A Little Hand Knit Gift For Mom

With Mother’s Day fast approaching, I decided I needed to start thinking about what to get my mother. Seeing as she was the one who taught me to knit, I thought I would try to knit her something. In the past I have made her hats, gloves, scarves, etc. Now, however, she lives in an area where the temperature does not get low enough for her to use any of those, so trying to find the perfect hand knit gift was a little tricky. I searched my stash and in my muddled basket of yarn I found some leftover balls of Zitron Pro Natura sock yarn that I had used on a pair of socks for my grandfather. I had chosen the yarn, but I still didn’t have a pattern. It was to the internet I went, hoping to find something easy, cute, and different. As I was browsing through the pages on Ravelry, I found the pattern Sock Monkee 2.1.  The pattern, if you can guess, was for a sock monkey. It was perfect. My mother loves sock monkeys. I mean she LOVES sock monkeys. The pattern was cute, seemed easy, and was something I had never made before, so it would be an adventure. It was everything I was looking for and more. This was my first foray into knitting a toy, so it was an adventure, but the pattern was fun and simple enough. The one area I had a little trouble was with the Turkish Cast On. I had never used this cast on method before and I found the written instructions a little confusing. I’m not sure if the confusion was due to how the instructions were written, or because there were no pictures (I find it extremely difficult to learn something knew in knitting without pictures). With a little help from the internet this issue was quickly resolved and I learned the new cast on quickly.     The Turkish Cast On allowed me to cast onto both of my needles at once. It leaves the work seamless, which is nice when making the limbs of a stuffed toy. Because the cast on places the yarn on both needles and has me working in the round between these two needles, it was great because I could stuff the toy easily when the time came. This became especially pertinent as I worked on the head and body because I could stuff the toy as I went along. Moving past the new cast on, the pattern was very easy. This project was a fast finish for me. He turned out cuter than I could have asked for, and I am sure my mother will be thrilled. I knit all the limbs of the monkey, the tail, the body, and attached them all in just a couple of days. With plenty of time to spare before Mother’s Day! I only wish I could see her face when she opens up the package with this lovely creature inside. Courtney Berge, Alpaca Direct Staff