I’ve made three sizes of Huggling Monster from the same knitting pattern.
The smallest Huggling is perfect to pop in a pocket for a little bit of love to carry with you, the biggest, is just right for proper squishy hugs, and of course the original Huggling Monster is just perfect for gifting to your friends and family who miss your hugs when you can’t be with together!
I knitted the smaller and larger Hugglings without having to do any number crunching at all. There was no doubling of stitches or working with stitch ratios, and no hit and miss or knit and hope for the best either.
My method was very easy, and incredibly simple, I just used different weights of yarn. That’s it – no magic formula, no maths – My original Huggling Monster used standard Double Knit yarn (Light Worsted weight), For the smaller version I used 4 ply (Sports weight) and for the larger one I used Chunky (Bulky)
To decide which size of needle to use I choose about a half a size smaller than the recommended needle for each yarn, this gave me a nice firm knitted fabric which holds it shape well when I stuff the toy.
These are the yarns, needles used and finished sizes of my set of Hugglings.
I hope they might give you a rough guide of what to expect if you decide to play with your yarn stash to create bigger or smaller Hugglings or any other toy for that matter.
Size Yarn Needle size Finished size
Standard DK /Light Worsted 3.25mm (UK 10 /US 3) 12cm /4.5” tall
Small 4ply/Sport 2.25mm (UK 13 /US 1) 9.5cm/4” tall
Large Chunky/ Bulky 4.5mm (UK 7 /US 7) 19cm /7.5” tall
Estimating yardages for different size toys is not too tricky, I usually guess at a similar yardage whatever the yarn, but I do make sure I’ve got a bit extra just in case. Even though I used less for these. Make sure you are thinking about yardage and not yarn weight!
Standard size Huggling- DK/ Light worsted used 45m
Large Huggling -Chunky /Bulky used 42m
But the smallest Huggling 4ply /Sport used only 25m
I think one of the joys of knitting toys is the freedom to play with any yarn in your stash, you can play with self-striping yarn or mix and match oddments of same weight yarn to create stripes. What will a Huggling be like If you use Bamboo yarn, or super soft baby wool?
Whatever size your knitted toys are, whichever yarn you use, you’ll be making an original, individual creation, and no-one will ever have one exactly the same!
That level of freedom and creativity is just amazing!!
If you feel inspired to raid your yarn stash and start knitting your own Huggling Monsters, to give hugs and love to your family and friends, the pattern is suitable for confident beginner knitters, It's worked flat on straight needles and has very simple seaming.
There are also two cute hats to choose between!
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