April Monster of the Month

April Monster of the Month

This month’s monster is a cheerful little guy, with a few different design features. I mix up rows and rounds in the head/body to give it more of a boxy shape. The foot/leg section has a built-in ankle.

 

Made with worsted weight yarn and an F hook, he measures about 9” tall.

 

I used 2.1 ounces of the main color, less than half an ounce of the accent color, and less than a yard of white and black for eye accent and smile.

 

I used 15 mm safety eyes

 

Start at the top with main color. First section is worked in rows. Note: the body is done in HDC, while arms, legs and horns are made in SC

Row 1: Ch 13. Starting in 2nd ch from hook, hdc 12.

Rows 2-4: Ch 1, turn, hdc 12. 

Row 5: Do not turn. Add an additional hdc in the same stitch just worked. Turn your work and work 4 hdc down the side, with an additional hdc in the corner. Turn work and make 12 hdc across, with an additional hdc in the corner stitch. Turn and work 4 hdc up the side. Place one more hdc in the corner. (36: 12 on each long side, 4 on each short side, and one additional hdc in each corner)

 

Now we work in continuous rounds. Use a stitch marker to mark your beginning point to help keep track of rows.

Round 1: BLO hdc (36)

Rounds 2-8: hdc (36)

 

Now we go back to working back and forth. If needed, hdc over to the beginning of a long row. 

Row 1: BLO hdc 12

Rows 2-4: ch 1, turn, hdc 12. FO, leaving long tail for sewing closed.

 

Fingers (make 8 in accent color)

Ch 4. Starting in 2nd chain from hook, sl st 3. FO, leaving a 2” tail for attaching.

 

Arm (Make 2 in main color)

Round 1: Ch 5. Starting in 2nd chain from hook, sc 3, 3 sc in last chain, turn work and sc 2, inc in the back side of the chain. (10)

Rounds 2-7: sc (10) (See note below about attaching fingers.)

Finish off after row 7, leaving a tail to sew arms to body.

 

After row 2, attach fingers. Your starting chain will have four small holes.  Pull your starting tail for the first finger through 1st hole and your finishing tail through the 2nd hole. Triple knot your yarn ends. Trim close to the knot. 

Continue with three more fingers. Finger #2 will go in holes 2 & 3, Finger 3 in hole 3 & 4, Finger 4 in hole 4 and the adjacent sc in round 1.

 

Possible variations: you can make your fingers longer with a longer starting chain. Since the arms are not stuffed, you could go up with your hook size to make the arms more flexible. 

 

 

Foot (make 2 in main color)

Round 1: sc 6 in mr

Round 2: inc x 6 (12)

Round 3: *sc, inc* x 6 (18)

Rounds 4-5: sc (18)                                                                                

Round 6: *sc 4, dec* x 3 (15)

Round 7: *sc 3, dec* x 3 (12)

Stuff lightly and fold the top together. Sc 5 across the top. 

Ankle transition: 

Ch 1, turn, hdc 5 (5)

Ch 1, turn, FLO sc 5, turn your work and BLO sc 5 on the other side. (10) Now we will go back to working in the round again. 

Round 1: sc (10)

Round 2: (sc, inc) x 5 (15)

Rounds 3-6: sc (15) FO, leaving a tail to sew to body. You can stuff the legs or leave them unstuffed to make him more of a sitting monster.

 

Horns (make 2 in accent color)

Round 1: 4 sc in MR (4)

Round 2: inc, sc 3 (5)

Round 3: inc, sc 4 (6)

Round 4: inc, sc 5 (7)

Round 5: inc, sc 6 (8)

Round 6: inc, sc 7 (9)

Round 7: inc, sc 8 (10)                                                                    

FO, leaving tail to sew to head. 

 

Eyebrows: (make 2 in accent color)

Ch 7. Starting in 2nd chain from hook, sl st, sc, hdc, dc 3. FO, leaving tail to sew to head. 

 Place safety eyes between rounds 4 & 5, with 6 stitches between. Before securing safety eyes, place the eyebrows above the eyes to make sure you have enough room. Use a little white yarn to make an accent on the outer side of each eye. Sew eyebrows over eyes, with the thickest part at the center of the face. Embroider a mouth over round 6. Stuff head/body and sew the bottom flap closed.

Sew the horns on the top of the head. I placed mine close to the outer edges.

Sew legs to the bottom of the head/body. I positioned my legs so that  the edges lined up with the edges of the bottom of the head/body.

 

Sew arms to the side of the body, even with the bottom of the eyes.

Possible variations: add some hair between the horns: a mohawk, a few strands of yarn, or dreads. To make dreads, I take about a yard of yarn and pull a loop through a stitch where I want the dread. Then, using a K hook, I crochet a chain using both strands of the yarn. When I run out of yarn, I finish off the chain, pulling the yarn nice and tight, and trim the ends to make them even.

Thank you to Bonnie for testing my pattern for me! Here is her adorable monster!