Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Chicken Knitting Patterns

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I visit Ravelry pretty often to see what new knitting patterns are being released, and a few times when I’ve visited recently it has shown me Annette Corsino‘s Emotional Support Chicken knitting pattern.

It’s a cute pattern worked in garter stitch with short rows to give it shape, and it uses worsted weight yarn in a few colors to add all the details. The project has been made more than 1,000 times, with people giving theirs fun names like Henriett, Iris Henfel and Henny Styles (the original was named Lindsay LoHEN). The pattern is a modification of one designed by Bev Galaskas and I think everyone probably needs one.

The pattern got me thinking about knit chickens, for emotional support or otherwise. If you want to start a fibery flock, check out these fun chicken knitting patterns.

Which Came First? is a delightful free Ravelry pattern from Dee Frey, which features an egg-shaped chicken that would be adorable as a springtime decoration. It can be worked in any gauge with any weight of yarn, so grab your odd balls and make a bunch of different sizes (note: cute Easter egg filler!).

If you’re looking for something a bit more realistic, Dot Pebbles Knits has a cute chicken knitting pattern that includes wings/frills. The project is worked flat and joined as you go for easy knitting and assembly.

If you have a circular knitting machine and a little bit of crochet skill, this pattern from Knetta’s Knits on Etsy is easy and cute. It includes a little knit nest, too.

Henrietta the little brown hen is another cute chicken knitting pattern you’ll find on Etsy from Knit for Victory. You probably have all the yarn you need for this little girl already (it calls for DK weight yarn but you can use what you have to make a different sized hen if you like) or you can buy a kit from the designer that includes everything you need to make your own Henrietta.

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Knit a Pet Bed on a Knitting Machine

I feel like I haven’t shared many knitting machine patterns lately, probably because I haven’t been using my knitting machines much lately. (I finally made space for them to live on the bookshelf in my office, and now that they have a “place” it’s almost like I forgot they existed for a while.)

But I did recently make a little cat bed, that surely would work for a small dog, too. 

This one uses two different sizes of knitting machine: a larger one (it could be any in the 40-48 needle range) and a 22 pin. 

The larger machine is used in flat panel mode to make the bottom pillow like part of the bed, while the smaller machine makes a long tube that is used around the edges as the sort of walls of the cat bed. 

For stuffing I used a bit of leftover quilt batting for the pillow, and some cut up old T-shirts for the tube. 

You can use any worsted weight yarn you like (I used two colors of Big Twist Pound+, which comes in huge skeins that weigh more than a pound). Acrylic or cotton yarn is nice for washablity, but you’ll be cranking for a while so make sure you use a yarn your machine likes so it’s not too much of a struggle. 

You can grab the pattern for this cat bed over at Our Daily Craft. I’m sorry to report the pictured is as close as a cat has gotten to it so far, but maybe your cats like to be cozy more than mine do?

If you’re looking for more options for cute handmade places for your cats and little dogs to rest, check out this roundup of knit pet beds. I still want to knit one by hand but the machine version was definitely a faster option (especially good since my cats are ungrateful).