piglets
i had one of these piglets when i was a baby and my mum just gave me one for my birthday so i desided to try them myself. when i was a kid my mum got the pattern from a anthroposophical book by freya jaffke for parents who want to make toys from natural materials. (i could not find it in english...)
but now we used a pattern on liselottes blog slagt en hellig ko. the piglets name is knud. the pattern is in danish so i translated it. you can do this pattern with every kind of yarn and needles. the thiker your yarn, the bigger your piglet.
the body:
cast on 24 st and knit 2 rows. now start the butt: knit 11, make 1, knit 2, make 1, knit 11 knit the next row. k 12, m 1, k 2, m 1, k 12 knit next row. k13, m 1, k 2, m 1, k 13 knit next row. you should have 30 st. cast off 6 st on both ends. knit 10 rows. make 6 st on both sides. and knit 6 rows. cast off the 6 st on every side. now start the head: knit 4 rows, k6, k 2 tog, k 2, k 2 tog, k 6, knit one row,
k5, k 2 tog, k 2, k 2 tog, k 5, knit one row, k 4, k 2 tog, k 2, k 2 tog, k 4, knit one row, continue until you only have 6 st left and cast off.
now the ears: cast on 5 st, knit 6 rows. (i wanted my ears to be big, so i did 6 st and knitted 7 rows) k 2 tog, k 1, k 2 tog. knit one row, slip 1, k 2 tog, drag the first st over the other one and close it. you need two ears of course ;) sew the pigs legs to tubes and close its nose and belly. now you can put wool inside and close it. attache the ears. (it looks very cute if you fold the ears) if you want a tail: just cochet 6 chain st.
if pigs could fly...
while i was knitting the piglets i had the idea to give them wings, so i tried some ideas and this is the pattern i worked out.
i used 7 st but it depends on the yarn you want to use. if it is as thik as the yarn you made knud of, you should probably use more. and of course there is no "regular wing size", every piglet has its own wings =) my mumi pig (the dark green one on the pic below) has very small wing becouse it is a bit fat and it makes it look very cute.
Cast on 7, Knit 2 rows, Knit 2, make 1, knit to the last two st, make 1, knit 2 K1row K 2, m 1, kto the last 2, m 1, k2, K 2 rows, K1, knit 2 together, k to the last 3 st, k 2 tog, k1 Continue until you only have 5 st left. K 2 tog, k1, k 2 tog Slip 1, k 2 tog, slip the first one over the knitted and close the wing.
