Love Me Puppy choc orange cover / toy

Love Me Puppy Chocolate Orange Cover or 14cm Toy

What is Being Made

The Love Me Puppy is a small knitted toy or decorative cover designed by Andrew Lucas. This beginner-friendly knitting project creates a plush puppy measuring approximately 14 centimeters, suitable as a soft toy or as a cover for a chocolate orange. The finished piece features a charming design with distinct color blocking and facial details.

Craft and Primary Technique

This project is created using knitting as the primary craft method. The design is specifically tailored for knitters of beginner difficulty level, making it an accessible introduction to toy construction through knitting. The project demonstrates fundamental knitting techniques combined with basic toy assembly methods.

Stitches and Knitting Techniques Used

The Love Me Puppy employs several essential knitting stitches and techniques:

• Stocking stitch (st st) – The primary fabric structure, created by alternating knit rows and purl rows to produce a smooth, finished appearance
• Garter stitch (gs) – A textured knit stitch created by knitting every row
• Knit stitch (k) – The fundamental forward stitch
• Purl stitch (p) – The reverse stitch, used in combination with knit stitches
• Increases (inc) – Techniques to expand stitch count, particularly used to shape the body and head sections
• Decreases (dec) – Techniques including knit two together (k2tog) and purl two together (p2tog) to reduce stitch count and shape the toy
• Slip stitch (sl) – Used for joining and finishing
• Bind and tie (B and T) – A finishing technique where yarn ends are threaded on a tapestry needle and passed through stitches on the knitting needle, then drawn up and tied off to close openings

Construction Method

The toy is constructed in distinct sections. The body begins with casting on 25 stitches using 3.25mm needles, which are then increased in every stitch to create 50 stitches for width. Stocking stitch is worked for 21 rows to establish the main body. The shoulders are shaped by working knit two together across the row to reduce back to 25 stitches. The head section follows, created by strategic increases that expand the stitch count to 37 stitches, then worked in stocking stitch for 17 rows. The head is shaped through progressive decreases, first reducing to 25 stitches, then to 13 stitches, before being bound and tied closed. Assembly involves sewing the head and body sections together with the wrong side facing.

Materials and Yarn Specifications

The Love Me Puppy requires 3.25mm needles for construction. The yarn used is double knitting wool in multiple colors:

• White – primary color for the main body and head
• Pink – accent color for details
• Light pink – secondary accent color
• Green – color detail element
• Black – used for facial features

Only small oddments (leftover pieces) of each colored yarn are required, making this an economical project for using up yarn scraps. Additionally, a small amount of stuffing material is needed to fill the toy and create a three-dimensional, plush form.

Finishing and Assembly

The toy is completed through careful seaming and the bind and tie technique. After all knitting sections are complete, pieces are sewn together to form the finished puppy shape. The bind and tie method creates secure, neat closures at the openings, and the stuffing is added to give the toy its soft, cuddly structure.