Yep. The knitted toys continue. Today it’s puppets. My entire set is designed by Karen Dimeler-Laurence. Check out “Critter Mitts” in her Toy Box eBook available at KnitPicks. If you link through via Ravelry you can also check out other versions of these puppets. Mine are all knit in Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride worsted. The bright colors really sing in these puppets.

First up: Triceratops. Three horns. Great top display. Excellent mouth. He’ll be shouting all sorts of scary stuff in no time at all.

I decided to knit this entire set with safety eyes. My embroidery skills are minimal. And the eyes looked quite spiffy when I first tried them on for size. One caveat though: the stems of the safety eyes are pretty scratchy rubbing against the top of the hand. So it’s not impossible that these critters might actually draw blood if someone jams their hand into the puppet too aggressively. Embroidering the eyes would be better for the youngest of puppeteers in your clan.

Here’s Tyrannosaurus Rex, of course. Quite a set of choppers. But my favorite part is probably the effect created by his silly little…well, arms.

My only modification to T-Rex was to add a row of garter stitch to the teeth, after the cast-on, before beginning the picot bind-off. I felt it would give his teeth more heft.

Next up: Sea Monster.

Again, I added that extra row of garter stitch–this time to the monster’s side frills. And nice super-big eyes, just because.

You’ve probably already noticed that these puppets are really one basic pattern. Up to the spot in the pattern where you put stitches on a holder to create the mouth hole, you’re just knitting a mitten. Same for after the mouth hole. Instead of knitting a thumb, you continue with the bottom of the mouth in the skin color. Then you knit a mouth patch that you’ll later sew in place. The different critters are achieved by knitting different embellishments.

Knitting that loop stitch mane was the high point of working on the Lion.

The patterns tell you, carefully, where to place the facial features.

I’m already thinking about how I will display my puppets in my new craft room. The Campbell’s Soup can I used for their porch pedestal photos actually worked fairly well though. In addition to these four critters, the pattern provides instructions for a platypus and a zebra.

I knit this set once before back in 2016. Such fun!

You probably noticed the anglerfish I improvised in my earlier set. My grandson liked anglerfish. Here’s a closer look at him. (The Anglerfish, not Isaac.)

I have a strong “blind follower” streak in my knitting most times. This pattern invites improvising.