Knitted sheep in woolly land

Far away in woolly land live two little knitted sheep.

Chalky is white with a curly coat and Charcoal is black with a grey coat.

One day a fashionable little girl sheep named Rose came to live with them. She wore a beautiful fluffy pink coat and the boys were immediately smitten.

Chalky changed his curly coat for a smart tweedy one and Charcoal sported his glitzy grey number but Rose, in her new rainbow striped poncho, was not impressed.

Charcoal changed his name to 'Bumble-baa' and Chalky changed his to 'Baa-code' but Rose in her flowery coat was not amused.

Poor Chalky and Charcoal, will they ever impress the gorgeous Rose?

 

A bright idea

 
These little characters are very easy to knit and great fun to dress. Let me know if you post a picture of your sheep as Chalky and Charcoal would love to call in during their blog-trotting tour and link to your blog on one of their forthcoming posts. (They will visit just 10 blogs so please let me know ASAP if you'd like a visit)

AROUND THE WORLD IN 10 BLOGS
 
The friends are hoping to find 10 blogs to visit


Pattern for the sheep

I used DK yarn for the head, body, legs and ears and size 2.75 mm needles (US size 2). This finer needle gives the required tighter fabric.

Different yarns vary in the way they knit up but here is the pattern I used. Please adjust if necessary to suit your own requirements. I experimented with stocking stitch and reverse stocking stitch, both are suitable, its a matter of personal choice.

Body - Cast on 14 stitches, knit 16 rows. With a large sewing needle take the stitches off onto a length of yarn and draw up. With wrong sides facing stitch the long edges together. You should now have a tube. Turn to the right side, stuff and draw up the open end to make a fat sausage shape.

Legs (knit 4) - Cast on 6 stitches and knit 8 rows. Cast off. Roll up the knitted piece as tightly as you can to form a tiny sausage shape and stitch down the open edge (no stuffing required). Stitch the tops of the legs to the body as shown above.

Head- Cast on 9 stitches and knit 10 rows. Take stitches off onto a sewing needle and draw up. With right side facing (because head is too small to turn inside-out) neatly oversew the long edges together. Lightly stuff the head and gather the open end. To give the head a realistic curved shape push the threaded needle from the nose end through the head and out of the top. Pull until you have the required curved shape then fasten off. Decide which end is better for the nose and stitch the head to the body (see picture above).

Ears (knit 2) - Cast on 3 stitches and knit 2 or 3 rows. Remove stitches onto sewing needle and draw up, this makes the pointed end of the ear. Oversew down the ear to the base and stitch it to the top of the head (see picture above).

Now you can give the sheep a face. I used embroidery floss.

Now comes the fun part...dressing the sheep. You can create different coats from different yarns, in other words anything goes!

I used 3.75 mm (US size 5) to make a soft fabric.

Basic coat- Cast on 10 stitches and knit the required number of rows to wrap over the sheep's back from one side to the other. Cast off. Fold in half and with wrong sides facing. Stitch together the edges at one end to form the back end and a very short seam (about 1cm) at the front. This will fit under the sheep's head. You must leave an opening large enough at this end for the sheep's head to pass through. Turn right side out.

I used a curly boucle yarn for the white coat (garter stitch) and a grey DK for the other coat (moss stitch).

Needless to say there is now friendly rivalry between the boys.
Will they ever win the heart of the lovely Rose?

Have fun knitting your sheep and don't forget to let me know if you feature it on your blog then I can link to it next time I post.

Until next time,
Eli

Comments

[Martha]

This has got to be the cutest thing I have seen! Thanks so much for sharing. I love it, Eli.
:o)

[Debbie]

Oh Eli, your sheep are wonderful! You just keep coming up with these delightful ideas. I will definately be knitting some of these. Thank you so much for sharing the pattern.

Debbie
xxx

[Martha]

Hi again, Eli!
I hope you don't mind that I shared this post with the "Hitty's Knittys" group. They all adore the sheep and love your other patterns as well. This was just too cute not to be shared. Baaa-Code!!! LOL!!
:o)

[maggie]

Now you know how I feel about baby lambs! These are simply adorable!
xxx
Maggie

[Redwood House]

Hi Eli, I love the little cute sheep I think maybe I should have started on something like that instead of trying to knit a jumper. I really wanted to knit little jumpers for my dolls but got carried away and ended up with a huge thing to knit. I quite fancy trying the dolls in a little woolly sweater but am having a job finding a pattern. The lady from the knitting group said she would have a go making a pattern up for me. I think maybe it will be more my size of knitting!!!!
It is a fab morning here, sewing, knitting, gardening or housework uuummmm big decision.
Jan

[Paula]

Dear Eli,

What a delightful and happy post! I just love the photos and the little story you wrote! You are so talented and creative! I love your sweet sheep, especially the Rose!!! Her flowery coat is so sweet, too!

Thank you for sharing the pattern! I would love to knit one, but I am not a good knitter. Maybe I will give it a go and see what happens! Thanks for the inspiration!

I hope you are enjoying lovely weather, and that beautiful garden of yours.
Love, Paula

[Ati]

I shall not knit them but they are lovely and I like your little story, it gives me a smile in the early morning :-)

[Susan Gibbs]

Beautiful! I will be linking to these on my blog.

[Beadknitter]

This is awesome! Thanks so much for sharing it with all of us.

[The Traveler]

Adorable, absolutely adorable!
~Cheryl and LoriAnn in USA

[Rhondi]

adorable!

[Tobey]

Hi there! I love your website and want to thank you for sharing this ingenious and fun project.

[Wendy W]

Absolutely wonderful little 'tail' (!) and sheep patterns. Thanks for sharing them.

[Elaine Spencer]

These are adorable and remind me of the goat puppets from The Sound of Music! Love them!

[Alpaca Farmgirl]

These are delightful! What a fun story. I'm a novice knitter and would love to get to the point of being able to follow a pattern and make these. Thanks for sharing the pattern. And I love your blog!

[startare]

Trop mimi! Too cute! As soon as I have time to spare, I'll knit these fellows some French cousins, with a baguette and a beret, maybe?
Thank you so much for sharing.

[Scrunchy]

These are darling!! I am enjoying reading about their adventures.

[marti]

if your critters have a hankering to visit Seattle, just let me know!