You see, my grandson, Paul, loves adorable, cuddly monsters. And about a week ago he was reading me a book via Facetime about this scarey, terrible but cute and gentle monster. The book was sweet and the illustrations were adorable. I knew right away that Paul should have his very own Gruffalo. After all, the Gruffalo would make a great playmate for Bowser!
So I set myself to the task.
I started from the feet up as I wanted the body, legs and feet to be one piece. Once I got that part the way I wanted it, I knew the head and face needed to be next. I started with his 'terrible jaws' as they looked like they may be a bit complicated. First the lower jaw, then the upper one that also served as his nose and snout. I had to do his black tongue next because it needed to be attached before I finished the jaws. A poisonous wart on his nose was easy. I just stitched it on. /the teeth were embroidered on after he was assembled and the tusks are simply felt cut and sewed on.
The head was pretty simple and the snout was stitched to the lower part of the face. The eyes were easy. Just circles with safety eyes placed in them. The ears and horns were fairly simple and the arms were not a problem.
The difficult part of this Gruffalo were the fingers, fingernails and toenails. I'm not totally satisfied with them, but am out of ideas for how to make them more realistic.
Here is the pattern. I used worsted weight yarn and a G hook unless otherwise stated.
GRUFFALO INSPIRED PATTERN
Feet and Legs: Make 2 leaving yarn attached to 2nd one.
1. Chain 7. Sc in 2nd ch. from hook. Sc in 4 chs. 3 sc in end. Turn work and sc in 5 sts. 3 sc in last st. (15)
2. Sc in 5, inc in each of next 3 sts. Repest. (21)
3. Sc in 5, inc in each of next 6 sts. sc in 10. (27)
4. Sc in 7, Inc in next 7 sts. Sc in 12. (33)
5. Sc in each st. (33)
6. Sc in 10, Dec x’s 6, Sc in 10. (26)
7. Sc in 10, Dec x’s 3, Sc in 10. (23)
8. Sc in each st. (23)
9. *Sc in 1, dec.* Sc in last 2 sts. (16)
10-12. Sc in each st.
13-14. Sc in 8, Change to grey yarn, Inc in next 3 sts. Change back to brown yarn. Sc in 3.
15-17. Sc in each st.
18. *Sc in 1, inc.* (24) Fasten off 1st foot.
Repeat for 2nd foot, but do not fasten off. Connect legs together with a sc.
19. Sc around each foot to form the first round of the torso. Place a stitch marker at the end of this round, (48)
20-23, Sc in each stitch. (48)
24. *Sc in 7, inc.* (54)
25. Sc in each st. (54)
26. *Sc in 8, inc* (60)
27-31. Sc in each stitch. (60)
32. *Sc in 8, dec.* (54)
33. Sc in each st.
34. *Sc in 7, dec.* (48)
35. Sc in each st.
36. *Sc in 6, dec.* (42)
37. Sc in each st.
38. *Sc in 5, dec.* (36)
39. Sc in each st.
40. *Sc in 4, dec.* (30)
41. Sc in each st.
42. *Sc in 3, dec.* (24)
43. Sc in each st. Fasten off. Stuff body.
Head:
1. Make 6 sc in a magic ring.
2. Inc in each st. (12)
3. *Sc in 1, inc* (18)
4. *Sc in 2, inc.* (24)
5. *Sc in 3, inc.* (30)
6. *Sc in 4, inc.* (36)
7-8. Sc in each st.
9. *Sc in 5, inc.* (42)
10. *Sc in 6, inc.* (48)
11. *Sc in 7, inc.* (54)
12-14. Sc in each st.
15. *Sc in 7, dec.* (48)
16. *Sc in 6, dec.* (42)
17-20. Sc in each st.
21. *Sc in 5, dec.* (36)
22. *Sc in 4, dec.* (30)
23-25. Sc in each st.
26. *Sc in 3, dec.* (24)
27-28. Sc in each stitch. Sew the head and body together by matching the stitches of each. This should make a nice clean join.
Lower snout:
1. Make 6 sc in a magic ring.
2. Inc in each st. (12)
3. *Sc in 1, inc.* (18)
4. *Sc in 2, inc.* (24)
5. *Sc in 3, inc.* (30)
6. *Sc in 4, inc.* (36)
7. *Sc in 5, inc.* (42)
8-10. Sc in each stitch.
11. *Sc in 5, dec.* (36)
12-13. Sc in each stitch.
14, *Sc in 4, dec.* (30)
15. Sc in each stitch. Fasten off. Fold in half to form lower jaw. Stuff lightly.
Upper snout:
1. Make 6 sc in a magic ring.
2. Inc in each st. (12)
3. *Sc in 1, inc.* (18)
4. *Sc in 2, inc.* (24)
5. *Sc in 3, inc.* (30)
6. *Sc in 4, inc.* (36)
7-10. Sc in each stitch. Fasten off. Fold 1/4 of one edge in to for upper snout. Place on top of lower snout with open side facing down to lower jaw. Stitch together on sides where jaw hinge would be.. See pics. Attach the upper and lower snout together. Stitch a green wart to the upper snout. Embroider some teeth. For the tusks I cut them from felt and stitched them in place.
Tongue: With black yarn and C hook. (2.75mm)
1. Chain 11. Sc in 2nd ch. from hook and remaining 9 chains. (10) Ch. 1 and turn.
2-8. Sc in each stt. (10)
9. Dec., sc in 6, dec. (8) Ch. 1 and turn.
10. Sc in each st. Ch. 1 and turn.
11. Dec, sc in 4, dec. (6) Ch. 1 and turn.
12. Dec., sc in 2, dec, (4) Ch. 1 and turn.
13. Dec. x’s 2. (2)
14. Dec x’s 1. Fasten off. Sew the tongue to the inside of the lower jaw with a good amount of it protruding from the mouth.
Attach the finished snout to the lower part of the face, being sure to leave room for the eyes just above it.
Ears: Make 2.
1. Make 6 sc in a magic ring.
2. Inc. in each st. (12)
3-4. Sc in each st.
5. *Sc in 1, inc.* (18)
6-12. Sc in each st.
13. *Sc in 1, dec.* (12)
14. Sc in each st.
15. Sc open edge of ear closed. (6) Flatten ear, do not stuff.
Ear Center: Make 2 with light brown or tan yarn.
1. Chain 5, Sc in 2nd chain from hook and remaining 4 chans. Ch. 1 and turn.
2-7. Sc in each st. Ch. 1 and turn at end of each row.
8. Dec. x’s 2. (2)
9. Dec x’s 1. Fasten off leaving long tail to stitch to center of ear.
Sew the assembled ears to either side of the head.
Horns: Make 2 from ivory or white sport or baby weight yarn using C hook. (2.75mm)
1. Make 3 sc in a magic ring,
2. Sc, inc, sc. (4)
3. Sc. in each st.
4. Sc, inc. X’s 2. (6)
5. *Sc., inc* (8)
6. Sc in each st.
7. Sc in 2,, inc, x’s 2, sc in 2. (10)
8-12. Sc in each st. Fasten off leaving long tail to sew to top of head. Sew the horns to the top of the head.
Eyes: Make 2 of orange yarn.
1. Make 6 sc in a magic ring.
2. Inc. X’s 6. (12)
3. *Sc., inc.* (18)
Fasten off and leave long tail to sew to face. Place safety eyes or use felt dot or embroidery the pupil before sewing on the eyes.
Arms: Make 2
1. Chain 6. Sc in 2nd ch. from hook and next 3 chains.. Make 3 se in last chain. Turn work and sc in 4 chains, and make 3 sc in last chain. (14)
2-4. Sc in each st.
5. *Sc in 6 sc, inc.. * Repeat. (16)
6. *Sc in 7, inc.* Repeat. (18)
7. Sc in each st.
8. *Sc in 1, dec.* (12)
9-13. Sc in each st.
14. *Sc in 5, inc.* (14)
15. *Sc in 6, inc.* (16)
16-21. Sc in each st.
22. *Sc in 7, inc.* (18)
23. *Sc in 8, inc.* (20)
24. Sc in each st. Fasten off leaving long tail to sew to body.
Stuff lightly and attach arms to body.
Fingers and thumbs:
To make fingers and thumbs, flatten hands and insert hook through stitches at end of hand where finger or thumb would be positioned. Pull through a loop and chain 1 to lock. Sc in same stitch and in next adjoining stitch. Ch. 1 and turn. Sc in each st. For the thumb I make 2 rows of sc and then fastened off. For the fingers I make 3 rows of sc. Each finger and thumb is attached separately. Weave the yarn ends down through the finger or thumb and pull into inside of hand to hide.
For the finger and toe nails I attached a sport weight white or ivory colored yarn and used a ‘C’ hook to attach to end of fingers and toes. I chained 3 , fastened off and weaved and hid the yarn ends in the same manner as for the fingers.
I defined the toes by using long stitches across the front of the feet going from bottom to top around the end of the foot and pulling the stitches tight enough to make a small dent in the foot. I then attached the toenails to the defined toes, hiding the ends inside the foot.
For the purple prickles on his back, I simply looped in short strands of purple yarn as you would do in rug hooking.
All in all, i think I like this guy!
I hope you enjoy this pattern as much as I enjoyed making it.
Blessings!
Reny
(Please do not copy and post this pattern and claim it as your own.)
