This is Queenie, a variation on Rebecca Danger’s adorable Penelope the empathetic monster.

I have been particularly inspired by the 600monsters group and their wonderful work. Even though my toy will likely go to a new home via my charitable project here, Queenie is certainly kin to all the many wonderful monsters being created in that group.

Queenie is a bit small, since I worked at a tighter gauge and did not double the yarn….I will probably make another in a more regally-appropriate size. :)

Great pattern and easy to follow, although I obviously added a bit of colorwork to the various bits and bobs. It was fun to adapt the main patchwork design element (on the body) to fit into the general shapes of the feet, earbobs, and arms. I did not follow the pattern stitchcounts but worked up the pieces in a way to produce similar shapes….except for the arms, which are constructed as straight tubes with tiny, dense, 2-color pompoms sewn on at the ends.

As I like the seamless appearance of grafted seams, I used kitchener in place of 3-needle bind-offs for the edges of the feet, ears and top of the head.

For the eyes, I used Rebecca’s directions but made 2 smaller in white for the eyes and one larger circle in blue for the single patch. The pupils are a bit of black yarn embroidered on after securing the eyes to the body.

The toothy grin and heart are cheapie felt, attached with flexible but never-coming-off glue.

And last but not least: Queenie’s crown is knit up from some mystery gold acrylic worsted; it’s an edging embellishment I found in one of Nicky Epstein’s books, knitted flat and then seamed together to form the crown. It is securely sewn to Queenie’s head, ensuring a never-ending reign.

A note about finishing: I have been making a rash of toys lately and I noticed that some people have remarked that the final seaming up can be a challenge on these (and other similar, flat bottom) toys.

One thing that I did which I thought helped a great deal to create a nice and tidy finished edge was to use a loosely knit cable cast on for the bottom flap as well as for the beginning body rounds. I say “loosely” because, as you likely know, cable cast ons tend to be described as creating a “firm edge”…but understand that I do not mean loose & gappy, or sloppy. You just want to create a cast-on that is not so tight that it in any way resembles anything firm.

I found it quite easy to achieve a “softer edge” with the cable cast on, one which is less bulky than a typical long-tail cast on. Trying to neatly mattress stitch a seam where 2 long-tail cast on edges meet (parallel and also at opposing and cornering edges) can be a real…….insert expletive of choice.

I found that using a relaxed cable cast on for all flap/bottom cast on stitches made the final making up much easier. You can have a look at my photos and decide if you agree. :)

The last photo shows Queenie with a couple of her minions, I mean, friends: Cosmo H. Tri-love-a-tops , Mössbauer the glam funk love punk and Percy Ariel the poet cat.