Mascot Monkey//Knitting and Crochet Blog Week

When I choose what projects to make, I have some criteria:

1. Do I need it?

2. Will I learn anything by knitting it?

3. If it's a gift - will it be appreciated?

4. Do I need to buy yarn, needles, or other notions?

5. Is the pattern a much loved one, or does it have it's issues?

 

So when our friend Jen got pregnant; I knew I wanted to knit something for her upcoming arrival - so I spoke to Jay to find out what she likes. I have decided on a cute little hat, but I wanted to knit a softie - because I've knit softies for babies before and they always seems to go down well with new parents. Anyways it's turns out that Jen (and Darren) love monkey's - so I went to my go-to softie knitter, Rebecca Danger - she's my favourite softie designer by far!!! And I found Jerry the Musical Monkey:



 

 Isn't he super cute? And what I love about Rebecca's patterns are you can use any weight yarn you choose - which is fab because it changes the size and means you can knit with yarn that suits the person - for example for a baby, you probably want machine washable; whereas if I was knitting a softie for myself I might use something hand-dyed.



Jay and I had a long discussion about yarn colours, and what would suit a baby girl - I knew I wanted to use Robin Chunky - it's a heavy acrylic based yarn that is really perfect for children's softies, it's nice and hard-wearing.

I finally chose a pretty dusky pink colour, and a mottled cream colour:



I think Miss Monkey is going to be super pretty, the yarn is here and she is ready to be cast-on. I'm really pleased with the colour choices and the pattern. I just need to decide on a name for her and how I'm going to do her eyes.

So this is a challenge for you, my readers, what would you call this monkey? And what would you do for eyes? I'm tempted to just use some black yarn and stitch them on - I'm just not sure that plastic safety eyes are the right thing for the project. Let me know.

I hope you are continuing to enjoy KCBW 2013; I'm really having fun.
V x
PS: today's code is: 4KCBWDAY2; make sure you use this code if you're playing along.