May featured pattern - Squirrel

For the month of May, I've decided to feature one of my first toy patterns - the Squirrel. I knit a lot of toys in the first few months after starting Fuzzy Mitten, but the squirrel was my favourite. We liked him so much, he was the model my husband used to design my logo.

I found some eyelash yarn at a dollar-store, in a colour that I thought would work well for a squirrel. He turned out so adorable, I carried him around in my bag for a couple of months, so I could show him to everyone! Sadly, at that time I had to sell all my toys, in order to buy yarn to make more. I don't remember where Wally the squirrel ended up, but I still miss him.

I knit a few others over the years, mostly as custom orders. Although the pattern originally included a turtle-neck pullover, I really liked how the squirrel looked in overalls (dungarees). When I was putting together my Festive Knits collection, I decided to change the pattern to include overalls instead of the pullover.

This is one of my easier patterns and a great first project, if you haven't tried one of my designs before. It's also simple to modify, if you prefer to knit the pieces in the round. Squirrels come in many colours (the ones around here range from tan, to grey, to black, and we have tiny red squirrels too), so the toy is a good way to stash-bust some worsted or DK weight yarn. Eyelash or fringe yarn is still available, although not as popular as it used to be, and is so perfect for the tail! If you can't find eyelash yarn, use something fuzzy, and brush it out to make it even fluffier (I use a wire pet brush for this). The overalls are also fairly easy to knit, although they require a bit of assembly. You can find the pattern for the slippers in an older blog post.

As with my previous featured patterns, the Squirrel will be 50% off for the month of May. You can find it in both my Ravelry and Etsy shops. There is also a knit-along in my Ravelry group, if you want to see what other people are making.