Puppy Puppets (aka: Finger Puppies!)

Here is the newest finger puppet from my Children's Hospital Poppets line. These are really easy and use scraps of worsted weight yarns and sock yarn for the embroidered details. Knit on 4mm needles (US 6), use light brown for body and dark brown for ears, and cream colour for muzzle. I used blue sock yarn for eyes and black sock yarn for nose and mouth line.

Cast on 10 in body colour... Knit 4 rows (garter stitch: Knit every row). Stocking Stitch next 8 rows (Knit right side, Purl wrong side). Last row: K2together-repeat across row. Cut 8 inch tail and gather these last 5 sts together. WAIT to sew up until all embroidery is done.

Muzzle: with cream colour, Cast on 3. Knit row one, purl row two, knit row 3. Break yarn with 8 inch tail and gather last 3 sts together. Use the tail to sew around the muzzle in position in the middle of face (see photo). Ears: With dark brown, cast on 3. Garter stitch for 6 rows, then Knit 3 together. Knit one stitch on next row. Increase 2 sts (3 total) and garter stitch 6 more rows for other ear. Knit 3 together and break yarn leaving 6 inch tail. pass tail through last st to secure. Using this tail, thread it on a large darning needle, and feed it through the top of head BETWEEN stitches (see photos). Pull firmly until one ear has passed through both sides of the head and only the single stitch center is left inside the dog. (see photo). Using eye colour, make french knot eyes above the muzzle. Using the black, place 2 horizonal lines for nose, and one vertical line from nose to bottom of muzzle, pulling slightly to separate muzzle into 2 halves (see photo). Securely fasten the ends of the embroidery on the inside of the dog. Now you can stitch up the back opening, and sew in all the ends of yarns.