Monkey Moo

Free Monkey Toy Knitting Pattern by Raynor Gellatly.

Recently I had been looking for a monkey pattern to knit for my little girls, Evie who is one and Lois who is currently only 2 weeks old. I had a good look around at free patterns and even those for sale but I couldn't see anything that was perfect. Until however I stumbled across a fantastic crochet monkey pattern by ChimuChimu. Her patterns create the most adorable monkeys which were just what I was looking for, only problem being that I don't crochet. So I converted the pattern into a knitting pattern, and I am so happy with the finished toy. Of course i've decided to share the pattern for those who would like to create their own little monkey moo.

This pattern is knit flat so is really heavy on seaming. If you know how to knit on dpn's I would highly recommend you do so to save all the seaming at the end.

Materials

· Set of 3mm needles (UK size 11, US size 2.5)

· Yarn needle

· Toy stuffing

· Black thread/yarn for embroidering eyes

Yarn weight

Double knitting/ worsted weight

Gauge

Not important but make it tight so stuffing doesn’t show through

Finished Measurements

13"(34cm) tall

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Head
CO6 sts using peach yarn

1. kfb into all sts (12sts)
2. purl
3. *k1, kfb* repeat along row (18sts)
4. Purl
5. *k2, kfb* repeat along row (24sts)
6. purl
7. *k3, kfb* repeat along row (30sts)
8. Purl
9. *k4, kfb* repeat along row (36sts)
10. Purl
11. *k5, kfb* repeat along row (42sts)
12. Purl
13. *k6, kfb* repeat along row (48sts)
14. Purl
Change to brown yarn
 15-22. St-t 8 rows
23. *k6, k2tog* repeat along row (42sts)
24. Purl
25. *k5, k2tog* repeat along row (36sts)
26. purl
27. *k4, k2tog* repeat along row (30sts)
28. purl
29. *k3, k2tog* repeat along row (24sts)
30. purl
31. *k2, k2tog* repeat along row (18sts)
32. purl
33. *k1, k2tog* repeat along row (12sts)
34. purl
35. *k2tog* along (6sts)

Cut yarn, leaving a long tail. Draw tail through remaining stitches and pull tightly and secure.Use tail to mattress stitch row ends closed. Stop half way down to fill with stuffing (and if using safety eyes attach them now) and then continue until you reach the cast on stitches. Use the yarn to draw through all the cast on stitches and pull tight for a drawstring effect,secure and then weave in any loose ends.

Mouth
CO6 st using peach yarn

1. Kfb into all sts (12sts)
2. Purl
3. *k1, kfb* repeat along row (18sts)
4. Purl
5. *k2, kfb* repeat along row (24sts)
6. purl
7. *k3, kfb* repeat along row (30sts)
8. Purl
9. Knit
10. Purl
11. *k3, k2tog* repeat along row (24sts)

Bind off leaving a long yarn tail to mattress stitch the row end together. continue up to the cast on stitches, then draw through all the cast on stitches to give a drawstring effect, secure and weave in any loose ends. Place some stuffing in the remaining opening.

Ears (make 2)
Co 6 sts using peach

1. Kfb into all sts (12ts)
2. Knit
3. *k1, kfb* repeat along row (18sts)
4. Knit
5. Knit
6. Knit
7. *k1, k2tog* repeat along row (12sts)
8. Knit
9. *k2tog* along (6sts)

Bind off leaving a long yarn tail. Use the yarn tail to stitch together the row ends using mattress stitch. Do not fill the ears with stuffing. Once you reach the cast on stitches draw the yarn through for a drawstring effect, pull tightly and secure. Weave in any loose ends.

Body
CO6 sts using brown yarn

1. kfb into all sts (12sts)
2. purl
3. *k1, kfb* repeat along row (18sts)
4. Purl
5. *k2, kfb* repeat along row (24sts)
6. purl
7. *k3, kfb* repeat along row (30sts)
8. Purl
9. *k4, kfb* repeat along row (36sts)
10. purl
11-16. st-st 6 rows
17. *k2tog* 4 times, k20, *k2tog* 4 times (28sts)
18. Purl
Change to t-shirt colour
19-36. Sts-st 18 rows
37. *k2,k2tog* along (21sts)
38. Purl
39-44. St-st 6 rows
45. *k5,k2tog*along (18sts)
46. Purl
47-50. St-st 4 rows

Bind off leaving a long yarn tail to mattress stitch the row end together. continue up to the cast on stitches, then draw through all the cast on stitches to give a drawstring effect, pull tightly and secure and weave in any loose ends.

Arms (make 2)
Co6 using peach yarn

1. Kfb in each st (12st)
2. Purl
3. *k2,kfb* along (16sts)
4. Purl
5. Knit
6. Purl
7. *k2,k2tog* along (12sts)
8. Purl
9. *k1,k2tog* along (8sts)
10. Purl
Change to brown yarn
11-34. St-st 24 rows
Change to t-shirt colour
 35-42. St-st 8 rows

Bind off leaving a long yarn tail to mattress stitch the row end together. Stop halfway and fill with stuffing. Continue up to the cast on stitches, then draw through all the cast on stitches to give a drawstring effect, pull tightly and secure and weave in any loose ends.

Legs (make2)
Co6 sts using peach

1. Kfb in all sts (12sts)
2. purl
3. *k1,kfb* along (18sts)
4. Purl
5. Knit
6. purl
7. k5,*k2tog* 4 times, k5 (14sts)
8. purl
9. k3, *k2tog* 4 times, k3 (10sts)
10. purl
Change to brown yarn
11-44. st-st 34 rows

Bind off leaving a long yarn tail to mattress stitch the row end together. Stop halfway and fill with stuffing. Continue up to the cast on stitches, then draw through all the cast on stitches to give a drawstring effect, pull tightly and secure and weave in any loose ends.

Tail
Co 6 sts using brown yarn
1. *k2,kfb* along (8sts)
2. Purl
3-32. St-st 30 rows

Bind off leaving a long yarn tail. Use the yarn tail to stitch together the row ends using mattress stitch. Do not fill the tail with stuffing. Once you reach the cast on stitches draw the yarn through for a drawstring effect, pull tightly and secure. Weave in any loose ends.

Finishing

• Attach the mouth piece to the head by stitching the cast off stitches of the mouth to the peach part of the head.
• Embroider on a nose, eyes and eyebrows using yarn or thread. If you are using toy safety eyes then you will need to attach them before you seam the head together, I recommend 7.5mm eyes.
• Attach ears roughly halfway down each side of the head.
• Attach arms, legs and tail to the body.

Additional Info

1. You can use plastic pellets to fill the bottom of the hands, feet and body to add some weight to the monkey, however its not recommended that you give a toy with plastic pellets to a baby or young child.
2. Add small magnets to the monkeys hands and feet before seaming, so that it can 'cling'.
3. To add the letter motif to the monkeys T-shirt I used the free letter charts available from little cotton rabbits available here.
4. You can also add shorts to the monkey simply by changing to the shorts colour at row 30 of the leg and replacing the brown yarn with the shorts colour when knitting the body.

**UPDATE NOV 2011** You can now make your own cat and dog in the same style of monkey moo using the Cat hearts Dog free pattern by Kimeberly Kwon, see this post for more details.


That's your monkey finished, now you can relax!

♥ Raynor