Sunday, January 17, 2010

sleepy puppy

One of the most popular toys I've ever made was the Sleepy Puppy. Many people have asked for a specific pattern for this toy, but the truth is he was made from my Pupster pattern. I think it was just a combination of the yarn and his sweet face and pose, that made him seem so special. I thought it might be useful if I gave you a few more details, in case you'd like to make a sleepy puppy too.


First, simply ignore the colour changes in the pattern, and knit the toy all in one colour. The yarn I used was Pakucho Organic Cotton, in the chocolate colourway. This yarn is closer to aran weight, so the toy ends up a bit chubbier than when I use a regular worsted weight yarn. Also, you will probably need slightly more than 50 g to complete the toy. The yarn is lovely: soft with a nice texture, and you can feel really good about giving the finished toy to a baby (who will certainly chew on it). There are several brands of organic cotton available, and I think others would work just as well. I've used Estelle Cloud Cotton Eco (Ravery link), which has a different texture than the Pakucho, but is the same weight.


The face is actually very simple. You make the nose and mouth as I show in this tutorial. The eyes are just shallow V's (go here to see the photo in more detail). I used a superwash wool in black for the face of this toy, but you could also use cotton if that's what you have. Last but not least, the bellybutton! This definitely adds to the cuteness factor. It's just a small 'x' stitched onto the puppy's tummy. A satin ribbon around the neck is a nice finishing touch, if the toy will be a gift.

9 comments:

PixieBelle said...

So unbelievably cute! I never knew how much knitted and crocheted beauty and cuteness was out there until I started looking at crafty websites and found a few blogs such as yours and I am in awe.
My co ordination and understanding of knitting is laughable but I plan to try crochet this year and see if it delivers different results for me.
Keep on with your beautiful designs, they are inspiring. ;)

Miss Potato said...

Hey, I'm new to your blog and I must say that you make the cutest little things!

And PixieBelle I'm the same as you.. I never knew that you could create such cute things until a month ago when I discovered amigurumi! Now I am obsessed with searching the internet for them!

sugaryarn said...

That is sooooo cute. I love knitting little toys .. there good and less time consuming than the big projects.

Debs
x

GodfreyKate said...

A blast from the past! Thank you for providing the extra notes, Barbara. A sleepy-fuzzy puppy may be in my future now.

Denise said...

Lovely puppy!
Where an I buy the pattern?

Barbara Prime said...

The pattern can now be found here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pupster

Sweet nothings said...

Thank you so much for this pattern and the great tutorial, the puppy is soooo cute - I absolutely have to buy the pattern :-)

Unknown said...

I tried to use the link you gave it does not work. Can you help me, I tried a search on Raverly too, sooooo cute! Robin

Barbara Prime said...

Robin Rae: The only link I could find that didn't work was for the yarn, and that's fixed now. Otherwise, you can find the pattern here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pupster