May The Fourth Be With You!

Happy Star Wars Day! 

In honour of today I have just re-watched The Mandalorian, how good is that show!? it has got to have been one of my favourites shows of 2019, along with Good Omens...oh and His Dark Materials, that was a corker! Anyway, I digress, as soon as I saw 'The Child' I was, like most of the internet, hooked! How flipping cute, and mischievous and such a great start to the series!

Please note, if you make this little tike, you gotta keep both eyes on him at all times, it's not only Mudhorns that he likes to play with!

As much as I was in love with 'The Child' my knitting of this pattern actually happened by chance, I was scrolling through Facebook and saw a crochet version of the infamous 'Tiger King' (see it here) and jokingly suggested to my friend and colleague Steve, that I could make him one, as it was a show he had been enjoying (like most people it seems, me not so much) and I had lots of time on my hands due to being furloughed, he countered with this Baby Yoda pattern, and to be honest it was a pattern I was much more keen to actually knit, and so I ordered some yarn and got going!

~ The Child ~

Pattern:

Baby Yoda created and kindly shared by Kim Konen

Yarn: 

Worsted weight Cascade 220 in - Antiqued Heather

Worsted weight Cascade 220 - Pesto

Careful, the force is strong with this one!

I have made a few little changes to the original pattern to make it a little more realistic to the version in the show, please don't see this as a criticism in any way of Kim's pattern, its just that I had plenty of time to tinker, partly because I could and partly because I was using yarn that was quite different in thickness and behaviour to that used in the original pattern.

BODY
Knit the body as pattern instructs.

EARS
Knit Ears as pattern instructs.

Only thing I did differently was to weave floristry wire through the outer edges of the ears to add structure to my floppy yarn - this means its is not suitable for children.

ARMS
Knit in green only, following what the pattern instructs for the measurements.

Instead of rolling the arms up, I seamed them along the hand and up the long edge and stuffed them with stuffing, before attaching them to the body - Wait until you have sewn the cloak before attaching the arms as you can use the cloaks holes as a placement guide.

Sew three knots on the ends of the arms, to create a hand - I did this by oversewing in one area a few times and then securing, then threading the loose end of the thread into the body to hide.

CLOAK
This is where I varied from the pattern the most, work as follows.

On 5mm Needles Cast on 42 stitches.
Row 1: Slip 1, knit to end
Row 2: Slip 1, knit to end
Row 3: Slip 1, purl to end.
Repeat rows 2 & 3 (essentially stocking stitch) until work measures 3 inches ending on a purl row.

We now need to make some arm holes in the shawl, this is super easy to do
Next row: Knit 10 stitches, bind off 2 stitches, continue knitting until you are 12 stitches from the end of the row, bind off 2 stitches and then knit to the end.
Next row : Purl 10, wrap yarn around needle twice to create 2 stitches, continue until next hole and wrap yarn around the needle twice, purl to end.

Continue in Stocking stick for another 2 inches.
Bind off.

SLEEVES (make 2)
Cast on 12 stitches.
Work in stocking stick for 2 inches, ending on a purl row.
Next row: Slip 1, inc 1, knit 4, inc 1,
Continue in sticking stitch for another 1.5 inches.
Bind off.
Sew the sleeves together along the longest edge, to create a tube.
Attach sleeved to cloak but inserting them into the hole and over casting the two pieces together.
Roll end of sleeve back up the arm, increase row should be approximately where it folds.

FACE
Work as pattern instructs.

I only had 1 cm black buttons, but I think they worked well. To give him a little more definition in the eye, I sewed an upper and lower lid, by stitching each side of the button, creating a long thread which ran across the eye, and then securing the strand (couching might be the correct term) a couple of times into the face until it was secure, then repeating this until it looked about right, it was not a precise art. but it does give the option of tucking the buttons behind the lids, to close his eyes a little  you know when using 'his hand'.

So there you have it, my tinkered with version of 'The Child' just in time for Star Wars Day, The pattern is a lovely one to work with, hats off to Kim for creating it! I think he has turned out very cute indeed and I know I will struggle to part with him - however I have plenty of yarn left so I will start on my own version very soon!

I hope wherever you are in the world that you are safe and well and are able to enjoy a little bit of escapism today, no matter what galaxy you choose to find it in!

Wendy x