Hens with knitting needles
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Materials:
Same thickness yarn of any brand and type of your choice. Acrylic, wool, velour or cotton will do.
Yarn of the following colours is required:
For the body - the main color. You can choose any colour, suitable colours are: yellow, pink, light blue, light green.
For stockings: choose 2 matching colours. For beak and paws: light brown. For the comb and beard: red.
I used 200 m/500g acrylic yarn. The consumption of yarn is small.
The size of a sitting chicken is 7 cm + paws. Depending on the thickness of yarn a finished toy size may differ.
- A crochet hook, I used 1,5 mm crochet hook;
- Hollow fibre for stuffing;
- A sewing needle, matching sewing threads;
- For embroidery: a few threads of brown, black and white
- At your wish: A piece of light brown polymer clay for beak (In this pattern, there is a variation of a crochet beak);
- optional for the wire frame of the paws: wire with a diameter of 1mm (2 pieces of 14 cm);
- for knitting needles: 2 toothpicks, 2 beads.
Abbreviations:
ch – chain
sl st – slip stitch
sc – single crochet
hdc – half double crochet
dc – double crochet
inc – increase (2 sc in 1 st)
dec – decrease (single crochet two stitches together)
(...) x N times – repeat instructions in brackets N times
Body - Head
Crochet with the main colour yarn.
Rnd 1. 6 sc in a Magic Ring
Rnd 2. (3 sc in 1 loop, 1 sc) х 3 times = 12
Rnd 3. (1 sc, 3 sc in 1 loop, 1 sc, 1 inc) х 3 times = 21
Rnd 4. 2 sc, (3 sc in 1 loop, 2 sc, 1 inc, 3 sc) х 2 times, 3 sc in 1 loop, 2 sc, 1 inc, 1 sc = 30
Rnd 5. (1 inc, 2 sc, 1 inc, 2 sc, 1 inc, 3 sc) х 3 times = 39
Rnd 6. 4 sc, (2 inc, 11 sc) х 2 times, 2 inc, 7 sc = 45
Rnd 7. 2 sc, (1 inc, 3 sc, 1 inc, 3 sc, 1 inc, 6 sc) х 2 times, 1 inc, 3 sc, 1 inc, 3 sc, 1 inc, 4 sc = 54
Rnd 8-9. (2 rounds) 54 sc
Rnd 10. 38 sc, (1 dec, 1 sc) х 3 times, 1 dec, 5 sc = 50
Rnd 11. 34 sc, (1 dec, 1 sc) х 3 times, 1 dec, 5 sc = 46
Rnd 12. 5 sc, 1 dec, 3 sc, 1 dec, 11 sc, 1 dec, 3 sc, 1 dec, 7 sc, 1 dec, 1 sc, 1 dec, 4 sc = 40
Rnd 13-14. (2 rounds) 40 sc
Rnd 15. (6 sc, 1 dec) х 5 times = 35
Rnd 16-18. (3 rounds) 35 sc
Rnd 19. (1 dec, 5 sc) х 5 times = 30
Rnd 20-23. (3 rounds) 30 sc
Add some hollow fibre.
Rnd 24. (1 dec, 3 sc) х 6 times = 24
Rnd 25. (1 sc, 1 dec, 1 sc) х 6 times = 18
Rnd 26. (1 dec, 1 sc) х 6 times = 12
Add some hollow fibre.
Rnd 27. 6 dec = 6
Pull off the loops. Cut the thread, hide the end.
Wing (make 2)
Crochet with the main colour yarn.
Rnd 1. First, we crochet 3 feathers: work 6 ch, starting from 3rd ch from hook: 1 dc, 2 hdc, 1 sc,
work 5 ch, starting from 3rd ch from hook: 2 hdc, 1 sc, again work 5 ch, starting from 3rd ch from hook: 2 hdc, 1 sc,
work 7 ch, starting from 2nd ch from hook: 1 sc, 5 hdc, 1 hdc in the 1st feather, 1 hdc in the 2nd feather, 1 hdc in the 3rd feather, 1 ch, turn
Rnd 2. 3 hdc, 1 dec, 2 sc, 2 sl st
Fasten off, cut the thread, leaving long tail for sewing.
The second wing is crocheted similarly, just turn it over so that the long feather looks the other way.
Tail
Crochet with the main colour yarn.
Rnd 1. (Work 6 ch, starting from 3rd ch from hook: 1 dc, 2 hdc, 1 sc) х 3 times
Fasten off, cut the thread, leaving long tail for sewing.
Stockings (make 2)
Choose 2 matching colours (colours А and В).
Start with colour A.
Rnd 1. 6 sc in a Magic Ring
Rnd 2-3. (2 rounds) 6 sc
Change the yarn to colour B.
Rnd 4-5. (2 rounds) 6 sc
Change the yarn to colour А.
Rnd 6-7. (2 rounds) 6 sc
Change the yarn to colour B.
Rnd 8-9. (2 rounds) 6 sc
Change the yarn to colour А.
Rnd 10-11. (2 rounds) 6 sc
Change the yarn to colour B.
Rnd 12-13. (2 rounds) 6 sc
Change the yarn to colour А.
Rnd 14-15. (2 rounds) 6 sc
Fasten off, cut the thread, leaving long tail for sewing.
A wire frame for the legs (optional). Use the wire that bends easily but keeps its shape, e.g. florist wire. Prepare a piece of wire, about 14 cm long, bend it in half, and insert it into the stockings.
Paws (make 2)
Crochet with light brown yarn. Crochet with yarn in 2 additions. For crocheting paws, take a larger hook.
Rnd 1. crochet 3 toes: (work 5 ch, starting from 2nd ch from hook: 1 sc, 3 sl st) х 3 times, 1 ch, 1 sc in the 2nd toe, 1 sc in the 3rd toe, 1 ch, turn
Rnd 2. Skip 1 loop, 1 sc, 1 ch, turn
Rnd 3. 1 sl st
Fasten off, cut off any excess yarn, hide the end. Sew paws to stockings.
Comb
Crochet with red colour yarn.
Rnd 1. work 8 ch, starting from 3rd ch from hook: 3 dc, 3 hdc, work 7 ch, starting from 3rd ch from hook: 3 dc, 2 hdc, work 6 ch, starting from 3rd ch from hook: 2 dc, 2 hdc, work 5 ch, starting from 3rd ch from hook: 3 hdc
Fasten off, cut the thread, leaving long tail for sewing.
Beard (make 2)
Crochet with red colour yarn.
Rnd 1. work 5 ch, starting from 3rd ch from hook: 2 hdc, 1 sc
Fasten off, cut the thread, leaving long tail for sewing.
Beak
Crochet with light brown yarn. Tip: Take a thin cotton yarn.
The lower part of the beak
Rnd 1. Work 4 ch, starting from 3rd ch from hook: 1 hdc, 1 dc.
Bind off, cut off any excess yarn
The upper part of the beak
Before starting crocheting, leave a tail of yarn for further operation, about 15 cm long.
Rnd 1. Work 2 ch, in 2nd ch from hook: 3 sc, 1 ch, turn = 3
Rnd 2. 1 inc, 1 sc, 1 inc, 1 ch, turn = 5
Rnd 3. 2 inc, 1 sc, 2 inc, 1 ch, turn = 9
Rnd 4. 3 inc, 3 sc, 3 inc = 15
Bind off, cut off any excess yarn
Fold the part in half, sew the sides A and B. Fold the beak so that the seam is at the bottom, sew the lower part of the beak.
Attach the beak to the head. The bottom edge should be in line with Rnd 16. Sew it on with hidden stitches.
A variant of a beak made from polymer clay.
Make a triangular beak out of polymer/self - hardening clay. It should have a short peak at the top and wider lower side. Mould the back side of the beak with your fingers and make a little groove and nostrils with a needle.
Half open beak – optional: mould two parts and join those together forming a half open beak. Make the nostrils with a needle.
Put the beak in a pre-heated oven and bake following the instructions or cook it in boiling water for 5 minutes. If you choose to cook in water method, please make sure you never use that sauce pan to cook food in. Let the beak cool down, then cover it with varnish and glue on.
Attach the comb and beard to the head with some dressmaking pins.
Sew the comb and beard to the head.
Sew the wings to the sides. Note that the wings feathers are pointing forward. Sew the tail to the body.
Insert the legs into the body (around rnd 9). You may use a thick needle to make a hole to help you.
Sew them on.
Embroider the eyes with stitches. Embroider eyebrows.
Decorate at your discretion. In my version of the story, a hen is knitting with knitting needles.
I made knitting needles out of toothpicks. I put a bead on one end of the toothpick. I knitted several rows with knitting needles. I transferred the loops to the toothpicks. Fixed the toothpicks to the chicken's wings.
The hen is completed!
