Knit four rattles in the shape of an elephant, giraffe, monkey and unicorn. (Who says unicorns don’t live in the jungle?)

We also include a pattern for a plain rattle, so you can invent your own animals by making the basic one and adding on different features.

For variety, why not fill the rattles with different objects to create a range of sounds?

Difficulty: Easy

Stitches used: kfb, k2tog, p2tog, sl1k, sl1p, kfbf

You will need:
• Wool. I used Double Knit (8-6 ply, “light worsted”.) Tension square: 10cm x 10cm square is 24 stitches across and 32 rows.
• Knitting needles. I used UK size 11 (3.0mm, US size 2.5)
• Tapestry needle
• Stuffing
• Toy safety-eyes or wool to embroider eyes.
• Pieces of 12mm diameter wooden dowel or similar-shaped object
• Small, lightweight containers max 4cm in diameter (the capsules in Kinder Eggs will fit)
• Beads / sand / rice / paper-clips etc to fill your container