Monkeys to Knit for the Year of the Monkey

Chinese New Year is just around the corner, and we’re about to begin the Year of the Monkey.

I found so many cute monkey knitting patterns I actually had to stop looking for fear of overwhelming you all with the cuteness, but here are a bunch to get you started, whether you’re knitting to celebrate the new year or just to make a gift for a monkey-loving kiddo.

Elaine Fitzpatrick has an adorable Imp Cloth that can be made as a washcloth or a baby bib. It’s decorated with a monkey in textured stitches and is so cute I just might have to make one even though we’re beyond the bib stage.

Looking for more knitting patterns for a Monkey? Check out these knitting patterns on Etsy and these free monkey knitting patterns from our sister site Craftbits.com

Nett Hulse has adorable little baby mittens with monkey motifs, among other designs.

Tommy Smith has a Monkey Finger Puppet, or check out the Tiny Monkey by Katie Startzman, Monkey Moo from the Knitted Toy Box, Mary Kate Long’s Tiny Sock Monkey, or Aine Marriott’s Mini Monkey. So cute!

If you like your monkeys bigger, there are many, many options, including:

The ITV Digital Monkey from Sirdar
Tucker the Monkey by Tracy Chapman
Monkee Maker’s Monkee
Monty the Monkey from Sullivans International
Patons’ Monkey Around Sock Monkey
Linda Cyr’s Sock Monkey from Red Heart
The Sock Yarn Sock Monkey by Linda Cartlidge

There’s even a Curious George chart (from Justyna Lorkowska) and a Boots the Monkey from Jennifer Wilson-Parkes (though it should be noted those characters are licensed, so don’t try to sell anything using these patterns!).

Have you ever knit a monkey? I’d love to know what you made or if any of these designs catch your eye.

I guess I must have had this pattern on my mind, because I had chosen this log cabin blanket recipe to write about, promptly forgot about it and a couple of weeks later started knitting a log cabin blanket using all my pink yarn.

It might stay pink if it makes it to baby blanket sized, or I might add in some pastel green and blue, too, to make a bigger blanket. We’ll see. I’m also holding several strands of yarn together to make a kind of bulky yarn, which means it’s deeply satisfying how much yarn is used even as the project is still relatively small.

In Kristen Finlay’s version, DK weight yarn scraps (or fingering/sock yarn held double) are used to make a simple scrappy log cabin blanket that’s lighter weight than my version. Log cabin is a great technique for knitters of any skill level because it’s worked in garter stitch. The only not completely basic technique you need for log cabin knitting is picking up stitches.

If you’ve never worked a log cabin knitting project before, this is a good introduction, and it is really nice to use all your yarn scraps in one big project you’ll use for years to come.

If you use a lot of DK weight yarn you can keep building on it whenever you finish a project, or if you use more worsted weight you can do the same thing with it, it will just be a little bigger starting out than the pattern calls for. How big it gets is totally up to you.

I have really been enjoying working on my log cabin project, and it’s my current sitting at my desk and need a break knit (do you have one of those or is it just me?).

Ready to start your own log cabin blanket knitting project? You can grab the free pattern from Kristen Finlay on Ravelry.

Need more log cabin inspiration? Check out more log cabin knitting patterns.

[Photo: Kristen Finlay]

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