Knitted Toys

Our nephew is already a year old! We went to his first birthday party in early August, and our gift to him was a set of knitted toys. They're quite adorable, if I do say so myself.

I knitted the cat above in the round with double-pointed needles. I found the pattern on Ravelry (it's called "Beans the Cat" and the designer is Linda Dawkins), but it's also available on her web site here. It was a good project for my first attempt, because it was small and quick. It was also my first try knitting an i-cord (for the tail). So now I can officially check off #2 on my list of knitting goals with this cat and the beret (the cat and the hat!).

I knitted the cat because it was just too cute not to knit, and then I saw some patterns on Ravelry for some other animals that I had to make. These were actually knitted flat (not in the round), so I got some practice with seaming, which I had mostly managed to avoid until now.

These patterns were designed by Aine Marriott and are called "Mini Elephant," "Mini Lion," and "Mini Hippo."

I knitted all of these toys with cotton yarn, so they are washable (hand washing is probably best).

He seemed to like them. We noticed when looking through the photos Ed took from the party that he held onto the cat through the opening of several gifts.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

I'm not implying that he wasn't interested in those other gifts, but I think it's sufficient proof that he liked the cat I knitted for him...at least for about five minutes.

Some adults enjoyed playing with them, too:

My dad is saying he has the cat by the tail (and the others are forming a cheerleader-style pyramid in the background)

My dad juggling the toys and displaying classic concentration face

Uncle Brandon victoriously completes a feat of balance (it lasted approximately 0.5 seconds)

It was a good party. Lots of people came, and we got to see family and friends we hadn't seen in a while. It's nice to be a few hours' drive away again so we can do stuff like this.