Hedgehog

This is the "The Whole (Hedge)hog" from Family Circle Easy Toys: 25 Delightful Creations to Knit and Crochet (Family Circle) by Trisha Malcolm.

I hand dyed the yarn for the snout and the feet. These two browns are in fingering weight wool of the andes wool (essentially palette from knitpicks). I knit these two together to give the snout more of a heathered look.

Using size 5 double pointed needles, I knit the snout and base. For the snout, I modified the pattern to knit in the round. When I'm supposed to decrease twice in a round, I did a K2tog at the beginning, and SSK at the end. This eliminates the seaming.

Side and bottom view of the snout. Why make a seam when it is easy to do it in the round?


The bottom of the hedgehog.

I have never done a French Knot before, usually I just embroider a square until it looks eye-like. I used two strands of the Pink that I dyed when I dyed the brown.


When I started to knit the back, I noticed a difference between this brown eyelash yarn and the grey yarn that I used for the gosling. Honestly, I liked the yarn I used for the gosling so much more, and I found the texture to be amazing. The Brown eyelash yarn has both short and long pieces, which makes a slightly less desirable effect. This is what I get for purchasing unmarked eyelash yarns out of a bin!

This project was EXTREMELY fast to knit. You could easily complete a couple in an afternoon.

The pieces, about 60 rows total!

The finishing instructions were not great. It was unclear which sides of the back you were supposed to use to sew to the base, and how you should sew the back together (a long seam? Gathering?) I decided to sew the tube so the cast on edges were facing the same way. For the back, I gathered the top a bit and then sewed it to the bottom.

Left: The body tube with the snout slipped in. Middle: The bottom of the body portion. Right: The back end of the hedgehog before deciding how to close it.

I didn't love the extra long pieces sticking up, so I trimmed a lot of them.

Before Trimming

After Trimming

Honestly, I am not as in love with my product as I was with the photo in the pattern. I should have chosen a different eyelash yarn (rather than unknown). I also would make the backside larger, maybe knitting it in stockinette rather than garter stitch. I have plenty of yarn remaining, both of the eyelash and the brown dyed, so maybe I'll try this again some other rainy afternoon.