmed with fun fur. My dd loves fun fur! You could make the Child 3-7 from the last link and be pretty safe as far as size goes. I actually made one for my dd using the first link (before I knew about the patterns) and am in the process of finishing it. I just have to sew it together… which means it’s been laying around a while. :rofl:

#15

[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=DarkOrchid]That’s what I did. You can see pics of the two I made here.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

#16

I think this would be easy to do!

Your daughter is beautiful!

#17

Thanks. I thought it might be possible, but I haven’t been knitting enough lately to be certain of that kind of thing. That’s why I’m so happy I found this forum! Pictures are always good… :slight_smile:

I think it would be easy, too… easier than the original instructions, probably. I was just worried about how hard it would be to seam the body and ruffle together since they wouldn’t be flat like the original pattern. But, it seems possible…

Thanks about my dd! I think she’s pretty cute, too… but I’m not biased or anything… :wink:

#18

You’ll have the body and ruffle on two circs instead of two straights, but otherwise I think the seaming together will work just the same.

#19

i knit for my now 7 year old granddaughter all the time

she REALLY Likes about half of what i knit…

Shre REALLY likes the crap (poncho’s out of red heart acrylic)
and is so-so about the nice stuff…

the fancy flower sweater?
or the swirl sweater (Vogue winter/03) that the mods at ravelry picked to ‘illustrate’ the pattern?

(see it here)
she is ho-hum about.

but she LOVED the fast fun easy to knit muff (made from wool (for warmth) and a fun fur yarn)

and she loved a teddy bear…

i suggest you keep it small and simple… a fake fur (fun fur) muff is much more likely to be loved than the best (utiliarian from her point of view) sweater…

#20

Thanks so much. These are great ideas. I’m going to use some fun fur on something. Either the top of a bag, or the muff suggested above.