This is the adorable Skya the squirrel who loves to cache her acorns in this hollowed out gourd. When Skya isn’t at home, she likes to wear a helmet to protect her head from falling acorns!
The body and head of the squirrel are knit as one piece with the arms, legs, ears and tail sewn on afterwards. I provide row-by-row instructions and pictures and tips throughout the pattern. Instructions for the squirrel, the helmet, the acorn and the gourd house are included.

Finished Dimensions: Sitting with hat on: 6.5 inches (16 cm) 18 cm; Standing: 8.5 inches (21 cm). The gourd is 8.5 inches (22 cm) high.

Materials required:

• Yarn: 1 ball (50g) * each of red, white, green(s), brown, yellow(s), gold.

• Black, white and green thread for the squirrel’s eyes and nose.

• Sewing needle made for yarn.

• Size 4 mm knitting needles.

• Size 4 mm double pointed needles (2): if you have some great, if not, don’t worry I’ll explain what you can do instead.

• Poly-fill stuffing.

• I ask for 50g of yarn of each colour but all the pieces in this work were created using less than a third of a ball of any colour. Feel free to change the colours you use.

Gauge: 20 stitches and 28 rows = 4 x 4 square using stockinette stitch and 4 mm knitting needles. This gauge is an approximation. I used a medium (worsted) weight yarn. Since this is meant to be a toy, I wouldn’t worry too much if your gauge is off by a few stitches – it may simply make your squirrel a bit smaller or larger depending on the yarn and needles you use.

Techniques Used:

• Stockinette stitch: knit the right side, purl the backside.
• Garter stitch: knit all rows.
• Increase 1 stitch by knitting once in the front of the stitch and once in the back of the stitch.
• Decrease 1 stitch by knitting two stitches together.
• Making an I-cord. I explain how to do this.