Sofi saw the ballet monkey and asked for a blue one. She looks pretty happy with him!

Started with 2 mm needle, but was too tight. 2.5 mm just right.

Yarn usage: many of my other monkey projects have exact details on yarn usage. Sorry, not this one. It required less than half a ball of each color, but I did not get accurate before and after weights.

Provisional cast-on, then used the end of the working yarn to thread through and gather the loops after removing the waste yarn (I do this after finishing the contrast portion of the face, before narrowing the neck). This is more symmetric than the magic cast-on, which makes a 5-stitch straight line. The provisional cast-on is done with waste yarn and a crochet hook. Leave a long enough tail of the working yarn to gather the stitches and fasten the end later. Knit two rounds of 10 stitches before the first increase row. This is equivalent to casting on 10 and then knitting a row of 10. (if you have made the Musselburgh hat, the circular cast-on at the start of the hat is great for this, as well. There are lots of videos out there).

Tried small safety eyes, but the back disk was too big and they looked funny, so I started over, and embroidered the eyes.

Increases on center face and back were done symmetrically - with lifted increases in the stitches just to the right and left of center. Increases on hands and feet also done with lifted increases, and look better than my prior monkey’s feet.

Picking up stitches for muzzle: Pick up 22, then purl the two center ones together on the first row. This comes out symmetric and all the way to the edge on both sides. Also, for both muzzle and ears: use a tiny crochet hook to pick up the working yarn through the purl bumps and transfer them to a double pointed needle. This is equivalent to “pick up and knit”, that is, knit one row before the increase row for the ears, and start with the purl row for the muzzle. Make sure as you do this that the purl bump side between stitches is on the side where it won’t show later.

The smile is snaggle-toothed on the right if you do the subsequent increases in the very next row, so I made yarn-overs and knit into them twisted on the row after that. Much neater.

Tail: go from 13 to 4 stitches, decreasing 1 every 7 rows at the center bottom of the tail. Alternate decreasing one to the left and right of the center stitch. When I get to 4, I switch to i-cord for the last inch, but keep a tiny bit of stuffing all the way into the tip (see note below about knitting in the round with the fiberfill in place.

Hand washed in Eucalan to soften afterward - worked wonders, especially for the overalls. The Baby Ull doesn’t really need softening. To dry: squeeze water out without wringing, then fold the monkey into a towel and walk on it a few times, then reshape and let dry, turning now and then. The tail can be coiled when wet (fasten with a couple of pieces of waste yarn), and it dries with a cute curl. I didn’t discover that until a later monkey, but am consolidating my notes here.

This monkey ended up about 9.5-10”, slightly larger than my prior sock-yarn version.

Tip for fiberfill: it’s very hard to put fiberfill in place afterward, especially on tiny monkeys. When legs, arms or tail are at 6-8 rows, gently twist an appropriate amount of stuffing into a long bit of roving and thread it into an extra large tapestry needle, or poke through with your finger. Pull it through the appendage so most is external and an inch or 2 is internal. For arms, tuck the internal part into the shoulder and up through the neck. For legs, tuck the internal part toward the butt. Continue knitting with the stuffing in place, using a finger to push it backward out of the way each time you switch needles (see bottom picture). The finished limbs can be crossed and tied to keep them out of the way when knitting the rest of the limbs. I knit everything before the last leg, so that the opening is nice and big for stuffing the body Recommended order arrived at after several monkeys: head down to before closing neck, ears, muzzle, embroider or sew on eyes, neck, stuff head, body and 1st leg, arms, tail, second leg). Stuff as you go, especially on small monkeys, or you will regret it.

Annita shows on her blog using kitchener stitch for grafting the crotch. I tried that on one and it looks good and pulls the tummy smaller. However, it’s quicker to sew the bound-off stitches edge-to-edge. In that case, the tummy has to be stuffed extra well, or it turns out a little baggy and saggy afterward. Her admonition not to overstuff stopped me at first, but now I really pack the tummy and butt. The fiberfill compresses before it stretches the fabric, and I don’t go too crazy with it. The one place where it seems possible to overfill to the point where it can look bad is on the tail. Since I knit around the stuffing, I pull the stuffing out a bit as I go, to thin it as the tail gets narrower. If you don’t have enough fiberfill at first, add more, but overlap it, poking a wispier inch or two into the appendage. That way there’s no lumpiness or gaps.

The shape of the face and ability of the monkey to hold his head up when seated are affected by how far down the neck you sew the bottom of the muzzle. Better to attach all the way down the neck, then the muzzle protrudes a tiny bit less and the neck is a bit stronger. Also - knitting the muzzle on 0.25 or 0.5 mm smaller needles works a little better, depending on yarn choices. If the contrast yarn is even a tiny bit thicker than the main color, definitely go down in needle size, otherwise the muzzle is too big. If that’s the case, the hands and feet should also be knit with the smaller needles.

Three attempted innovations from my notes on Jacobus XVII:

• Pinhole cast-on
• Using a darning needle to form the first round of stitches for the ears
• Appliqued eyes

First: Pinhole cast-on: https://www.moderndailyknitting.com/year-techniques-pinho...

It’s very similar to a crochet pinhole start for a motif, but fussier. I think I’m just faster with a provisional cast-on as explained above, and will probably stick with that. But I could get better at this. The advantage with the pinhole cast-on is: no crochet hook needed. But, I always have one in my notions bag.

Second: I used a darning needle to form the first round of stitches for the ears, with about 8-10 inches of yarn threaded through. It was easier, but also needs perfecting. First attempt was not as neat as I would like. The Eco Llama yarn is very fuzzy and the stitches are tiny, so even with bright light, it was hard to see exactly where to pick up.

Third: The small monkeys that get gifted to little recipients have to have embroidered or sewn eyes. I have tried tiny safety eyes, but they have a big plastic disk on the back that ruins how they look. Past monkeys had eyes embroidered with black yarn, and they are okay, but sometimes require more than one attempt before they look good. For Jacobus XVII, the eyes are tiny felt appliques, cut from a sheet of wool felt, blanket stitched around, then sewn on before closing the neck. I like how they came out! It was easier to get a nice round-ish shape than when I embroider them, but it did take a little longer.