Thursday, July 26, 2012

A (Very) Hungry Caterpillar

One of my knitterly friends recently had a son. To share in the celebration and welcome the little guy, and because I am a knitter, I just had to make something.

I do have a few guidelines that I like to follow when making this type of project.
  1. It cannot be something I've made before.
  2. It has to be designed or customized just for them.
  3. It has to be something that will suit the child and the family.
  4. It MUST be machine washable.
I spent a good deal of time wondering what to make.

To be honest, I was really at a loss.

 I did the only sensible thing I could - I did a knitted toy search on Ravelry, hoping and praying for inspiration to strike.


While scrolling through the search results, I came upon this project and pattern:


It brought mind one of my favorite picture books, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. My lightening strike moment had arrived!

I used the Creepy Crawly Caterpillar pattern, but changed the colors to match the character in the book -- green for the body and feet, red for the head, purple for the antennae. 

I added three body segments which meant working rows 23-39 a total of four times, got everything stuffed as I went, and sewed all the pieces together. 


I then got some felt and cut it (free form) to match the face in the book, securely sewing each piece.

The only thing that remained was to purchase a copy of the book to include with the gift.


I was so pleased and excited with the way this turned out. Thankfully, this was a book that they didn't yet have, and both Momma and Baby seem happy with it. I hope it will bring enjoyment for years to come.


Project Details:
Designer: LaTina Steele
Yarn: Peaches & Cream (100% cotton) in Emerald (green), Red, and Deep Purple
Needles: US 3 (3.25 mm)
Other: Stuffed with polyester fiberfill, face cutouts from polyester felt

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Thank you so much. I loved making this project. I used three different colors of yarn for the body and feet to add a bit more color. I knitted the eyes so that they would pop out. I am not an experienced knitter and I had difficulty knitting in the round so I did not knit in the round and instead sewed the seams and it worked out fine. Thanks!