Spectacled cobra - Naja naja by corvus corone corone
For personal reasons I decided my best friend needed a toy cobra. I used some round about DK weight yarn, feels like pure wool, in mottled brown, off white, and some black I had left over. If you want to try this pattern, have fun. I don't explain each step, especially the body part is free for your own creativity. So it's more a guide-line than a pattern. I strongly advise reading the pattern through entirely prior to starting :) I simply wrote down what I did, without knowing if it would work out. For my cobra, it did. I hope there won't be any mistakes and it will work out well for you, too! It helps to google some “Naja naja" photos before starting to look at the normal range of colour patterns cobras can have. sed the Magic Loop method, because I don't like DPNs, with a Turkish Cast-on. Cobras have brownish eyes with black round (!) pupils. Sew on eyes (mine are 14 mm in diameter) while you can still do it easily, so while you haven't yet knitted fardownthebody. This snake is knitted in the round, magic loop, knitting from nose to tail
Turkish CO 4 stitches (so you end up with 8 stitches, meaning 4 stitches on each needle) R1 k all R2 M4 = M2 on each side, (so 4 in the round): (k1 M1 k2 M1 k1) twice R3 k R4 M4 (like in Row 2) R5 k R6 k R7 k R8 k R9 k R10 (start with white underbelly over 6 stitches), always carry each unused colour along, wrapping it around the working yarn so you have no spiderweb of unused yarn on the inside. I didn't carry the black all the way round, though) R11 M4 (all 4 using brown) R12 M4 (on the belly side make those 2 stitches white! so k2 switch to white M1 k6 M1 return to brown k2) R13 k (12 stitches on each needle) R14 k R15 k R16 k R17 M8=4 on each side, 2 of which are white on belly-side (k1 M1 k1 M1 knit till 2 before end M1 k1 M1 k1) twice R18 (k7 M1 k2 M1 k7) twice R19 k (18 stitches) R20 M10 (1 white): k1 M1 k1 M1 k7 M1 k7 M1 k1 M1 k1 belly: k1 M1 k1 M1 cont. with white k7 M1 k7 return to brown M1 k1 M1 k1 R21 k (46 stitches in all/23 per row) R22 M10 (1 white): k1 M1 k1 M1 k9 M1 k10 M1 k1 M1 k1 belly: k1 M1 k1 M1 k1 cont. with white k8 M1 k9 return to brown k1 M1 k1 M1 k1 R23 k R24 k R25 start cobra pattern chart (see chart below - 28 stitches per needle) \*cobra pattern chart\* BUT: Remember you start within this chart to decrease every 2nd row from R 34 (2 per needle, one on the left side, one on the right side). On the belly make the decreases in the white part (left and right side), so 4 per row) from R46 start with brown decrease on the belly side, meaning: once there are six white stitches on the belly side left, decrease 4 (in all) again, like established, but on the belly side decrease the brown (so that the 6 white stitches remain) R47 k R48 like R46 R50 like R46 (10 stitches per needle, 20 in all) R51 start using brown only for a couple of rows, but keep carrying white along. To get a nice pattern, you will knit the occassional (random) white stitch in the brown, and also some stripes, keep on doing the white belly, with some random brown stitches and stripes especially in the first third of the body. If you want to stuff the snake to make a toy or door draft stopper, block off the outward flaring part of the hood by inside seams (due to the strand work you should have plenty of invisible thread to hold the thread for the seam in place), so that the hood remains flattened out. You will need to stuff the body while it grows longer. Don't leave the stuffing till the end, you won't get the stuffing inside else. Toward the end let the white stripes get narrower and also start decreasing stitches when you feel the snake is long enough, so that the body gets narrower, too. Decrease 4 each round until you have only 8 stitches - 4 on each needle - left. Break off white and knit the tail brown only. Decrease only 2 stitches in the rounds with decreases from now on: knit for a bit with 3 stitches per needle (6 in round), then a couple of rounds with 2 stitches per needle (4 in round), then 2 stiches for two rounds then bind off. Optional: Angle the protruding head-part forwards at 90° to the body and graft a seam in white on the belly side so that it remains angled roughly that way. Tilt the body a couple of cm (15 cm or so) after the hood backwards 90° and graft a seam on the back in brown to have it remain upright. Let the rest of the body undulate softly by pushing and forming the stuffing. My cobra can actually stand with the head up, ready to strike. Takes bit of balancing but works.
cobra pattern chart: v=brown knit stitch x=black knit stitch o=white knit stitch n= no stitch / or \ decrease by one (k2tog or ssk) R25 start cobra pattern 25 26 VVVVVVXOOXVVVVVVVVXOOXVVVVVV 27 VVVVVXOOOOXVVVVVVXOOOOXVVVVV 28 VVVVXOOXXOOXVVVVXOOXXOOXVVVV 29 VVVXOOXXXXOOXVVXOOXXXXOOXVVV 30 VVVXOOXXXXOOXVVXOOXXXXOOXVVV 31 VVVVXOOXXOOXVVVVXOOXXOOXVVVV 32 VVVVVXOOOOXVVVVVVXOOOOXVVVVV 33 /vvvvvx00xvvvvvvvvx00xvvvvv\ 34 35 n/vvvvxooxvvvvvvvvxooxvvvv\n 36 nnvvvvvxooxvvvvvvxooxvvvvvnn 37 nn/vvvvxooxvvvvvvxooxvvvv\nn 38 nnnvvvvxooxvvvvvvxooxvvvvnnn 39 nnn/vvvvxooxvvvvxooxvvvv\nnn 40 nnnnvvvvvxooxvvxooxvvvvvnnnn 41 nnnn/vvvvvxooxxooxvvvvv\nnnn 42 nnnnnvvvvvvxooooxvvvvvvnnnnn 43 nnnnn/vvvvvvxooxvvvvvv\nnnnn 44 nnnnnnvvvvvvvxxvvvvvvnnnnnn 45 (I improvised a tongue. My BFF said this cobra needed a tongu..)
