34 Knitting Patterns for Toddlers
When your little baby is growing up, you don't need to give up on knitting them cute things.
We all know how fun it is to knit for babies: not only is everything so much tinier, cuter, and quicker, but babies don't necessarily have the capacity to complain about the latest knit sweater or booties that Mom or Grandma has stuck them in. As much as we knitters love a captive audience, the truth is a bittersweet one: all babies grow up in time, and with that time, they develop their own feelings and opinions about the clothes they're wearing. That's why we need special knitting patterns for toddlers.
As toddlers, there's still plenty of time to dress them up in cute knitted clothes, so try to enjoy this time while it's here. They may complain that their cardigan is itchy or their hat is too warm, but at least they're not yet sneaking off in the middle of the night and complaining that you're ruining their lives.
For the most part, toddlers are shameless little dirt magnets with no respect for the luxury of handknit items, so your focus on knitting patterns for toddlers, as opposed to babies, may shift from "cute and tiny" to "cute and tiny… and easy to wash." Your patterns may become more utilitarian as the little one grows into a not-so-little one, but never fear: there are still plenty of ways to make your knitting both adorable and functional.
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Table of Contents
Toddler Knitted Sweater Patterns
Let's start with something easy. You may not think of sweater patterns as easy to knit, but we mean that they're easy to please the child with. As long as your knit sweaters aren't itchy or too stuffy, you probably won't raise any complaints from Mini You. Since they're bound to grow out of them quickly, and would complain about itchiness, anyway, we recommend staying away from nice wool for these patterns and sticking with a cheap, easy-to-wash acrylic since you know they're going to spill their freakin' orange juice on it the very first day.
It's never too early to get started for the next one! For a list of amazingly adorable sweater patterns for the babies, check out our collection:20 Super Cute Knit Baby Sweater Patterns
Free Knitting Patterns for Toddlers: Hats and Mittens
When the weather chills and your child or grandchild finally has the capability of whining to you about how cold they are, by the fifth or sixth complaint, you'll want to just knit them all the hats and mittens in the world so they never moan to you about it again. These knitting patterns for toddlers are perfect for that. Since they're smaller than adult hats and mittens, they'll take about half the time, and they should keep the kid nice and cozy.
Knit Scarves & Cowls for Toddlers
I don't know about you, but I hated scarves as a kid. Either they were too itchy or too constricting. The truth is that toddlers love the freedom to move around comfortably, so your scarves and cowls need to walk the line of "constricting enough to keep them warm, but not so constricting that they want to yank it off as soon as they put it on." Try out these scarf and cowl patterns and see which your toddler wouldn't hate wearing.
If all these cute toddler scarves are inspiring you to knit a scarf for yourself or another loved one, you're in luck: we have tons of scarf patterns here on AllFreeKnitting! Check out one of my favorite collections of scarves,
Knitting for Girls
Now for the real reason you're here: free knitting patterns for toddler dresses! Is there anything cuter than a little girl in a precious knit dress? Not all of our patterns for girls are dresses, but we're not going to lie and say they don't make up the majority. We also have some skirts and tops, so if your little girl is a feminine one, she'll be a shining star in any one of these knitting patterns.
Knitting for Boys
You may need to resist the urge to dress your little boy up in dapper sweater vests and knit ties every day. As cute as it is to doll up your li'l gentleman in knitting patterns for toddlers, there's no way those clothes are staying nice for too long. If you make the knit-with-love clothes into more of a special-occasion type of thing, these patterns are going to be some of your favorites.
What will you knit first for your toddler?