Mrs. Messmer's Simple Patterns for Children to Knit

I have been teaching my fifth grade students to knit for many years. We begin by making our own needles out of 12 inch lengths of quarter-inch dowels. I use an electric pencil sharpener to put a blunt point on the dowels and the students sand them with fine gauge sandpaper to reduce snagging. The needles are fitted with wooden end pieces called "candle cups", which I find at hobby stores. These handmade needles are equivalent to size 10.5 commercially-made needles and are easy to replace if they are lost, broken, or chewed by the family dog. Of course, the commercial needles are fine to use, too.

The purpose of this web page is to make the knitting patterns my students and I have developed available to others. They are free for the enjoyment of anyone who is willing to print them, but they are not for commercial use.

I have included some links to other sites which have useful basic knitting techniques. There are also many wonderful books and videos in stores and libraries for learning knitting skills.