Knitted Chickens
Yes, you read it right, today we’re talking about knitted chickens. This is different from yarn chicken. Although that might be involved if you are using up scraps or if you haven’t planned perfectly. Do you have no idea what I’m talking about? Perhaps you haven’t been on Ravelry recently. Because Annette Corsino’s Emotional Support Chicken patterns have been trending for a while. There are knit and crochet pattern options. And as of 2 April there are 2052 Ravelry projects. Not bad for a chicken!
About the project
The pattern is straightforward. It’s 95% knit with a little purl thrown in for the beak. And the shaping is fairly simple. You knit the tail section using clever construction. Then work the body up to the head and beak. Finally, you knit the base as separate piece, along with the wattle and comb. At the end you sew it all together, stuff it (most – especially roast – chickens are better stuffed!) and there it is. My knitted chicken turned out bigger than I expected, even knit on 3.5mm needles, a smaller size than recommended. I knit loosely but didn’t worry about the gauge. But I made sure the knit fabric was tight enough so that the stuffing wouldn’t come out.
Yarn used
In terms of your colours this is a great stash buster and an egg-cellent way to use up little odds and ends. I knit mine in our Merino DK. The body of the chicken is in Writing in the Sand because I had a leftover ball in my stash drawer. If you’re looking for some “traditional” chicken colours Barbra Streisand and Miriam Makeba are great options. And I used bits of Carrot Juice, Lipstick and Lemon for the contrast colours. The next one might be more adventurous in terms of colour. And yes, there definitely will be a next one!
End result
One of the middle-aged dads carried it around the garden during the Easter egg hunt, much to my amusement. It fit perfectly under his adult arm, and that was where most of the grown-ups at our Easter lunch tucked it. He started a chicken cuddling trend and everyone at the lunch table wanted a turn. I’ve never had such an enthusiastic response to a knitted project. So I’ll definitely be making a few more.
As the pattern says “Life is hard. We all need a chicken to help make it better!!!” and I couldn’t agree more. Knitted chickens are clean, cuddly and quiet. Neighbours won’t complain about 4am cock-a-doodle-doing, there’s no mess to clean up, and you don’t have to worry about feeding, watering or putting them to bed at night. In fact you won’t have to worry about anything with your knitted chicken under your arm keeping you calm and stress free!
You can find our Ravelry project here.