Kato monkey

Three weeks ago, our cosy little street welcomed a new inhabitant: Kato, the cutest baby girl in town. And cute little girls, need cute personalized cuddly toys, don’t they? I didn’t know what to make at first, but eventually I settled for another Phildar monkey. I already knew how to make these, so I was sure Kato wouldn’t end up with a beta version of some kind.

The toy was picked, the personalization wasn’t. I’m rather new at crocheting, so I didn’t see myself up to getting her whole name written on the front of the monkey. Luckily, there’s always Debbie Stoller’s Happy Hooker book. She also describes how you can turn images into patterns, which came in quite handy. As an example, she uses a heart, and I just copied it from her. To give it that personal touch I was looking for, I decided to get the letter K in the heart. That didn’t seem so hard to do.

I didn’t have any graph paper, and I never have the patience to wait a couple of days until I can go and get something. So I just grabbed a piece of paper, and drew along, like this:

I must say, it looked easier than it was. In the end, I had to rip back parts of it more often than I had wanted to, and I gave a cry of joy when I finally got the K and the heart done. The rest of the monkey seemed like child’s play after that.

While the measurements and the hook of Kato’s monkey are the same as the other monkey I made, Kato’s monkey turned out smaller than the other one. This is because I used other wool. I must say, the smaller monkey looks a lot cuter than the other monkey.