What does a single girl in the big city do on a Friday night?

She finishes the unicorn!

Now that the unicorn is finished, I will take a break from stuffed animals.   It is time for socks, washcloths, and hats for the holiday season!

A Month of Stuffed Animals

Helen, my sister, told me about a very new baby who needed a stuffed buddy.  The new baby has a slightly older brother who has not gotten a stuffed offering.   To Ravelry and Etsy and my own pattern stockpile I went!

Looking through the stuffed animals was a lot of fun.  There are so many good choices.   I looked until I had that A-HA moment.  Rebecca Danger is a really fun designer.   She is known for her monster patterns.  Her work is imaginative, colorful, and downright cheerful.

For new baby Henry, I chose Tofu the Gentle Dachshund.  The yarn, Willow Burrow Worsted, came out of stash.  This is one of my go-to yarns for knitting for children.  Tofu is a small toy and great for little hands.  This is a quick knit.  I really liked the way Tofu is constructed.

Each time I make a toy, I am struck by the work that goes into these designs.  Each designer whose patterns I have knit has a slightly different way to shape and assemble the toy.  Each time I knit one of these patterns, I learn a lot.

Henry's brother, Ethan, received a pair of knit combat boots when he was born.  The boots were useful, but certainly not cuddly.  Ethan is entering the age at which dinosaurs are a source of great fascination.

For Ethan, I chose another Rebecca Danger pattern - Terence the Tap Dancing T-Rex.   Got to love a smiling dinosaur!  This toy, when seated ended up being taller

than my cat who sat next to it but moved so quickly I could not get a picture.  This pattern had an really interesting construction.  I admit that I had to start it about 10 times before it worked out.  It was not because the pattern was not clear, it was because I was tired and this needed me to be alert and attentive.   The dino get stuffed as you knit it.   Stuffing the dino when it is done would be....unpleasant if not nigh on impossible.  The pattern was not so challenging that I was not willing to do another right away.

Ruby's T-Rex was done in pink to match a blanket her great-grandma made for her. The second time around I still had to start the dino multiple times.  No...I did not learn from the first round.  T-Rex II went more quickly and I did things a little differently which made the second round much easier.

Love the tail shaping on this dino...it does stick up....and helps the dino balance nicely when sitting.

Ana's blanket featured unicorns.  A while back I had found a unicorn pattern that I wanted to do for Ana.   This seemed like the perfect occasion...and the yarn for this was also all in stash.  Cutiepatootees' Snow White the Unicorn is coming along nicely.  My favorite part of this project is the hoof shaping which gives a flat-bottomed hoof.   With a little push, I will finish Snow White this evening.

 As I was not using the yarn specified, I have had to make some adjustments.  The head, I knit according to the pattern.  When I had finished the body according to directions, I held up the head to the body and the proportion was WAY off.   It would be a ...mutant.  I picked out some stitching and

added length.  That worked.   As I was doing the legs, I checked proportions carefully on the first leg.  The legs would have been too long.  With a slight adjustment, the legs are just right.   I am looking forward to attempting the mane and the tail.

After some discussion, the mane and the tail will be purple and pink...which I have the stash as I knit for a coterie of little girls.  Picture of completed Snow White coming soon!