Franken-squirrel & Other Pattern Hacks

I've been pretty obsessed lately with knitting. I know... it's hot. But I have A/C so it's not unbearable sitting at my desk and knitting. I have one of each of the animal patterns that Julie Williams has come out with for knitting these cute little creatures. I usually either buy the boy or the girl but sometimes I get both if I want to make the sweaters and the dresses. This is my third lamb/ram. But right now I'm obsessed with squirrels!

I once knitted and crocheted for two and a half years (in my spare time) without taking a break, one project after another and I was fine with that so I love to knit and crochet. I love to make things and I have to have an outlet from reality. I just can't wait to make the next newest animal pattern and about a week ago I learned there was another new pattern being published by Julie so I got busy making a franken-squirrel since I couldn't get the pattern yet.

The legs, bodies and arms for her boy and girl patterns are all basically the same so I used a leg, arm and body pattern from the boy bear. The body had a white belly, not hard for a seasoned knitter to figure out from the picture by counting stitches but the head was going to be different.

I used the bear head pattern and modified it for the last five rows making the muzzle white and then I just embroidered over the nose part. But I've since discovered that the dog pattern would have given me the exact muzzle I needed from the Doberman instructions and making the last five rows white on the muzzle. The nose and muzzle would have been perfect for the squirrel. Then the pattern became available so I got it.

I used the ears from the fox pattern for my frankensquirrel but I could have made them a little smaller. Then I just added little tufts of yarn to the ends which I will separate and comb out with a wire brush. Positioning them and sewing them on in the right spot makes them look more squirrely. For the eyes, I didn't knit in the white patches, instead I used white felt on my plastic eyes and cut out the circles around them.

I used a capped sleeve pattern from the seasonal dresses instructions and just roughly drew out the acorn and oak leaf pattern to do my color work.

I also wanted my squirrels to wear some Ugg type boots. I got the pattern from Crafty Braam and modified it for making the boy boots a little taller. My yarn for those was a little thicker so the boots turned out perfectly big for his big feet.

I bought the boy pattern because I wanted to make those gorgeous sweaters! I also decided to give my girl squirrel some boots too. I wanted to make her some pink ones but my first try looked like house slippers so I started over. Maybe a different shade of pink would work better. 

I also found a backpack pattern from Mary Jane's Tearoom that I really like and I wanted to fill it with acorns so I found a bunch of free patterns for acorns too. I also found some free knitted oak leaves. I really had fun with these.