Who can resist knit fairies?

After a summer and fall of knitting more kilt hose, I needed a project that was more colourful and whimsical. I decided on this pattern for a tiny knit fairy.  It was so fun that I made three! It’s a great quick project that can be completed in an evening or two. I made all of them with left over bits of yarn from my collection.

I don’t like sewing seams down the backs of my projects, so for the first fairy (the one with the yellow hair), I started with her head and knit it in the round using quite thin yarn, 3.25mm dpn and this pattern:

Using the skin colour, cast on 8 stitches over 4 dpn (double pointed needles) – a 5^th dpn is needed to be the working needle.

R1: knit

R2: k1, m1, k1 on each needle (12 stitches total)

R3: knit

R4: k1, m1, k1, m1, k1 on each needle (20 stitches total)

R5: knit

R6: k1, m1, k3, m1, k1 on each needle (28 stitches total)

R7-15: knit

Switch to body colour

R16-36: knit

Cast off

I then followed the instructions of the original pattern. The final effect was ok, but I didn’t like how the neckline puckered at the gather and I decided that knitting in the round wasn’t worth the extra effort.

For the next two fairies I stuck to the original head/body pattern and was happier with the overall shape.

Instead of twisting yarn for arms, I made a two or three stitch i-cord, or when using the thicker brown yarn, I made a chain using a crochet hook.

To give the wings a more rounded look, I used this pattern:

CO 4 stitches

R1: knit

R2: k1, m1, k2, m1, k1 (6 stitches total)

R3: knit

R4: k1, m1, k4, m1, k1 (8 stitches total)

R5-9: knit

R10: k1, k2tog, k2, skp, k1 (6 stitches total)

R11: knit

R12: k1, k2tog, skp, k1 (4 stitches total)

Cast off

Happy fairy making!