A Little Kindness Monster: Knitted 2 Ways

The Little Kindness Monster is a simple knitting pattern with a simple idea behind it: to have a small object that you can make easily, from materials you most likely already have, to pass along as a gift or kindness to someone who might find joy in it. They’re also fun to make and keep, to use up small amounts of leftover yarn or to experiment with different types of yarn and gauges that might not be suitable for larger projects. 

For the past few years, the Little Kindness Monster has been available only as a pattern to knit in the round on double pointed needles, but in this article we will change it over to a pattern for single pointed needles and explore what needs to be done to the design in order to knit it flat and seam it later.

Gathering Materials

To get started, you will need to gather materials. The kindness monster only uses a small amount of two different colors of yarn, so it’s an ideal pattern for using up a small ball of yarn. Since gauge is not important, you are not limited to using a certain weight of yarn. As with all knitted toys, you want to make sure you are knitting in a gauge that is slightly tight for the chosen yarn, so that the resulting fabric doesn’t have stuffing showing through the holes. In the original pattern, worsted weight yarn is knitted on size US 3/3.25mm needles. In the kindness monster shown in this article, bulky yarn is knitted on size US 7/4.5mm needles. In addition to your knitting needles, you will need a yarn needle or tapestry needle to sew the pieces of the kindness monster together.

You will also need a small amount of yarn in a similar weight but a contrasting color to make the monster’s hat. If you use yarn for the hat that is much thinner than the yarn you used for your monster, the hat will be too small, or vice versa for a thicker yarn making too large of a hat.

The monster pictured has 10mm black plastic safety eyes, but you are free to substitute buttons or embroidered eyes, depending on what is readily available to you. You will also need a small amount of pink or red embroidery thread or wool to embroider on the monster’s mouth.

As with all toys, you will need something to stuff the monster with. Polyester fiberfill is always a good choice, but you could also use wool or cotton roving if it’s all that you have on hand. The monster is small and not as susceptible to bunching and getting out of shape as a larger or more intricate toy would be.

Getting Ready to Knit

The monster is made up of eight knitted pieces: a body, four limbs, two ears, and a hat. In the original pattern, the ears are knitted flat between two needles but everything else is knitted in the round. If you are comfortable knitting in the round, follow the instructions below to knit your monster. If you would rather make a monster flat on two straight needles and seam him up later, jump to the section titled “Knitting Flat.”

Pattern Abbreviations

K: Knit
P: Purl
CO: Cast on
DPNs: Double pointed needles
M1: Make one stitch by picking up and knitting into the bar before the next stitch
Kfb: Knit through the front loop of the next stitch, then the back loop of the same stitch, to
increase by one
K2tog: Knit the next two stitches together to decrease by one stitch
BO: Bind off

Knitting in the Round

Body: 

CO 3.

Distribute over 3 DPNs and begin to work in the round.

Rnd 1: Kfb 3 times. (6 sts total)

Rnd 2: Kfb 6 times. (12 sts)

Rnd 3: [K1, kfb] 6 times. (18 sts)

Rnd 4: [K2, kfb] 6 times. (24 sts)

Rnd 5: [K3, kfb] 6 times. (30 sts)

Rnd 6: Knit.

Rnd 7: [K4, kfb] 6 times. (36 sts) 

Rnds 8-20: Knit.

Rnd 21: [K2tog, k16] 2 times. (34 sts)

Rnds 22-25: Knit.

Rnd 26: [K2tog, k15] 2 times. (32 sts)

Rnds 27-28: Knit.

Rnd 29: [K2tog, k14] 2 times. (30 sts)

Rnds 30-31: Knit.

Redistribute stitches over two needles, parallel to each other, 15 stitches on each needle.

Stuff body. Attach plastic safety eyes at round 15 with 8 stitches between them. Once eyes are attached and body is stuffed in a way you like, use a three-needle bind off to finish the body, or bind off all stitches and sew bottom seam shut, flat.

Ears (make 2): 

Work ears back and forth in garter stitch on two needles.

Cast on 3.

Row 1: Knit.

Row 2: K1, kfb, k1. (4 sts)

Row 3: Knit.

Row 4: K2, m1, k2. (5 sts)

Row 5: Knit.

Row 6: K2, kfb, k2. (6 sts)

Row 7: Knit.

Row 8: K3, m1, k3. (7 sts)

Row 9: Knit.

Row 10: K3, kfb, k3. (8 sts)

Rows 11-15: Knit.

Bind off, leaving a long enough tail for sewing the ear to the head.

Fold the bound-off edge in half. Sew this to the head, open edge facing front.

Repeat for other side.

Limbs (make 4):

CO 8 sts.

Distribute over 2 or 3 dpns and join to work in the round.

Rnds 1-10: Knit.

Cut yarn, use a yarn needle to thread through all stitches, pull tight to close end of limb. Stuff limb lightly and roll between palms to even them out. Sew to sides of body and bottom of body to make arms and legs.

Hat (optional):

CO 40 sts in a contrasting color.

Rnd 1: [K1, p1] 20 times, distributing over dpns and working in the round.

Rnds 2-17: [K1, p1] 20 times.

Rnd 18: K2, BO 4, k10, bo 4, k to end of rnd.

Rnd 19: K2, CO 3 over bound off stitches to create first earhole, k11, CO 3 sts over second earhole, k to end of rnd.

Rnds 20-21: Knit.

Rnd 22: K2tog 19 times.

Rnd 23: K2tog 9 times, k1.

Cut yarn, use a yarn needle to thread through remaining stitches, pull tight and tie off. Weave in ends. Put the hat onto monster’s head and fold up the brim.

Knitting Flat

There are several changes that need to be made in order to change a pattern from “in the round” knitting to flat knitting. Since you will be sewing each piece up with a seam, you will need to add a seam allowance. For this pattern, that means adding two stitches to each section. The extra width will allow you to sew it up without losing any of the original size. If you happen to compare the two patterns, this is the reason that there will be differences in the stitch counts. 

Next, you will need to reorient the ends of the rounds to be the ends of rows. Sometimes this means more adjustment than others. In a pattern with very detailed shaping, like a teddy bear pattern with a pointed nose on the front of its face, this would be much more complex. You would need to be sure that the seam ended up in the back and the shaping in the front. For the kindness monster, however, it’s a simple task. He is rather amorphous to begin with, so not much adjustment is needed. A few tweaks have been made in the body shaping to account for having the seam end up in the back.

To sew up the seams in each piece, use a type of seaming called “mattress stitch”. Mattress stitch ends up being nearly invisible, but it does take a bit of a seam allowance. Luckily, this has already been accounted for.

Body:

CO 5 using long tail cast on.

Row 1: Kfb 5 times. (10 sts total)

Row 2: Purl.

Row 3: Kfb 10 times. (20 sts total)

Row 4: Purl.

Row 5: [K1, kfb] 10 times. (30 sts)

Row 6: Purl.

Row 7: [K2, kfb] 10 times. (40 sts)

Rows 8-20: Work in St st (P all sts on WS, K all sts on RS).

Row 21: K2, k2tog, k16, k2tog, k18. (38 sts)

Row 22: Purl.

Row 23: K2, k2tog, k14, k2tog, k16. (36 sts)

Row 24: Purl.

Row 25: K2, k2tog, k12, k2tog, k14. (34 sts)

Row 26: Purl.

Row 27: K2, k2tog, k10, k2tog, k12. (32 sts)

Row 28: Purl.

Row 29: K2, k2tog, k8, k2tog, k10. (30 sts)

Row 30: Purl.

Row 31: Knit.

Bind off.

Ears (make 2): 

Cast on 3.

Row 1: K

Row 2: K1, kfb, k1 (4 sts)

Row 3: K

Row 4: K2, m1, k2 (5 sts)

Row 5: K

Row 6: K2, kfb, k2 (6 sts)

Row 7: K

Row 8: K3, m1, k3 (7 sts)

Row 9: K

Row 10: K3, kfb, k3 (8 sts)

Rows 11-15: K

Bind off, leaving a long enough tail for sewing the ear to the head.

Limbs (make 4):

CO 10 sts.

Rows 1-9: Work in St st (K on RS, P on WS).

Row 10: P2tog 5 times. (5 sts)

Cut yarn, leaving a long tail. Use your yarn needle or tapestry needle to thread yarn tail through remaining stitches. Pull tight to draw them together. Use mattress stitch to sew the limb into a tube. Leave the cast-on edge open and stuff the limb through there.

Hat:

CO 42 sts in CC2.

Rows 1-17: [K1, p1] 20 times.

Row 18: K10, BO 4, k10, bo 4, k to end of row. The bound-off stitches are the beginnings of earholes.

Row 19: P to first earhole, CO 3 to cover it, p11, CO 3 to cover second earhole, p to end of row.

Row 20: Knit.

Row 21: Purl.

Row 22: K2tog 20 times. (20 sts)

Row 23: Purl.

Row 24: K2tog 10 times. (10 sts)

Row 25: Purl.

Row 26: K2tog 5 times. (5 sts)

Cut yarn, use a yarn needle to thread through remaining stitches, pull tight and tie off. Use mattress stitch to seam from the crown of the hat, down the back, and all the way to the brim. Weave in ends. 

Finishing:

Fold the body in half, WS together, and use mattress stitch to seam from the top of the head down to the BO edge. This seam will run down the back of the body. Reorient the body so that the seam is in the back and you are looking at the “face.” Add safety eyes or embroider on eyes in row 15, 8 sts apart. Embroider on a smile between and slightly below them.

Stuff the body lightly and sew shut the BO edge. Weave in any ends.

Fold the ears in half at the CO edge, and sew to the head on row 5, on opposite sides of the head.

Stuff the limbs and sew to the sides for arms and to the lower edge of the body for legs.

Optional: using duplicate stitch, embroider a small heart onto the monster’s chest as seen in images. 

Put the hat onto the head and fold up the brim.

Enjoy your kindness monster! No matter which way you choose to knit your kindness monster, with a little practice you will be making whole squads of monsters to give out to everyone you know.