Nothing is as inspiring as a child. There are so many cute ideas for kids that it’s hardly possible to keep track of all the ideas for toys and decoration that keep popping up every day. I am always looking for more decoration for our kid’s room and came across so many beautiful cushions, but none quite as unique as I’d like them to be. So I decided to make one myself that can work both as pillow and toy (also, is there a better way of de-stashing than knitting pillows??). Since he really loves the crabs in one of his books (because they go and pinch him all the time when I read it to him 😛 ) I decided to make a crab cushion for him. And since I am not usually into big knitting projects, this one can be made from any yarn weight and scale down to pocket sized crabs, too 🙂 And here it is:

Ooh Crab! knitting pattern

I used about 150 grams of various leftovers from Marks & Kattens Flox cotton yarn on 3mm needles and it turned out to be approximately 45x45cm tall, the perfect size to chase a toddler around the house 😛 All pieces are knit in the round and can be knit on directly or made separately and attached later, as you prefer. I’m usually the lazy type and knit on everything because I don’t like sewing, but in this case it was easier to attach the limbs after completion, as the body was quite heavy with fiberfill already.

My test knitters have also had fun with the pattern and made these cuties. Ariadne4 used about 94 grams of cotton yarn leftovers and measured her crab to be 20x39cm.

And urmare and kathinka14 preferred to have a smaller crab for pocket-pinching and used sock yarn leftovers. Their crabs turned out to be about 20x20cm small.

urmare is about to finish up hers, too 🙂 Here is her crab salad 🙂

So get out your leftovers and start making one (or two 😛 )! Have fun knitting!

Here are some more details about the pattern:

Following techniques are used:

• knit in the round (on double pointed needles or cable needle)
• simple increases and decreases
• short rows (explanation and photo tutorial are given)
• grafting / kitchener stitch
• picking up stitches (optional. You can also knit parts separately and sew on later, if you prefer)

What you need:

• Depending on the size you want to achieve you’ll need either a handful of sock weight yarn leftovers (about 40grams should do the trick) or more if you use thicker yarns. It is important, that you use the same yarn quality throughout the whole crab. I used 150g Marks & Kattens Flox cotton yarn (140m/50g). The crab in the picture measures about 40x45cm including limbs.
• Knitting needles (dpns or circulars, whatever you prefer) matching your yarn. You should use needles one size smaller than indicated on the yarn to prevent fiberfill from showing. I used 3mm dpns for my crab.
• Fiberfill depending on the crab’s size
• two stitch markers
• Tapestry needle

THANK YOU to my wonderful test knitters ariadne4, urmare, kathinka14 and Binle and Suzieqtee for proof reading!

Happy knitting!!