Saturday 19 April 2008

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

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Jellybum

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another fantastic pattern! Just what I needed for my sister's birthday.

Lil Knitter said...

OMG! I love him! Thanks for sharing.
Hugs!

MonkeyGurrrrrl said...

I love him, I love him, I love him!!! And I love you for posting this pattern! I'm so frustrated by all the cute amigurumi(SP?) patterns that are ALLL in crochet, I'm so happy to find a great, KNIT pattern!!!

jen721 said...

I have been looking for this pattern in knit form since I first found him. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!! I will have to make one to go with my others!!!

Kristin said...

This is ADORABLE! My godson will turn two in August and is SO into Curious George - with a red t-shirt, this little guy will definitely be a big hit with him! Thank you for sharing!! :)

Amanda said...

I knitted this in the round and it was so easy.

Anonymous said...

Hi there! I love this pattern! I've made two so far for colleagues in my office that sit on their desks.....
Thanks so much for the fabulous pattern!

Kimmirara said...

Thank you so much. He was my first knitting project that wasn't a scarf and I'm sooo proud of him! I was actually looking for a lion pattern to make my boyfriend a Chelsea mascot, so I just popped him into a chelsea kit (monkey moo, not my boyfriend!), put a bit of funky fur for a mane and he is a perfect Stamford the Lion!
Thanks again, Kim xxx

SassySnow said...

What a great pattern.. greatful you took the time to turn it into a knitting pattern... I will be making this into a backpack harness... thank-x for posting!!

Brooke79123 said...

does this have to be double knitted??? or can you just use two strands of yarn together... afraid of double knitting

Unknown said...

I have been looking for a pattern for a nice monkey for my friend in the UK who just loves anything monkey and needed something simple as I am still learning. Monkey Moo is just perfect, thank you for sharing!

Anonymous said...

this toy is perfect!! can you give any indication of how much of each colour wool is needed? thanks =)

Anonymous said...

I can't believe how cute this little chap is! He's adorable! Thank you so much for sharing this pattern, I'm currently knitting toys for my niece or nephew due next March and this will be my next project! Thank you so much xxx

Lisa said...

Hi, I've just finished my Monkey Moo shown here...

http://www.lisaglanville.com/?p=608

sam said...

awww this is so adorable!
i am making sugar bunny at the moment and i and defiantly going to make this little one next.
i have been looking for ages trying to find animal patterns but they are all crochet.
all of then are so easy to knit and assemble. thank you SO much! :) xxx

Charlie said...

I LOVE Monkey Moo! He is so cute! I have been wanting a Monkey pattern for ages but all the ones I think are adorable, are really expensive. I love Monkeys!