Sunday 14 December 2008

Free bunny and cat pattern for christmas

And why not. And even better, you only need scrap wool and it takes no time at all. Enjoy....

You will need a couple of balls of inexpensive yarn in contrasting colours. Any spare yarn you have lying around in your workbasket will probably be fine - this little critter doesn’t take up an awful lot. I used Patons Zhivago. You can opt for more expensive yarn if you fancy a pedigree mew, but cheap acrylic is fine for a moggy mew.

6mm safety eyes (or you can embroider the eyes if you choose)

A scrap of felt for the muzzle. You will need to cut the circle approx 2cm in diameter.

Black embroidery thread for the nose and mouth, and pink thread for the bunny nose

A 3.0mm hook

Stuffing

Abbreviations

Ch – chain
sts - stitches
Sc – single crochet
Sc-inc – Single Crochet increase (sc twice into same stitch)
Sc-dec – Single Crochet decrease (sc two stitches together)
FO – finish off

The body, head legs and arms are the same for both the Mew and the Bunny. Instructions for the Bunny nose and ears are included at the end. For the single striped bunny, I joined in the contrast yarn at row 7 and used it for two rows. On row 9, I went back to the main colour. For the mew, I joined the contrast for rows 4/5, and again at rows 8/9. You can join your colours however you want, or keep your body all one colour. Have some fun with different colour schemes!


Body

Using your main colour.
Row 1 - ch 2. sc 6 sts in second ch from hook, or use the magic loop method
Row 2 - sc-inc in each stitch around = 12 sts
Row 3 - *sc1, sc-inc. Repeat from * around = 18 sts
Row 4 - *sc2, sc-inc. Repeat from * around = 24 sts
Row 5 - sc around. = 24 sts
Row 6 - *sc2, sc-dec. Repeat from * around = 18 sts
Rows 7 to 9 - sc around = 18 sts.
Row 10 - *sc1, sc-dec. Repeat from * around = 12 sts
Row 11 - sc around = 12 sts
FO.


Mouth and Nose (mew only)


To give your mew the kind of face he has in the picture, you will need to cut a piece of felt about 2cm in diameter. Embroider the nose and mouth how you prefer and then sew your whiskers in place at the back before attaching the felt to the head of the mew. The back of the felt will look a bit of a mess – like this....

You can see where the mouth and nose are, with the whiskers taking shape at the sides.

When you turn the felt over, you will see something much nicer, like this...

Make the whiskers longer than you need them to be so that you can cut them to size once you've secured them to the back of the felt.


Head

Row 1 - ch 2. sc 6 sts in second ch from hook, or use the magic loop method
Row 2 - sc-inc in each stitch around = 12 sts
Row 3 - *sc1, sc-inc. Repeat from * around = 18 sts
Row 4 - *sc2, sc-inc. Repeat from * around = 24 sts
Row 5 - *sc3, sc-inc. Repeat from * around = 30 sts
Rows 6 to 8 - sc around = 30 sts

If you want to attach the eyes in the same place as on the pictured cat, you can do so now. I put them between rows 6 and 7.

Row 9 - *sc3, sc-dec. Repeat from * around = 24 sts
Row 10 - *sc2, sc-dec. Repeat from * around = 18 sts

If you have made the mouth out of felt, I would attach it now before the hole becomes too small to sew it on comfortably.

Row 11 - *sc1, sc-dec. Repeat from * around = 12 sts
Row 12 - sc around = 12 sts
FO


Arms x2

Row 1 - ch 2. Sc 7 sts in second ch from hook, or use the magic loop method
Rows 2-7 - sc around = 7 sts
FO and leave a long enough thread to attach to the body


Legs x2

Row 1 - ch 2. Sc 8 sts in second ch from hook, or use the magic loop method
Rows 2 to 3 - sc around = 8sts
Row 4 - sc-dec, sc around = 7 sts
Rows 5 to 7 - sc around = 7 sts
FO and leave a long enough thread to attach to the body

Ears x2 (see below for bunny ears)

Row 1 - ch 2. Sc 6 sts in second ch from hook, or use the magic loop method
Row 2 - *sc1, sc-inc. Repeat from * around = 9 sts
Rows 3 to 4 - sc around = 9 sts
FO – leave enough yarn to sew ears to head.


Assembling the mewcat

Stuff the head and body and stitch together. There’s no need to stuff the limbs – simply sew the top of the legs and arms flat before attaching to the body. If you want the mew to sit down, sew his legs about three rows up from his bottom. If you want him to stand, place the legs closer to the base.

Sew the ears on to the head.

Bunny

Bunny body, head, legs and arms are the same as for the mew pattern.

Bunny Ears x2

Row 1 - ch 2. Sc 5 sts in second ch from hook, or use the magic loop method
Row 2 - sc-inc in each stitch around = 10 sts
Row 3 – *sc-inc, sc 4. Repeat from * around = 12 sts
Rows 4 and 5 – sc around = 12 sts
Row 6 - sc-dec around = 6 sts
Rows 7 and 8 - sc around = 6 sts.
FO. Using the tail of the yarn, pinch the bottom of the ears together and put in two or three stitches in to keep them looking “curled”.

Bunny Nose

Row 1 - ch 2. Sc 5 sts in second ch from hook, or use the magic loop method
Row 2 - sc-inc in each stitch around = 10 sts
Row 3 - sc around = 10 sts.
FO leaving a tail long enough to attach the nose to the face.


Embroider on the mouth with pink thread.

Assemble the bunny as described for the mew above.

1 comment:

JuliaB said...

Cool! I have a crochet hook, i have yarn .. now all i need to do is learn how to use it!! x