Since I have a real liking for nature’s most peculiar, weird, mysterious or misunderstood underdogs I decided to design some of them for anyone who wants to get to know these natural weirdo’s a little better!

The mighty lion is the second largest cat in the world, only surpassed by the tiger. It is the laziest of all the fierce felines, and will spend 16 to 20 hours chilling out, snoozing and snoring the day away! And when lions do set out to switch on, they usually don’t spring into action before nightfall. Although their padded paws allow them to silently sneak around in the dark, their roar can be heard up over a distance of eight kilometers! Luckily, your toy lion will probably turn out to be a sound sleeper during the knit - eh, night - and a lot less growly as well!

This 13 cm lion was knitted in Lana Grossa Cool Wool Baby (212) beige, Scheepjes Panda (584) grizzly and Scheepjes Softy (479) beige with a strand of mohair added. It was made on 2.25 mm double pointed needles (UK 13, US 1) to create a dense fabric the stuffing won’t come peeping through.
Using textured yarns when knitting an animal helps to give it a realistic appearance. You could also use thicker needles and heavier yarn and your lion will turn out slightly bigger!
This is an easy to medium project, with some knitting in the round and loop stitches (explained in the pattern)

Have a RAWR-some knit!