So, when Ginny here posted this link to knitted eggs, I got all in my MUST DO THAT NOW zone.  Knitted Easter eggs??  So crunchy-crafty-wooly-awesome.  And so the last few days before Easter found me finding little pockets of time to knit these sweet little things up.  I changed the original pattern using some extra increase rows and more center rows so that they would be more the size I wanted.  Instructions are below.  My first thought was that they'd make sweet little Easter decorations.  And then I thought how nice it would be to put them into the Luke-baby's basket seeing as we had oh, nothing, to put into it.  Wait, no, they'd make such cute little toys for him to play with!  

And then?  

THEN I realized after I stuffed the first one and was working on the next that I could totally put something INSIDE them!  Woah.  Craftastic mind blown, right?  So, I filled some of them with different noise-making things (I'm trying to type that in a way that sounds fancier...auditory aids?  Sensory stimuli?)  Anyway, in one I put a mini plastic egg filled with a few beans.  In another I did another mini egg but filled it with rice.  And in another?  BELLS.  Yes, bells.  I just happen to have little bells sitting around at my place (actually, my husband got all in on it and searched through the loft to find them in the All Saints' Day box...you have one of those, right?...and there they were) and so in they went.  (Note from the future:  Make sure you tape the plastic eggs closed with strong packing tape or else they are easily broken open when they get smooshed by the kiddos and then there's nothing you can do about it since they're all knitted up.)  I wanted to do one with a 'crinkly' sound but everything I tried just wouldn't work.  Different papers, wrappers, plastic...in order to get it eggy looking it needed to be stuffed tightly and once anything I tried was stuffed in enough the sound just wasn't cool enough.  So three have super sound making abilities and the other three just look cute.  I could totally be a Montessori school teacher! (No, I couldn't.  My current view of Purgatory consists of teaching a classroom of preschoolers whilst in a mall with my hair wet.  Don't ask.)  

So, there's my super proud homemade moment of the season.  I know.  You are in shock with how these amazingly homemade crunchy sensory stimuli toys will engage my little one's brain so that he will achieve his greatest potential and earn the college scholarship he will most definitely need if he ever wants to go.  Or he will just suck on them.  Which is also cute.

Materials:

Size 2 DPNs (go up or down a size...no big deal)

Medium Weight Yarn

Darning Needle

Stuffing (I used a bamboo fill from Joann's)

Beans, rice, bells, etc., mini plastic eggs, packing tape (if desired)

K= knit

kfb = knit into front and back of one stitch creating an increase of one stitch

k2tog = join two stitches together with one knit stitch

Cast on 8 stitches and divide among three needles (be careful not to twist!).

Row 1:  Join in the round and K1, kfb around (12)

(This is tricky at first but as you get more stitches on it gets easier!)

Row 2:  K2, kfb repeat around (16)

Row 3:  K3, kfb repeat around (20)

Row 4:  K4, kfb repeat around

Row 5:  K5, kfb repeat around

Row 6:  K6, kfb repeat around

Row 7:  K7, kfb repeat around

Row 8-17:  Knit

(You can add or subtract the amount of these rows as you knit if you decide you'd like it smaller or larger. Depending on the yarn weight and needle size, you may want to go up or down.)

If you are putting in a plastic egg, fill that with your beans or rice or whatever and tape closed.  Place some stuffing in the bottom of the egg and place the plastic egg in.  Fill around with stuffing.

Row 18:  K4, k2tog (repeat around)

Row 19:  Knit

Row 20:  K3, k2tog (repeat around)

Row 21:  Knit

For the eggs without a noisemaker, this is when I fill with stuffing.

Row 22:  K2, k2tog (repeat around)

Row 23:  Knit

Row 24:  K1, k2tog (repeat around)

Row 25:  Knit

Row 26:  K2tog

Cut yarn and thread it through the remaining stitches.  Take this chance to fill with a bit more stuffing.  Pull tight and weave in ends.

And now?  Now I'm working on a sweet little newborn hat for a baby who will be making his appearance in the next few weeks!  I'm using Ginny's pattern because I just love it.  I promise I'm not stalking her.  I just let her inspire me with all the sweet patterns she finds and creates...really.  She's much better at it than I am.  The hat is being knit with Inca-Eco organic cotton.

John Paul and I are reading The King of the Golden City by Mother Mary Loyola.  It's a children's allegory and we're using it to further prepare for this little guy's First Holy Communion which is fast approaching.  Which also means I need to get busy planning and prepping the details for that...yikes.

Hope you're having a wonderful day and get a chance to click on over to Ginny's place for the rest of Yarn Along!  Happy Easter!