Knitknacks Baby Owl Kit

Cuddly but not tiny

I was most excited when I spotted this Knitknack owl kit on notonthehighstreet.com. It came in two sizes -baby and cushion. My husband persuaded me that baby size would be best as my younger cat, Dexter, has a penchant for woolly cushions, especially alpaca ones. So, baby it was, costing £22.50.

The kit was complete in terms of providing needles, yarn, stuffing, buttons, and even a sewing up needle. It all came in a brown paper bag, which I always think is a lovely way to package knitting goods.

The owl was knitted on 6.5mm needles in two parts for the front and the back.  The yarn provided was 100g of really soft chunky baby alpaca in a brown/caramel twist shade from a US company called Catalina. The front of the owl is mostly knitted in stocking stitch but with a clever moss stitch design to define the wings. The ears are also knitted in moss stitch.

The back of the owl is the same as the front minus the moss stitch wings. However, I did hit a bit of a snag that earlier in my knitted career would have sent me over the edge. I ran out of yarn just before the ears on the back piece. I knew it was touch and go as I'd weighed the yarn at the half way stage and only had 48g left. Anyway, a mental review of my stash revealed some Rowan Purelife British Sheep Breeds Chunky in brown that was the right weight and would just about blend in colour-wise. The backs of the ears would simply look a little more textured.

Textured not odd

Once that drama was over, I created the owl's face. The kit thoughtfully provides two crochet circles for the outer eyes. I don't like it when knitting kits assume you can also crochet, although I could just about manage a circle now. The circles came with yarn attached to the outer circle for sewing the circle to the owl and then the inner circle so you could sew on the coconut shell buttons for the pupils. Nifty. I then used the contrast yarn to make a simple V-shaped beak.

To make up the owl, I back stitched the two halves rights sides together with the Rowan yarn, leaving the bottom open. I think using mattress stitch for shaped pieces that will be stuffed is kind of a waste of time and you get a more secure result from the back stitching. Once sewn, I turned the owl the right way out and stuffed it with the toy filling provided. I then mattress stitched the cast on edges together at the bottom.

I do like to embellish, so the final flourish was a cream felt bow from stash, that I attached to one of the ears with a corduroy brad.

The finished owl is really squishy and huggable, but not so tiny at approx 14 inches high by 10 inches wide.

Now, where can I hide it from that pesky cat...

Alpaca loving cat

Melx

Knitted Ferdinand Fox

Foxy obsession...

I have recently replaced my owl obsession with a fox obsession and I've been looking for a cute one to knit for a while. So, when I saw Val Pierce's Ferdinand fox pattern in Lets Knit magazine, I decided to give it a whirl.


The fox in the magazine was made using Stylecraft Life DK. I went for a more luxe fox using Rowan Kid Classic that I bought from Laughing Hens. They were even nice enough to go through the shade card and choose a suitably foxy colour for me.


The fox was knitted on 4mm straight needles as a traditional toy knit in separate pieces. So that was two arms, two legs, a body, a bib, a head, a tail, four ear pieces and a nose. Phew! Much of it was very similar in terms of increasing, knitting even and decreasing in stocking stitch.


I made a couple of minor alterations to the design - I missed out the black tail tip and back of ears as I thought the fox looked better in just orange and cream. I also used safety eyes rather than embroidered ones.


I exercised my usual discipline in making up by sewing and stuffing each piece as it was knitted. I back stitched most of the pieces as (1) I find stocking stitch unrewarding on shaped pieces, and (2) you can't tell on a toy anyway.



Dismembered fox parts

Having dutifully made up all the body parts, I found myself strangely procrastinating over sewing the fox together. Once I finally got down to it on a rainy Saturday morning (not that there's been any other kind in the UK of late), I worked out the problem. It was hard.


I don't have much faith in my arm and leg positioning anyway, but I looked carefully at the magazine photos and got them roughly correct. Then for the head. Wobbly head syndrome is the bane of toy construction. I toyed with inserting a dowel or pipecleaner to hold it up, but DH, who is an expert on model construction, thought it just needed more stitches. About a gazillion of them. Similar issue with the tail - to make the fox balance you need to attach a fair amount of the surface area of the tail to the body.


Finally, Ferdinand behaved himself and sat up straight like a good fox. To finish him, I knitted his black nose and sewed it on with a bit of light padding. I embroidered his eyebrows and then ran a length of cream yarn along the line between the orange and cream sections on his head to define his snout.

I'm surprised you can see me for all that wool in the background

Ferdinand is about 8 inches sitting and I find myself quite pleased that he: (a) broadly resembles the fox in the magazine, and (b) is pretty sweet.

Melx