I kind of think crocheting might be easier than knitting for a five-year-old? I was probably seven or eight when I learned to crochet (that was when some of my friends got into it and taught us), and I started with finger-crochet*. It's pretty simple, though the downside is that you get a lot of tubes that you have to figure out what to do with (decoration? coiled and sewn into hot pads?).

If the five-year-old likes detail work, I remember doing a lot of fuse/Perler beads though an adult always had to be on-hand for the actual ironing part.

*Now that I think about it, what I learned might have actually been finger-knitting. Either way, I found it a good doorway into actual crochet.

Edit:
Not sure if this is what you're thinking of at all, but there is something to be said for showing a child how to do a basic in-and-out stitch and letting them loose with scraps of fabric to make doll clothes. I did that some when little - I never produced anything high quality, but I had fun.

Also, re: cross-stitch - this may be what you were thinking of, but they make plastic cross-stitch "fabric" with yarn and big needles for children to start with. I never did latch hook, but I know others did.

Oh, or those potholder looms?

I have never knit before but I would like to try along with crocheting, my dad has done that several times.

Has anyone tried embroidery? I think that is a little different from cross stitching which I am used to.

I think of "embroidery" as meaning the freehand sort, where you have to judge the size and shape and position of all your stitches by eye, rather than having squares or evenweave threads to follow as you do with cross stitch. That makes it a lot harder and I have to admit I've never been game enough to try it! But for those who have the skill and the patience, it's a really beautiful craft.

I will have to give it a try, I know I have an embroidery book written by one of my favourite Doctor Who actresses so I have ideas from that.

Does anyone knit?

They have an aunt that can knit, but mostly crochets.
I ended up getting her a simple knitting kit with the goal of starting with washcloths and scarves. I chose that one because I have some knitting stuff from several years ago and I figure we can learn together. I'll keep you posted.

All right fellow crafty characters, have a look here...

I was just Googling "Narnia cross stitch" (as if I didn't already have three cross stitch projects on the go and at least a dozen more kits and charts in the pipeline!!) and this site came up. I've never heard of doing a picture in crochet before (I can't crochet, only knit... ooer, and being a musician, I keep almost typing "crotchet" for "crochet" ), but the site says these charts can also be used for cross stitch, which I'm sure is the case — or tent stitch in wool on canvas would work too, for 50% less stitching...

Narnia — Aslan Crochet Pattern — pretty obviously taken from the Walden movie poster with the other characters removed. (Can they do that legally without it being a breach of the poster artist's copyright? I'm not sure. I don't like his eyes in that particular image, anyway — too green for a lion's.)

The Chronicles of Narnia Crochet Pattern — this one I like better, as it's a nicer image of Aslan and I love the gold colours. I think I might buy it as another pattern for my to-stitch-someday collection — I've checked and it comes as a download when you purchase it, so no shipping costs.

Just thought I'd share these for anyone else who might be interested too! Happy New Year to you all.

Thanks for sharing, I had been wondering about Narnia cross stitch patterns. I hope you had a wonderful New years too.

Thanks for sharing, I had been wondering about Narnia cross stitch patterns. I hope you had a wonderful New years too.

You're welcome — and I did, thanks!

I've bought and downloaded the second pattern and it's not as finely detailed as it looks on the website — I think for both pictures on the website they've just taken the original artwork and overlaid a grid on it, but when you get the actual chart to stitch from, it has far fewer colours. Oh well. It still looks like it'll be a great picture to stitch some day, although I might change the background colours somewhat.

My knitting and crocheting skills are both pretty dismal. People tried to teach me, but I probably didn't practice enough. In recent years I have envied the portable-ness of knitting and crocheting projects. I love to quilt, but it isn't all that portable. However I recently started doing some English Paper Piecing, which is fun, addicting and (drum roll. . . ) portable!

Has anyone tried embroidery? I think that is a little different from cross stitching which I am used to.

Just wanted to comment on this. Embroidery is generally the term used for any sort of decor done by sewing thread onto some kind of material. So, technically speaking, cross-stitching is a form of embroidery. There really are so many different types. If what you meant by embroidery is more of what we called open thread work (Where you are not counting stitches like in cross-stitching), then yes, I've done some raised work using the satin stitch. I haven't done anything worth posting though . It's a bit tougher than cross-stitching because you really have to eyeball everything. I am enjoying learning though, and hope with time to get good enough at it to be able to boast of my work instead of hiding it

I've also done needlepoint which is actually very similar to cross-stitching except you don't work in an X but rather sort of just the half version / (it's called the tent stitch). At the moment I'm working on a pillow in needlepoint. I'll post a picture as soon as I am done.

The past couple of weeks I have been sewing fabric face masks, which I donated to local hospitals. When I ran out of elastic, I switched to fabric ties, using ribbon, bias tape, or fabric folded up like bias tape. Today when I was doing some Spring Cleaning, I discovered quite a few unused shoe laces. I think they will make much better ties than the fabric ones, so I will be making some more face masks.

Grandmama, that's great to hear. What fabric are you using, and do you have a specific pattern? I keep hearing information about making masks, but have very limited supplies in isolation (some cotton fabric and a sewing machine - no elastic, bias tape, or other notions). And how did you find out that your local hospitals were taking donations?

In the meantime, I've been knitting. I finished a baby blanket this week, and a cowl for myself. I also finally sewed on the buttons for a buttoned mug sleeve that I made beginning of the year, and made a new coaster/mug lid for brewing tea.

Grandmama, that's great to hear. What fabric are you using, and do you have a specific pattern? I keep hearing information about making masks, but have very limited supplies in isolation (some cotton fabric and a sewing machine - no elastic, bias tape, or other notions). And how did you find out that your local hospitals were taking donations?

I went to our local hospital's website and searched a bit to find what kind of DIY face masks they were taking. They have instructions on the site and later added a video link that was very helpful. At first the instructions called for using elastic, but as elastic became scarce, they added instructions for using fabric ties.

I know other hospitals had links to other ways of making face masks, so if you plan to donate them to a specific place, I would use whatever instructions they have. If you are making them for yourself, family or friends, just make whichever pattern you like best or whatever pattern calls for materials that you have on hand. There are many different sets of instructions on the internet.

I've been using 100% cotton fabrics because I know the hospital will launder them before using them. A tightly woven fabric is best, but not something heavy like denim, since you do have to be able to breathe thru it! (I work in a fabric store and I've been amazed by some of the materials that people have been purchasing to make masks from--denim was one of them.)

You can make the straps out of the same kind of fabric as the mask--it's just a bit of work. I cut four pieces 1 1/4" x 18" for the ties. Fold each one in half lengthwise and press a fold in it. Then unfold the fabric and fold each long edge in to the middle fold and press. Re-fold in half again and stitch along the outside edge, sewing the two folded edges together. I hope that makes sense--it's so much easier to show it than to explain it!

Thank you for the reply, Grandmama! I appreciate your thoughts and expertise. Your explanation of the fabric ties made perfect sense - though, are you stitching along the outside/right side of the fabric at the end? I don't have an iron with me, so if I end up making some, I'll have to get creative with getting folding/pressing to take. I did find some bits of ribbon around, but I don't think I have enough of anything for four ties.

Thank you for the reply, Grandmama! I appreciate your thoughts and expertise. Your explanation of the fabric ties made perfect sense - though, are you stitching along the outside/right side of the fabric at the end? I don't have an iron with me, so if I end up making some, I'll have to get creative with getting folding/pressing to take. I did find some bits of ribbon around, but I don't think I have enough of anything for four ties.

Yes, you will be stitching along the outside/right side of the fabric at the end. I did try sewing a tube with right sides together and then turning it right side out, but it turned out to be a lot of work to make the ties that way.
I was able to make about 20 more face masks over the weekend using shoe laces. So happy that the shoe laces are now being put to good use and not just occupying space in the closet.