01.03.2025

To make the squirrel look realistic, it is of utmost importance which eyes you choose (in my case 10 mm rounded black) and where you place the embroidery for the nose and mouth. So choose wisely.

Next time I would use mattress stitch, not backwards stitch, for the closing of the back of the head and the side seams at the hip. Backwards stitch makes a very visible edge.

Also for the tail next time:
When starting the tail part that is attached to the bottom belly: reverse purl and knit stitches.
The designer says herself that the fuzziness of the yarn shows better on the purl side.
So as in the pattern, when you leave it as it is written, and you sew the tail parts together, the fuzzy part of the bottom tail becomes hidden inside the sewn-closed tail. The purl stitches should be facing outwards on both tail parts.

One could even try to knit the tail in the round, purl stitches facing outwards. I am sure it would become even more realistic because a real squirrel’s tail is also a tube. But the fuzzy yarn also hides the seams nicely.

In comparison to a real squirrel, the tail as instructed in the pattern is too short. Could be a third longer (next time I would add around 30 rows/rounds I think). If you look at photos, a squirrel’s tail is about as long as its body.

If you sew the tail to the back, the squirrel leans a bit to the back when sitting, because the laid down tail gave a bit of stability. It is then recommendable to fill the squirrel with a bit more substance at the bottom (small rounded beach pebbles or poly granules in an organza pouch) to make it able to sit.

I believe there’s an error in the pattern, on page 14 at the bottom, when you sew the first hind foot together, it should say “RS facing” at the beginning of the last paragraph.

As a non-native speaker, I was not familiar with the abbreviation “st st”, which is not listed in the abbreviations. At first I thought it was a typo. Now I know it means stocking stitch.

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Had to drive to Münster to get 10 mm safety eyes.
I didn’t like the oval eyes in the original, because when you look at photos of squirrels, their eyes are always round and black.

Insane amount of threads to weave in…

Even though there are photos in the pattern, the designer could be a little clearer in her explanations. There were many moments where I felt pretty lost at first. I could have used more pics or detailed explanation for the sewing of the hind legs for example.

At the bottom of the squirrel, I stuffed with a small organza pouch of poly granules to make it able to sit without falling over all the time. (Without the organza I think the granules would not have stayed inside the squirrel.)

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The squirrel has its name from Wuppertal icon Pina Bausch, a dancer and choreographer my mother-in-law loved very much. She was a regular visitor in the dance shows in the Wuppertal Tanztheater.