Wee Panda Toy and Finger Puppet

In honour of my birthday today, I'm sharing a new free pattern with you! This one was originally published in Knit Now magazine last year. I've made a few small changes to that version, and added a finger puppet body. These tiny toys are great as a last minute gift. You can turn them into back-pack accessories, a key-chain, or just give them as a special pocket-friend. (Tip: you can also ignore the colour changes, and so make the toy a bear or hamster instead. Or, if you own the Wee Wuzzies pattern, you can add their heads and tails to the finger puppet body, and make a whole handful of cuteness!)

I hope you all enjoy making a Wee Panda or three! 

Materials
9 g of white (MC) and 6 g of black (CC) DK weight yarn, pair of 3.25 mm (US size 3) knitting needles, pair of black 6 mm safety eyes or beads, polyester stuffing, tapestry needle
Gauge 
5.5 sts and 8.5 rows = 2.5 cm (1") measured over st st
Size 
5.5 cm (2¼”). The finger puppet will fit a child or small adult hand.

Notes
Use a long-tail, or similar, cast on. Leaving a 25 cm (10”) yarn end when casting on will give you a convenient length of yarn for seaming and assembling the toy.
Intarsia colour changes are marked by the yarn colour preceding each set of stitches. Use mattress stitch for seams, and whip stitch to assemble toy pieces.
If you don’t want to work the intarsia eye-patches, they can also be embroidered with duplicate stitch on the finished head.

Toy Body 
Begin at bottom. With MC, cast on 6 sts.
Row 1: Purl.
Row 2: K1, [m1, k1] to end. (11 sts)
Row 3: Purl.
Row 4: K1, [m1, k1] to end. (21 sts)
Row 5: MC p7, CC p1, MC p5, CC p1, MC p7.
Row 6: MC k7, CC mb, MC k5, CC mb, MC k7.
Continue in MC.
Row 7-12: Work 6 rows in st st.
Break off MC, change to CC.
Row 13: Purl.
Row 14: K7, mb, ssk, k1, k2tog, mb, k7. (19 sts)
Row 15: Purl.
Row 16: K2, [ssk] x 3, k3, [k2tog] x 3, k2. (13 sts)
Row 17: Purl.
Bind off. With a length of MC yarn (or the ends from working instaria) sew down the edges of the bobbles, then knot yarn ends tightly together and trim short. Sew together cast-on edge, then sew up back seam, leaving bound-off edge open. Stuff body (you'll need to be careful when stuffing the body, so the black yarn ends from the bobbles don't show).

Finger Puppet Body 
Begin at bottom. With MC, cast on 16 sts.
Row 1-2: Beginning with a P row, work 2 rows in st st.
Row 3: MC p5, CC p1, MC p4, CC p1, MC p5.
Row 4: MC k5, CC mb, MC k4, CC mb, MC k5.
Row 5-7: Work 3 rows in st st.
Row 8: K5, ssk, k2, k2tog, k5. (14 sts)
Row 9-10: Work 2 rows in st st.
Break off MC, change to CC.
Row 11: Purl.
Row 12: K4, mb, ssk, k2tog, mb, k4. (12 sts)
Row 13: Purl.
Bind off. With a length of MC yarn (or the ends from working instaria) sew down edges of bobbles, weave yarn ends through the bobbles a few times, and trim ends. Sew up back seam, leaving cast-on and bound-off edges open.

Head 
Begin at back of head. With MC, cast on 7 sts.
Row 1: Purl.
Row 2: K1, [m1, k1] x 5, k1. (12 sts)
Row 3: Purl.
Row 4: K1, [m1, k1] x 10, k1. (22 sts)
Row 5: MC p8, CC p1, MC p4, CC p1, MC p8.
Row 6: MC k8, CC kfbf, turn, p3, turn, sk2p, MC k4, CC kfbf, turn, p3, turn, sk2p, MC k8. (this rows makes tiny bobbles for the ears)
Continue in MC.
Row 7-9: Work 3 rows in st st.
Row 10: MC k6, CC k4, MC k2, CC k4, MC k6.
Row 11: MC p6, CC p4, MC p2, CC p4, MC p6.
Continue in MC.
Row 12: K2, [k2tog] x 4, k2, [ssk] x 4, k2. (14 sts)
Row 13-15: Work 3 rows in st st.
Row 16: [k2tog] x 7. (7 sts)
Cut yarn, thread end through loops of rem sts, and pull tight to gather. Weave in yarn ends from intarsia sections. Attach safety eyes. Sew seam towards back of head, leaving an opening. Stuff head, smoothing and shaping as you stuff. Sew closed. Embroider nose and mouth. Sew head to the open bound-off-edge of the toy or puppet body.

Abbreviations 
[ ] x N = repeat sequence in brackets N times ("to end" means to repeat until the end of the row)
K = knit
k2tog = decrease 1 by knitting 2 together
kfbf: increase 2 by knitting into front, then back, then front of next stitch
m1 = increase 1 by picking up loop between stitch just worked and next stitch, and knit into the back of this loop
mb = Make bobble: increase 5 sts into next st (knit, purl, knit, purl, knit into this stitch), turn. P5, turn. K5, turn. P5, turn. Ssk, k1, k2tog, then, one at a time, pass first 2 sts over the last st on your right-hand needle, to get 1 rem st.
P = purl
RS = right side
s2kp = decrease 2 by slipping 2 stitches as if to k2tog, knit the next stitch, then pass the 2 slipped stitches over the knit stitch
ssk = decrease 1 by slipping 2 stitches purl-wise, slip back onto left needle, then knit slipped sts together
st or sts = stitch or stitches
st st = stockinette stitch
WS = wrong side

Kyr very kindly modelled the toys for me, 

so you can see how big they are compared to a 4-year old.