My Little Blowfish
A Knotty Turtles Design by Selina S knottyturtles@gmail.com
My Little Blowfish is a pattern for knitting your very own blowfish, for those days when no one will buy you a pony. Pattern is worked from tail to head in the round. The fins can be sewn on to avoid short rows, or knitted as part of the body with short rows to avoid sewing. Suggested Yarns: Any weight works, but lighter than heavy fingering is a bit masochistic. Feltable wool yarn will result in a rounder toy. I recommend Cascade Yarns 220 Wool, 100% Wool, 200 m/100 g, 220 yd/3.5 oz. One skein will make 3 fishes. Gauge: Gauge is not too important. Fabric should be a bit loose if you plan on felting. You could knit and felt a swatch to see if you like the fabric, but why bother? Sample fishes are approximately 19 stitches 17 rows per 10 cm/4 in before felting, and 18 stitches 24 rows per 10 cm/4 in after stuffing and felting. Needles: Needles for circular knitting in a suitable size for your yarn. I used 4.5 mm/Us 7 with Cascade 220. - Black, white and coloured yarn for sewing on eyes or roving and felting needles for needle felted eyes. Safety eyes can also be used. - Polyfil, cashmere, dried lavender, catnip or other kinds of stuffing. Samples counter clockwise from the ferret. Cascade Yarns 220 Wool in colours 8414 (red), 9444 (orange), 7828 (yellow), 2409 (green), 8905 (sky blue), 9179 (royal blue), 9467 (lavender) knitted on 4.5 mm/US 7 needles, and Cascade Yarns Eco+ in colour 7822 (purple) knitted on 5.5 mm/Us 9 needles.
Instructions:
Each round starts in the bottom right and ends on the bottom left of the fish. For clarity the directions for the second half of each round is in green italics.
Tail:
Cast on 24 stitches with Judy's Magic Cast-On[1]. Round 1 and all odd rounds: knit. Round 2, 4, 6: 2x(k2tog, k4, Linc, Rinc, k4, ssk). 24 stitches. Round 8: 2x(k2tog, k2tog, k4, ssk, ssk). 16 stitches. Round 10: 2x(k2tog, k2tog, ssk, ssk). 8 stitches. Lightly stuff tail at this point if desired.
Body:
Round 11-13, 15, 17, 19: knit. Round 14: 4x(k, Linc), 4x(Rinc, k). 16 stitches. Round 16: 4x(k, Linc, k), 4x(k, Rinc, k). 24 stitches. Round 18: 4x(k3, Linc), 4x(Rinc, k3). 32 stitches. Round 20: 4x(k, Linc, k3), 4x(k3, Rinc, k). 40 stitches. Round 21: 4x(k3, Rinc, k2), 4x(k, Rinc, k4). 48 stitches. Round 22: 4x(k4, Spike, k), 4x(k2, Spike, k3). Round 23: 4x(k3, k2tog, k), 4x(k, k2tog, k3). 40 stitches. Round 24-25: knit. Round 26: 4x(k, Rinc, k4), 4x(k3, Rinc, k2). 48 stitches. Round 27: 4x(k2, Spike, k3), 4x(k4, Spike, k). Round 28: 4x(k, k2tog, k3), 4x(k3, k2tog, k). 40 stitches. Round 29-30: knit. Round 31-35: Repeat rounds 21-25. Round 36: 2x(k, Rinc, k4), k6, Rinc, k4, k3, Rinc, k7, 2x(k3, Rinc, k2). 46 stitches. Round S: k2, Spike, k3, k2, Spike, k2, Fin, k2, Spike, k3, k4, Spike, k, Fin, k3, Spike, k, k4, Spike, k. Round 38: k, k2tog, k4, k2tog, k9, k2tog, k3, k3, k2tog, k9, k2tog, k4, k2tog, k. 40 stitches. Round 39-40: knit. Round 41-45: Repeat rounds 21-25. Round 46: 2x(k, Rinc, k4), 2x(k3, k2tog), 2x(ssk, k3), 2x(k3, Rinc, k2). 40 stitches. Round 47: 2x(k2, Spike, k3), k8, k8, 2(k4, Spike, k). Round 48: 2x(k, k2tog, k3), 2x(k2, k2tog), 2x(ssk, k2), 2x(k3, k2tog, k). 32 stitches. Round 49,51, 53: knit Round 50: 2x(k3, k2tog), 2x(k, k2tog), 2x(ssk, k), 2x(ssk, k3). 24 stitches. Round 52: 2x(k2, k2tog), 2x(k2tog), 2x(ssk), 2x(ssk, k2). 16 stitches.
Notes:
Rinc - Lift the stitch below next stitch onto your left needle and knit it Linc - Lift the stitch below stitch just knitted onto your left needle and knit it ssk - Slip next 2 stitches knitwise, insert tip of left needle from left to right into the front of these 2 stitches, knit them together k2tog - Knit two together k3tog - Knit three together w&t - Bring the yarn to the front if knitting/back if purling. Slip the next stitch, bring the yarn to the back/front and slip stitch back to left hand needle. Turn work to continue in the other direction. See resourcel2] for additional details. Shadow wrap is not recommended.
Spike:
Longer spikes are denoted with [], which is recommended if you want to felt your fish. Cast on 4[6] stitches from stitch on left needle using knitted cast on, 4[6] new stitches on left needle. p2tog, 3[5]x(slip stitch from right needle to the left, p2tog).
Fin:
For sewn on fins, knit the next 6 stitches, and follow the directions for adding sewn on fins after binding off the fish mouth.. For short row fins, follow the short row instructions below over the next 6 stitches. Knit the wraps created on short row 1 and short row 2 only. Do not knit any other wraps. Short row 1: k3, Linc, Rinc, place marker on back of stitch just created, k2, w&t Short row 2: p6, w&t Short row 3: k3, Linc, Rinc, k2, w&t Short row 4, 6: repeat short row 2 Short row 5: repeat short row 3 Short row 7: k2, Linc, k, Linc, Rinc, k, Rinc, k, w&t Short row 8: p8, w&t Short row 9: k2, Linc, k2, Linc, Rinc, k2, Rinc, k, w&t Short row 10-12: p10, w&t Short row 13: k3, ssk, k2tog, k3, w&t Short row 14: p8, w&t Short row 15: k2, ssk, k2tog, k3, w&t Short row 16, 18, 20, 22: repeat 14 Short row 17, 19, 21: repeat 15. Short row 23: ssk, ssk, pick up marked stitch with left needle, k3tog, k2tog, k Pause to stuff the fish. If the fish is going to be felted, keep the stuffing loose. If you are planning to use safety eyes, add them now. I add my eyes along the line of stitches created by the k2tog, ssk in the middle of rounds 46-52.
Mouth:
Round 54: 4x(k2tog), 4x(ssk) 8 stitches. Round 55-59: knit Round 60: 8x(k, Linc). 16 stitches. Round 61-65: knit bind off loosely.
From left to right, unfelted blowfish with sewn on fin, unfelted blowfish with short row fin, felted blowfish with short row fin.
Sewn on fins:
Cast on 24 stitches with Judy's Magic Cast-On[1]. Round 1 and all odd rounds: knit. Round 2, 4: 2x(Rinc, k4, ssk, k2tog, k4, Linc) Round 6: 2x(k4, ssk, k2tog, k4). 20 stitches. Round 8: 2x(k4, ssk, k2tog, k4). 20 stitches. Round 10: 2x(k3, ssk, k2tog, k3). 16 stitches. Round 12: 2x(k2, ssk, k2tog, k2). 12 stitches. Doind 12:lnit Bind off the front and back of the fin at the same time with three needle bind off[3]. Lay the bind off edge flat at the fin position on round 37 of the body and sew in place. Repeat for the other side of the body.
Finishing:
Weave in all ends. If felting, soak in hot water, scrub generously with dish soap, and toss it in the washing machine and dryer with the rest of your laundry (test yarn for colour fastness!). If you have a gentle washer, you may need to repeat this 2-3 times to get to your desired feltness. Needle felt or sew eyes on your little blowfish if you are not using safety eyes.
My Little Blowfish is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License[3.
Resources:
1. Judy's Magic Cast-On. http://www.persistentillusion.com/blogblog/techniques/magic-cast-on/magic-cast-on2 2.Short rows from TECHKnitter, variation 2. http://techknitting.blogspot.com/2009/10/short-rows-method.html 3. Three needle bind off from TECHKnitter. http://techknitting.blogspot.ca/2011/12/three-needle-bind-off-forreal-this.html 4.http: //creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
