Knit Toys Made Out of Squares

Many years ago, when my now-ninth grader was in kindergarten, I did a couple of summer camps at her school dealing with fiber arts for kids. One of the projects I made in one of those weeks was a little cat made out of a square, which you folded up and sewed down at the top to make ears. (I can’t find a similar pattern online but this and lots of other simple toys knit from squares and rectangles can be found in A First Book of Knitting for Children.)

One of those early Easters my mom made my daughter a bunny out of a square, and remembering that as I’m thinking about Easter projects this week got me thinking about animals that you can knit from squares.

The bunny there are a lot of different versions of, but I think the one she used was from StudioKnit. It’s such a cute and easy little project, and if you happen to have a square swatch lying around, you’re almost done with this project. This would be a great one for teaching little kids to knit because they can use their practice piece to make a sweet little toy.

Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer has another version of the knit square bunny, where the body and head of the bunny are made from a square and you add on ears and a tail after. This one is shown worked in stockinette stitch, but you could do it with garter stitch too of course!

How about a knit sheep from a square? This one from Jo So and Sew adds a bit of felt for the head and ears and uses a square of garter stitch for the body. So cute for kids and knitting friends!

Resurrection Fern made a cute little rooster (it could also be a hen or a chick with different embellishments) out of a square of knitting. This one is fun because it also allows you to use some colorful fabric scraps for the tail feathers.

The square bear from Gina Michele has more than one square involved, but all the pieces are flat garter stitch with no shaping involved to make this cute little bear.

This one is a little more complex in that it’s a rectangle and you need to change colors throughout to make the different parts of the doll, but I love the ready teddy pattern from Aussie Knitting Threads. With one piece of knitting you can make a whole fully dressed bear (or cat, or make it a person and add some hair) that would be great as a little gift or to donate to charity.

If you’re looking for more easy and fun knit animal toys made with squares, check out Nicky Epstein’s Knit a Square, Create a Cuddly Creature or Knit a Square and Make a Toy.

Book Review: Finger Knitting for Kids

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I’ve shared a lot of Christmas stocking knitting patterns over the years (see posts 1, 2, 3 for example) but what if you want to knit a stocking for a non-human member of your family. If you’re looking for Christmas stocking knitting patterns for your cats or dogs, this is the post for you.

These large paw print stockings are perfect for either dogs or cats, so they’re great to knit if you have both. They are worked in the round using DK weight yarn, and the stocking measures about 17 inches/43 cm from the top to the heel. You can get the pattern from nicolaluke.

The K4 Project has a super cute Kitty Christmas stocking pattern, which is worked in worsted weight yarn. They also have a dog version, or you can buy both and get a discount if you have both dogs and cats to knit for. Both projects have two patterns, showing how to work the stockings flat or in the round.

Put your dog into a Christmas scene with this stocking pattern from ifanhourChild. It shows a dog in a dog house in the snow, and has room for the dog’s name at the top. It’s worked flat using worsted weight yarn and the pattern includes charts for many small and medium dog breeds (there’s a separate listing for bigger dogs) so you can stitch a dog that looks like yours.

Annie’s Woolens has both dog and cat stocking knitting patterns that are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. You can change up the colors to suit your pet if you want, and they come with an alphabet chart for personalization. Or you can stick with holiday colors and buy a kit to make the dog or cat stocking.

Waiting for Santa Paws is a pattern from Kate Agner on Ravelry that would be cute for a dog or a cat. It looks like a leg with a paw print on the bottom part of the foot and more paw prints running around the top of the leg. This is a great option if you don’t want to mess with a heel turn because it doesn’t have a heel, because dogs and cats don’t have heels so why would their stockings?

Book Review – 20 to Knit: Tiny Christmas Toys to Knit

Book Review – Knit Christmas Stockings

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