I like using up every last scrap of my sock yarn. Most of my smaller scraps end up being joined to my magic ball of yarn (using the Russian join - no knots; you can find loads of videos on youtube).
And because I never really know what to do with it in the end I make cute little Sock Monsters.
I've talked about the inspiration for these here.
This one I made back in 2017 using up some leftover hand spun single to get it off the bobbin.
I just adore their little hands and feet!
Now, making these isn't really difficult at all, just a bit fiddly when it comes to the eye stalks (or ears if you'd prefer them to be ears) and the limbs.
You need to know basic knitting techniques such as knitting in the round, increasing, decreasing and grafting (or the 3-needle bind-off).
You will need the yarn of your choice, matching needles (when in doubt go with a size smaller so the fabric is denser and the stuffing won't show), maybe a crochet hook to help with starting the limbs and a darning needle.
For the eyes you can use buttons or you can embroider them using contrasting yarn, especially when your Sock Monster is intended for babies or toddlers. A mouth, if you choose to give your Sock Monster a mouth, can also be embroidered or sewn on using scrap fabric or felt.
I prefer mine without a mouth but if I were to give them mouths I'd probably just use some contrasting yarn and stitch on a line in duplicate stitch.
I like to use DPNs but you can also use circulars and the magic loop technique or two small circulars to hold the stitches and a third to knit with.
Start by placing a slip-knot on the top needle with the working yarn below the bottom needle.
Then simply wrap the working yarn around both needles as many times as you want stitches for the base/bottom of your Sock Monster.
As you can see I've done 16 wraps = 32 stitches top and bottom, but the number of stitches is completely up to you.
Your Monster can be wide and squat, narrow and tall, wide and tall, super wide and very short; anything you want. If you use thick yarn and/or lots of stitches you can even make a Monster Cushion for the sofa.
Just don't start too narrow and then change your mind and increase lots of stitches - this will make the base of the Monster rather "pointy" like the toe of a sock and it won't be able to sit well.
Now rotate both needles 180° - with the same side still facing up - and start knitting the loops wrapped over the needle that used to be the bottom one and is now the top.
This is a little fiddly and awkward but manageable.
Don't worry if the stitches look wonky and loose.
This is what it looks like once you've knitted the top needle.
Rotate the needles again, the same side still facing up, and slide the slip-knot off the top needle. You don't need it any more.
Lock your working yarn in place by wrapping the tail end around your working yarn from right to left and holding it in place by slightly pulling it down until you've knitted a few stitches.
In the above picture you can see the tail end loosely wrapped around the working yarn. I hold it down while knitting the first few stitches.
Knit along all stitches.
Now we start increasing on the sides of the body. This is actually an optional step; you could also just keep knitting in the round to form a tube that's closed at the bottom. (In that case you could skip the fiddly cast-on altogether, cast on straight, join to knit in the round and sew up the bottom later.)
To increase knit the first stitch, and then the second stitch front and back to create an extra stitch between the first two and the third - it will have a little bump just like a purl stitch.
Knit to the last three stitches. Knit the third last back and front again, then the last two.
This way you will always have two normal stitches on each end of the needle with the little "purl bump" from increasing in third place from either side.
If you prefer another increase method you can use that, of course.
Repeat the same way of increasing on the other side so you end up with four more stitches total.
Knit one plain round across all stitches.
Place a marker at the beginning of the round if you want to. I usually don't because I divide the stitches of the second needle by two and place them on two needles. This way the whole piece is more flexible and I know that I always start the round with the "full" needle.
Now continue increasing every other round a few more times until you're happy with the width of your Sock Monster.
As you can see I didn't do many increases. I went from 16 stitches on each needle up to 24 stitches on each needle. The whole thing looks a little like a wide-toed toe-up sock. As I've said, you could also skip the increasing and simply cast on more stitches from the start or have a narrower Monster.
Keep knitting in the round until you're happy with how tall the Monster's body is. Take into account that the eye stalks will add a little more height.
If you'd like to give the body some knitted-in texture feel free to do so and get creative! I'm sure a section of pattern across the belly would look cute. Just keep in mind that lacy patterns will show the stuffing.
Now decide how many stitches you want the eye stalks to be wide. I've used 12; 6 on each side, as I prefer them to be narrow but you can make them as wide as you want.
You could also omit this step entirely, close the body (either right away or after a few rounds of decreases mirroring the bottom) and then sew on ears you made separately. There are a lot of options with this, a lot of "I'll just see how I like it and how it turns out" and maybe even some "I'll see how far I get with the yarn I have left".
There are two options for the eye stalks. I'll start with the one that closes the center stitches first:
Knit your last round until you have half your eye stalk stitches remaining on your left needle - in my case that was 6.
Cut the yarn, leaving a long tail end.
Rotate your work so the tail end is at the back.
Place all the stitches for the eye stalks (front and back, left and right) on spare needles, stitch holders or waste yarn.
Thread the tail end on a darning needle and graft the center stitches. You can also do a 3-needle bind-off if you prefer - in which case you don't need to cut the yarn. That leaves a visible seam however (which could be disguised by tying tufts of yarn around it to create hair).
If the grafting seems loose to you, you can go back with the needle and pull the stitches a bit tighter. Too tight is less of an issue in this case than too loose.
Whether you stuff your Sock Monster before or after grafting the center depends on how wide or narrow the eye stalks will be. If they are rather narrow I would advise you to stuff the body before grafting, even if it makes said grafting a bit more difficult. Stuffing through narrow openings is tedious and will stretch out the sides of the grafted seam.
If your eye stalks are wider you can stuff the body after grafting.
After grafting the center I still had quite a long tail of yarn left and I thought I'd use that to start knitting the left eye stalk right away.
This is where a lot of fudging and winging it comes in. It was very hard to take photos of this and in most of them you don't really see what's happening anyway so I'll do my best to describe it:
Since the tail end from grafting is coming from the back I simply kept knitting with it, pretending it was coming from the last stitch on the back needle.
(My tail end really was rather long. If yours isn't long enough just re-join it where you've cut it before or use a different colour. If you did a 3-needle bind-off you don't have to re-join.)
The right end of the front needle is my new start of the round. I divided the back onto two needles again.
Because the grafting basically added another row of knitting in the center without corresponding stitches you'll end up with a few holes and gaps between the center and the base of the eye stalk.
I fix this by picking up strands between stitches wherever I feel there's too big a gap and twisting them before knitting them together with the first or last of the actual eye stalk stitches.
(Please excuse my finger tips and the bad quality photos!)
In the above pictures you can see how I picked up a strand, twisted it, created a new stitch with the strand above (just like you'd pick up a dropped stitch) and then placed it on my needle to be knitted together with the actual first stitch.
As I've said above this is very hard to show with photos and there isn't just one way of doing it. There is some fudging involved but where you might have to close holes and how many may vary.
I've made a Sock Monster where I had to close only one little gap, with this one I had to close three.
I'm sure you will manage - I have faith in your winging abilities!
Knit in the round until the eye stalk is as long as you'd like it to be. I think I did 15 rounds for this one.
I don't have a photo to show it but if you'd prefer to have ears instead of eye stalks you could increase some stitches after knitting a round or two at the base and create a wider, rounder ear shape either with a rounded top like a teddy or a longer pointy tip like a bunny.
(If I ever feel like making a Sock Monster with ears like that I'll be sure to write up how I did it and link it here if it turns out nice.)
I decreased one stitch on either end of the needles (ssk (slip slip knit) on the right, k2tog (knit 2 together) on the left - 4 stitches total) before knitting another plain round and then gently stuffing the eye stalk. Make sure it's not over stuffed but try to make the stuffing "merge" with the stuffing that's already at the base of the eye. You don't want the eye stalk to bend over because there's too little stuffing to support it.
Graft all remaining stitches.
If you prefer you can graft all stitches without decreasing for a wide and flat top.
You can also decrease until you have only four or six stitches left and close the top by threading the tail end through all stitches and pulling them closed. This creates a pointy tip. (Personally I don't like the eye stalks to be too pointy but for ears that would be a good way to do it.)
For the second eye stalk (or ear) start on the inside where the grafted top of the head is. Leave a long-ish tail end - it can be used later to close off any remaining gaps or larger stitches.
I couldn't get this hole to close up by picking up strands to create extra stitches and knitting them into the eye stalk. There were a few rather loose stitches as well so I used the tail end and "traced" each row by doing a duplicate stitch along a few stitches. This enables you to seal them and the tail end gets darned at the same time. I simply pulled the end through to the other side of the body and snipped it, leaving the rest inside.
This is the finished body.
Alternatively you can do the eye stalks before grafting the center:
In this case you knit along to the end of the front, work just the eye stalk stitches along the back and then turn back to the front to continue the eye stalk. The center stitches can be placed on scrap yarn, stitch holders or spare circulars for that.
When joining the yarn for the second eye stalk you need to leave a tail long enough to graft the center with.
Actually I prefer doing it this way because I can sew on the eyes before stuffing the body. Distributing the stuffing evenly is easier too.
I have holes that need closing up with both options.
Just give it a try and see how you like to do it. And if you find a method that doesn't leave any holes, please let me know!
The arms and legs are knitted straight onto the body. In the picture of the finished body above you can see two little "corners" at the bottom. That's were the legs will be attached.
If your Sock Monster has eyes already pick up the first leg stitches with the front of the body facing you.
If you haven't decided which side will be the front you want to do that now and place a stitch marker somewhere on the belly and then pick up the first leg stitches with the front of the body facing you as well.
In the photo right above you can see my needle unter the three stitches I will pick up.
Insert a crochet hook from right to left through the outside stitch.
Pull up a loop with your chosen leg-yarn and go under the next stitch.
Repeat until you have three stitches on your crochet hook.
You can pick up four stitches for the legs if you prefer them to be a little thicker but for me the thin legs work just fine.
Transfer the stitches to a knitting needle.
I use DPNs again but whatever you like to use is fine.
Turn the body so the needle with the stitches is at the back and using the crochet hook again pick up the stitches opposite the others leaving a row of space between them. You can see a free stitch above the crochet hook in the picture.
Transfer those stitches to a needle as well and then just start knitting in the round.
Take care to hold on to the tail end while you do the first stitch; you don't want to pull it out.
Dealing with the tail end is no big deal: either tie it off around one of the stitches at the center of the leg or knit it into the leg for a round or two. This will secure it in place and it won't go anywhere.
Here you can see my tail end being knitted in with the leg stitches. After a round I just leave it in the center...
... and snip it after another few rounds to hide it inside the leg. I've never had any issues with tail ends sticking out.
The start of the legs is a little fiddly but it gets easier once you have an inch or so of leg done.
The legs of your Sock Monster can be as long or short as you like them to be. For this one I did about 50 rounds.
At the base of the leg you can see it looking a little bulkier than the rest. This is because I knitted the tail end in with the working yarn. Normally a few double stranded stitches don't add any noticeable bulk but since there are only six of them it shows. If this bothers you just tie off the tail end between the leg stitches.
Since I make these Sock Monsters with a ball of yarn that has lots of Russian Joins in it I'm bound to come across a double stranded section every now and then. In the body it doesn't show much but in the arms and legs it does. Personally I find this really rather charming because these short bumpy sections look like oddly placed knees and elbows which gives the creature even more character.
If you want the arms and legs to be completely straight and smooth make sure to use yarn that's long enough so you don't need to join any ends; you could also tie knots but that comes with its own issues.
Now come the feet.
This is a little fiddly because there are so few stitches but here's roughly what we do: we increase a few stitches and then do a tiny little short row heel, then a foot and a pointy little toe.
Make a note of how many rounds you did for the leg. (Count the Vs starting from the base.)
Increase every stitch by knitting front and back. You'll have 6 stitches on each needle.
The "back" stitches create little "purl bumps".
Knit one plain round across all 12 stitches.
Next round: increase every other stitch front and back. You'll have 9 stitches on each needle.
Knit one plain round across all 18 stitches, split the stitches on the front needle (at the top of the foot) onto two needles, pull them onto the wire of a circular needle or transfer them to waste yarn.
Knit across the back needle (sole of the foot) but leave the last stitch un-knitted on the left needle.
We will do a tiny short row heel that's a mixture between a German Short Row heel and a Sweet Tomato heel. Don't worry - it's not as hard as it sounds!
Leave the last stitch on the bottom of the foot un-knitted. Check again to make sure it actually is the bottom of the foot.
Insert the left needle into the back of the last stitch you just knitted; the stitch that's on the needle - not the one below.
Slip the stitch back onto the left needle.
Wrap the working yarn towards you and then around the needle to the back.
Pull the working yarn tight so the previous stitch wraps itself around the needle, folding back on itself, creating a double stitch. You can see two darker blue strands on the needle and just a little of the light blue working yarn pulling the stitch down. Try to keep the double stitch tight like that. I usually place my left hand thumb on it to hold it down.
Now insert the left needle into the back of the next stitch on the right needle...
Flick the working yarn around the tip of the left needle from the back to the front - I use the right hand index finger for that - pull through the stitch on the right needle and onto the left needle.
We're basically knitting backwards - we're purling with the right side still facing us.
Strictly speaking we could turn and purl back as well but short row heels are notorious for getting holes, which is usually due to the change in tension from switching between knitting and purling. (And it's hard to keep holes from appearing even when you're aware of it.)
Also, there are so few stitches that turning back and forth just isn't worth the hassle and by knitting backwards the result will be neater, trust me.
Continue to knit backwards until you've reached the last two stitches on the right side.
Leave the last stitch un-knitted again.
Insert the right needle into the back of the stitch you just knitted (on the left needle) and slip it back onto the right needle.
Take the working yarn from the back to the front and around the tip of the needle to the back again.
Pull the yarn tight to create another double stitch.
Now we knit back to the double stitch on the left side.
Be careful: because of the way we flicked the yarn around the needle when knitting backwards, the stitches will be twisted! You have to knit them through the back, as you can see in the picture.
Knit to the double stitch and repeat exactly the same steps as for the first one: slip the stitch back onto the left needle, take the yarn around the front to the back and pull to fold the stitch over the needle.
Knit backwards across the next four stitches to the double stitch on the right end: insert the left needle into the back of the right stitch, flick the yarn around the left needle back to front.
Create another double stitch on the right side like before: slip the stitch back onto the right needle, wrap the yarn over the front to the back and pull to make the stitch wrap around the needle.
Now you have one un-knitted stitch on either end, two double stitches next to them and three normal stitches in the center.
Remember: the three center stitches are twisted - knit those through the back.
Knit across all stitches from right to left. The double stitches are to be treated just like normal stitches and knitted through the back as well.
Knitting the double stitches can be a bit fiddly. Make sure you really catch all the threads and don't split your yarn. In the above pictures you can see what the double stitches look like when you knit them. They appear almost like linked yarn ends.
This time you knit the un-knitted stitch at the very end of the left needle as well.
Now you have finished the first "wedge" of the tiny short row heel. For the second "wedge" you repeat the same way of creating double stitches on the left and right, but this time you will have three double stitches on either side and three normal stitches in the middle.
Create a double stitch on the left.
Knit backwards from left to right like before. The double stitches on the right side will be knitted like normal stitches - pick up both strands like one - through the back as well.
Knit the last stitch on the right too.
Go back and forth like before until you have three double stitches on either side and three normal stitches in the center.
Now the tiny heel is done and we'll go back to knitting in the round.
Knit across all stitches on the left through the back.
Then knit across the front stitches.
To avoid holes on the right side of the heel the remaining double stitches on the right end of the needle must be knitted through the front! It may be easier to knit them through the back since that's the way they sit on the needle but knitting them through the front twists and tightens them, reducing the risk of holes.
This might be fiddly but just go slowly and be careful to pick up all the strands again.
In the above two pictures you can see the remaining double stitches being knitted.
And this is the finished little heel. It's almost perfectly round and perfectly suited to little Sock Monster Feet. I find it absolutely adorable and well worth the fiddly back and forth.
You could do any other type of heel to create feet for your Sock Monster, of course, and if you do please let me know! I'd love to see them.
I've used this type of heel for years on a larger scale on socks and I'm very familiar with it so I can do it quite quickly by now. I understand that it may be tricky to get to grips with it the first time. Or even the second and third time. But it will make sense in the end and keep in mind: it's just nine stitches and a Sock Monster. It doesn't matter if you make a mistake and if it turns out wonky it adds more character.
Knit six rounds after finishing the heel. In the above picture you can see my needle indicating the last increase before the heel and six Vs above that. The "purl bumps" from the increases help you count.
To form the toe decrease one stitch on either side of both the front and back.
Ssk (slip slip knit) on the right and k2tog (knit two together)on the left.
Knit one plain round.
Work one round of decreases like before and then one plain round again.
Now stuff the foot with a tiny amount of stuffing.
Work another round of decreases. You should have 6 stitches left, 3 on each side. Cut the yarn and leave a few inches to fasten off.
Thread the tail end onto a darning needle and slip the stitches from the knitting needle onto the darning needle in the direction you'd knit in.
Pull the tail end through all the stitches.
If some of the stitches seem quite large - which can sometimes happen from all the decreasing - just pull them tighter one by one with the tip of the needle until you have one stitch that is way too large. Pull the excess yarn to the inside of the foot with the crochet hook until the stitch is normal sized. I do this all the time and no stitch or excess yarn has ever come loose so far.
Maybe thread the tail end through all the stitches a second time.
To fasten off I tie a knot around one of the bars between the decreases.
To hide the tail poke the needle through the foot and gently pull the knot to the inside. Cut the excess.
Squish the stuffing a little to make it spread out into the very tip of the toe.
Now do it all again for the second leg and foot.
The arms are attached and worked in pretty much the same way as the legs. You just don't have to do the fiddly heel.
Decide how far up or down on the side of the body you want your arms to be.
Turn the body so the eye stalks are facing you and pick up three stitches using a crochet hook just like you did for the leg. These stitches will be the upper side of the arm.
Rotate the body so the legs are facing you and pick up the stitches for the underside of the arm leaving a row of space in between, again just like you did for the legs.
In the above picture you can see my awkward attempt at showing how to roughly line up the arm with the leg along the side of the body. It really doesn't have to be very exact; nobody cares if the arm is a stitch further to the right or left.
Just pick up the stitches and then look at your Sock Monster from the front to check if you like the placing of the arm.
Work the arm just like you did the leg. I do about 5 rounds less than I did for the legs but how long or short you make them is totally up to you.
For this one I did 45 rounds.
The hand (or paw) is done in a similar way to the foot, but less complicated and a little smaller.
Increase every stitch by knitting front and back. You will have 6 stitches on each needle.
Knit one plain round across all 12 stitches.
Increase every third stitch front and back. You will have 8 stitches on each needle.
Knit 5 rounds across all 16 stitches.
Decrease on either side of each needle; ssk on the right, k2tog on the left.
Knit one plain round across all stitches.
Stuff the hand with a tiny amount of stuffing.
Decrease in the same way until you have only 4 stitches remaining. Then close the hand (or paw) in the same way as you did the feet by threading the tail end through all stitches and pulling the hole closed.
Tie off just like before, hiding the knot and tail end inside the hand (or paw).
Now do the other arm the same way.
Here's another awkward picture to show how I determine where to place the second arm. (It was pure coincidence that I placed my stitch marker in the exact row I placed the arm.) Follow the row of stitches from the upper side of the arm across the body to the other side as best as you can. Don't worry if you slip up or down a row.
Work the second arm the same way as the first, starting the round with the upper side of the arm facing up.
For some reason I need my Sock Monsters to have two pairs of arms. I think it started with the pink one I made using hand spun yarn and the buttons I used for her eyes:
These buttons look very much like insect eyes and I felt like she needed to have six limbs to go with that.
You can give your Sock Monster any number of arms and legs. You could make the body more rounded and make them more bug like, you could even turn them into spidery beings (if that doesn't creep you out)...
You can space any additional limbs however you want but I would suggest you leave at least one row of stitches between two pairs of arms or they will looks oddly crammed together.
You can see the free pink row of stitches between the two arms in the picture.
You can make any additional arms and/or legs longer or shorter than the previous ones. I did the same number of rounds as I did for the upper pair; they look longer because they are placed lower on the body, of course.
After finishing the fourth arm I finally sewed on the button eyes. I picked out some fancy ones this time but I've used plain black shirt buttons as well.
As I've said at the beginning of this tutorial: please don't use sewn-on buttons (or other small decorations) if you intend to give the Sock Monster to a child who still chews on toys!
My Sock Monsters live in my shelves and nobody really plays with them so it's fine to use buttons and to sew them on with just one loop of scrap yarn tied with a knot between the stitches.
When it comes to further decoration: your imagination is the limit!
You could tie tufts of yarn to the center stitches between the eye stalks to make hair.
You could have tassels hanging from the eye stalks.
You could stitch on beads or sequins - as long as you're not making a young child's toy!.
You could put magnets into the feet and hands (or paws) so the Sock Monster can live on your fridge (as I have done with the first one I've ever made). Test the strength of the magnets through the knitted fabric before you tie off the feet and hands (or paws).
You could add a tail the same way you did the arms and legs and add a tuft to that as well.
You could add a belly pouch and store tissues or candy or a tiny Baby Sock Monster in it. (You know, like sea horses...)
You could insert chenille wire/pipe cleaners into the arms and legs so it can hold on to a bed or shelf post. If you do that I would suggest you work on both arms at the same time up to the point where you'd start decreasing the hands (or paws). Feed the chenille wire in through one arm, through the body (and stuffing) and then out through the other arm. Twist the ends into a swirl that can sit neatly inside the hands (or paws), add additional stuffing if needed and then finish off. This way the wire won't poke out anywhere and the arms and hands (or paws) won't flop. For the legs either just bend over the tip of the wire and stuff only the leg, or try and maneuver the wire across to the other leg inside the base of the Monster and secure the wire the same way as you'd do for the arms.
If you want to get really fancy you could make a kind of chenille wire skeleton that needs to be inserted into the body before you stuff it.
There are lots of options!
There you have it! I hope that wasn't too confusing.
If you have any questions or find errors, please let me know either here in the comments or on facebook or ravelry.
If you make a Sock Monster and would like to share it - please do! I'd love to see what you come up with! - you can post pictures on my facebook page, in the "projects" section that comes with the pattern on ravelry or tag me on Instagram @julia.witchhazel and use #knittedmonster. (I looked up the hashtag "sockmonster" and it shows disturbing pictures of people wearing socks and garters and mostly dogs who destroyed their owners' socks - i didn't want to use that...)
Have fun!
Lots of love! xxx