I’m so excited to share with you my children’s mermaid tail knitting pattern. I made it for my own daughter when she was 8 years old and I think it should fit a child from age 5-9 perfectly. Hope you’ll enjoy making it as much as I did!

If you enjoy this pattern and would like to support me in creating more patterns please visit my Patreon page and for as little as 1.99$ per month you can gain access to the adult sizes patterns of this mermaid tail plus other patterns that I’ve created and will be creating in the future 🙂

I have also created a full video tutorial for this pattern:

MATERIALS:

* 18-23 inch circular needles, size 4.5mm

* Stitch markers

* Single-pointed needles (optional)

* About 900 yards of Aran weight yarn.
Used in this pattern is “Roma” by Rozetti Yarns in color “Atlantic Lights”, unfortunately this yarn seems to be discontinued but you can find a wide selection of Aran weight yarns at LoveKnitting.

* Tapestry needle

* Stitch holder or scrap yarn

STITCH EXPLANATIONS:

*stitch (st), stitches (sts)

*knit (k)

*purl (p)

*knit 2 stitches together (k2tog)

*yarn over (YO)

*Slip, knit, pass slipped stitch over (slip-k-psso) – slip 1 stitch as if to knit, knit the next stitch. Insert left needle into front of slipped stitch on right needle. Pass the slipped stitch over the knit stitch and off the right needle.

*knit in front and back of stitch (kfb)

PATTERN NOTES: The tail is made as one continuous piece, I have created the different sections like “Waist”, “Tail” etc for easier reading of the pattern. Just keep going at the end of each section.

RIBBED WAIST

Cast on 120 sts, place marker if it’s easier to keep track of the beginning and join to work in the round being careful not to twist the stitches.

*k,k,p,p* repeat ** across all rows, until the piece measures 7 inches from the cast on edge.

Feel free to make the waist longer or shorter if you want.

TAIL

Row 1: *k2tog, k7, YO, k2, YO, k7, slip-k-psso, k2tog, k7, YO, k2, YO,k7, slip-k-psso*, repeat ** until the end of the row.

Row 2: *k2tog, k6, YO, k4, YO, k6, slip-k-psso, k2tog, k6, YO, k4, YO, k6, slip-k-psso*, repeat ** until the end of the row.

Row 3: *k2tog, k5, YO, k6, YO, k5, slip-k-psso, k2tog, k5, YO, k6, YO, k5, slip-k-psso*, repeat ** until the end of the row.

Row 4: *k2tog, k4, YO, k8, YO, k4, slip-k-psso, k2tog, k4, YO, k8, YO, k4, slip-k-psso*, repeat ** until the end of the row.

Row 5: *k2tog, k3, YO, k10, YO, k3, slip-k-psso, k2tog, k3, YO, k10, YO, k3, slip-k-psso*, repeat ** until the end of the row.

Row 6: *k2tog, k2, YO, k12, YO, k2, slip-k-psso, k2tog, k2, YO, k12, YO, k2, slip-k-psso*, repeat ** until the end of the row.

Row 7: *k2tog, k1, YO, k14, YO, k1, slip-k-psso, k2tog, k1, YO, k14, YO, k1, slip-k-psso*, repeat ** until the end of the row.

Row 8: *k2tog, YO, k16, YO, slip-k-psso, k2tog, YO, k16, YO, slip-k-psso*, repeat ** until the end of the row.

Row 9: knit across the row.

Row 10: *k2, YO, k6, slip-k-psso, k2tog, k6, YO, k4, YO, k6, slip-k-psso, k2tog, k6, YO, k2*, repeat ** until the end of the row.

Row 11: *k3, YO, k5, slip-k-psso, k2tog, k5, YO, k6, YO, k5, slip-k-psso, k2tog, k5, YO, k3*, repeat ** until the end of the row.

Row 12: *k4, YO, k4, slip-k-psso, k2tog, k4, YO, k8, YO, k4, slip-k-psso, k2tog, k4, YO, k4*, repeat ** until the end of the row.

Row 13: *k5, YO, k3, slip-k-psso, k2tog, k3, YO, k10, YO, k3, slip-k-psso, k2tog, k3, YO, k5*, repeat ** until the end of the row.

Row 14: *k6, YO, k2, slip-k-psso, k2tog, k2, YO, k12, YO, k2, slip-k-psso, k2tog, k2, YO, k6*, repeat ** until the end of the row.

Row 15: *k7, YO, k1, slip-k-psso, k2tog, k1, YO, k14, YO, k1, slip-k-psso, k2tog, k1, YO, k7*, repeat ** until the end of the row.

Row 16: *k8, YO, slip-k-psso, k2tog, YO, k16, YO, slip-k-psso, k2tog, YO, k8*, repeat ** until the end of the row.

Repeat rows 1-16 11x more (you can make the pattern more or less times if you like, depending on how long you want the tail to be).

FIN

Row 1: k29, kfb, place marker, kfb, k58, kfb, place marker, kfb, k29 (124 sts).

Row 2: knit across the row.

Row 3: knit to the first marker, kfb in the st before the marker and after the marker (increasing by 2 sts), knit to the second marker, kfb in the st before the marker and after the marker (increasing by 2 sts), knit to the end of the row.

Row 4: knit across the row. Repeat rows 3 and 4 17x more. You should end up with 196 sts.

Now remove the stitch markers and count 98 sts from the beginning of the row and place a stitch marker after the 98th stitch. You should now have 98 stitches on both sides of the stitch marker.

Knit across the row until you get to the last 2 sts, bind off the last 2 sts and 2 sts from the beginning of the next row (4 stitches in total). Knit to the last 2 sts before the stitch marker, bind off 2 sts before the stitch marker and 2 stitches after the stitch marker, removing the marker. Knit to the first bound off stitches. You will now finish the two sides of the fin separately.

Place the stitches from one side onto a stitch holder or use scrap yarn to hold the stitches until you finish the other side.

You won’t be knitting in the round anymore but back and forth therefore you might want to change to single pointed needles instead of the round needles.

Starting from the knit side: Row 1: bind off 2 sts, knit to the end of the row. Row 2: bind off 2 sts, purl to the end of the row.

Repeat rows 1 and 2 until you have knit 4 inches from the first bind-off stitches. Now repeat rows 1 and 2 again but bind off 4 stitches from the beginning of the rows. Just in case you might want to count the stitches as well before starting the 4-stitch bind-off so you’ll know where exactly to start the bind-off on the other side. Now just continue knitting and binding off until there are no stitches left, fasten off the last stitch and do the same with the other side of the fin.

When you have finished both sides, turn the tail inside-out and sew the edges of the fin together. Turn it inside-out again and enjoy your handmade mermaid tail.