Are you ready for the final clue of this year's mystery knit-along? Did you guess what we're making? I've been wanting to design this creature for years, and I really hope you like how it turned out! It was tricky working out some of the details, and I needed to use some knitting techniques I don't often incorporate into my toys. Maybe you got to learn something new, or practice a useful skill, but at the very least you got a cute toy out of it all! Thank you for coming on this adventure with me.
For this final clue, we're knitting the arms and head of the toy, and putting it all together. I tried to include photos of anything helpful, and there's a short video at the end of the finished toy.
The supplies: this week you need the remainder of your toy yarn (worsted weight, in the colour of your choice), 4 mm knitting needles, a pair of 12 mm safety eyes, a bit of black yarn, stuffing, and a tapestry needle. A sharp pair of scissors and a few straight pins are also useful.
This is the first arm, which is fairly easy to knit. We covered the picot bind off last week, but here's the link again if you need a refresh.
The only difference between the left and right arms is which side has the picot toes. Once you sew everything up, it's actually hard to tell one from the other!
Sewing together the end of the "hand" just like we did on the flipper feet. I love how neat and almost invisible this type of seam can be.
How the end of the "hand" looks after it's sewn together.
Gathering together the cast-on stitches...
Sewing the arm seam and adding stuffing as you go...
Stitching across the wrist to keep the stuffing in the arm. If you sew between the columns of knit stitches, you can barely see your sewing.
Both arms, sewn and stuffed. I steam blocked the "hands" and pressed them flat so they are more flipper-like.
Working on the head, partway though the decreases on the face. This toy's head is a bit wider and shorter than most of my toys.
This is the head after knitting. The decreased stitches run down the nose and along the sides of the face. You can see the purled stitch that marks where you attach one of the eyes.
Here is the head, after it's been stuffed. It's rounded, with a slight point for the nose.
Working on one of the "eye bumps" and you can see how the short rows affect the shape. There is probably a technical term for these, but I thought a descriptive one would be more useful.
Two little "eye bumps" looking like pasta shells. Here I'm showing you the end where you'll attach the safety eyes.
Here are the eye bumps with the safety eyes attached. You want them quite close to the front edge, with just enough of the fabric showing at the lower edge so you can sew them to the head.
The eye bumps are placed directly over the purled stitches you made on Row 17. Straight pins help hold them in place while you sew them onto the head.
Sew all around the edges, trying to make them as symmetrical as possible. Add a little stuffing to the bump before closing the seam.
After adding the eyes, you will embroider the mouth and nose. The lines of decreased stitches define the top edge of the mouth and make a handy guide. Start the black yarn at the bottom, and exit at one corner of the mouth. Next, insert the needle and yarn at the center of the mouth.
After inserting the needle at the center, exit at the other corner of the mouth. Then bring your yarn back to the center. These two long straight stitches make the mouth. You can then exit the yarn and needle at one side of the nose to make the first nostril.
Make two short straight stitches for each nostril. Try to make sure they're symmetrical.
Here is how the finished face looks. Knot the yarns ends together at the bottom, before trimming off the excess yarn.
Pinning the head onto the body, to make sure it's straight. Sew the head to the body all around the neck, then weave the yarn ends into the body and trim off the excess.
With the head and body sewn together, it's time to add the limbs! It's becoming fairly obvious which creature we are making.
Here I'm showing one part of how I attach the arms, using yarn through the body to make joints. This is described in the pattern. I like how the limbs can be moved when done this way, and it's quite secure. But you could also just sew the tops of the arms to the body with several whip stitches.
And here I'm attaching the legs in the same way. You might need to try more than one position for the legs, because if they're too far forward, the legs won't sit straight against the body and the toes will turn inward.
Here is the finished frog! What a cute face, and such perfect flippers for swimming!
And the back view, with a little froggy bottom! (Hint: if you'd like to use this pattern to make a salamander, you could add the tail from my River Otter pattern).
Here is my handsome frog, in his ribbed pullover and flat cap! What adventures is he ready for? A drive in the country? Hosting a picnic? Fishing on the river with his friends? Or all of the above!
I really hope you'll share pictures of your finished toys, and let me know how you enjoyed this mystery knit-along. These events are extra work for me, but it's so fun creating a mystery creature, and knitting along with you as you solve it!