After some designing on paper, and fiddling about with pinning things on in various places, I decided on the above layout for Socky's eyes and nostrils. Giving him a mouth or tongue seemed like too much effort, but you could have a go if you like. Mine is a very quiet (and probably very hungry) dragon. His irises are made of pale blue buttons, the kind with only two holes in, and the slitted pupils are made by sewing the buttons to the felt eye-shape with gold thread until the holes are completely invisible.Once he had a face it seemed a shame not to give him some autonomy, so I made some legs for him. They are knitted on both two and four needles, so that there's a tubular section and a flap to make the shoulder-joint, and in two versions (left and right.) Toes are included, but the soles of his feet are made of felt.
To make a leg:
Cast on 1o. Knit 10. Purl 1o. Next row:
*Increase in first stitch. Knit to last stitch. Increase in last stitch. Knit last 2 stitches, turn and purl back along the row.*
Repeat between the *s, increasing by two every knit row, until you have 24 stitches.
Now transfer your stitches to another two needles, so that you have three groups of 8. In the next row, join the ends of the work together and start knitting in the round. This means that the stitch furthest from the working yarn when the knitting is laid flat becomes the next stitch to be knitted. Remember to pull everything very tight when making this first stitch in the round.
Keep knitting in the round until you have about 2 and 1/2 inches of tube, not counting the work you did on two needles. Now for the tricky bit.
Start the next row as usual, level with the point where you joined the knitting in the round. Knit 16 stitches (2 needles.) When you get to the third needle, pass the last 2 stitches onto Needle 1 so that there are 6 stitches left to work. Knit the following pattern on those six stitches:
Knit 6
Purl 6
Knit 6
Purl 6
Knit two together, knit two, knit two together
Purl 4
Knit 4
Purl 4
Knit two together twice
Purl 2
Knit 2
Purl 2 together and cast off, by pulling the cut end of the working yarn through the last stitch.
Evenly divide the remaining 18 stitches between 3 needles, and start knitting again on Needle 1 (to the left with the toe facing you.) Knit all 18 stitches, and join the round together again on the second row. The second row will proceed as follows:
Knit 1 (to join the round.) Knit another 1, and pass the first stitch on the right needle over the second to cast off. Cast off another 2; 3 stitches left on both needles. Increase one, then knit one; increase one, then knit one; increase one more in the space between Needles 1 and 2. There should now be 6 stitches on Needle 1 again, but with a cast-off gap of 3 between them and the toe you just made. Now follow the pattern for the toe from 'Purl 6' onwards.
When you have cast off the last stitch of the second toe, go to the stitches directly opposite them on the other side of the back toe, and start a new purl row. Cast off three as before and then increase between each stitch to bring the total back up to 6. Follow the toe pattern from 'Purl 6' onwards as before.
Having cast off that toe, start a new toe-pattern on the six stitches you have left, on the 'middle' needle. Once that is finished, cut out the felt pieces according to the picture, like you did to make his ears, and sew them on around the edges. Stuff the leg with stuffing.
Hooray! you have made a left leg. To make a right leg, simply start making the back toe on Needle 1 rather than Needle 3 - knit the toe with the first 6 stitches, then share the final two onto the next needles, and knit the remaining 18 in the round again.
Obviously, make two left legs and two right legs, stuff em up good and attach with wool and wool-needle to Socky's body! I'm not quite there yet (second left leg) but once I am, I reckon he'll be done!
