FO Friday: More Hedgehogs

There are a lot of patterns on Ravelry for hedgehogs. But I don't think that there are any for an arctic hedgehog!

is there even such a thing as an arctic hedgehog?

Of course, making an arctic hedgehog isn't very hard- all you have to do is swap the brown eyelash yarn for light blue and your hedgehog is from the North Pole. Blue hedgehogs also aren't quite as realistic looking as brown or gray ones. Unfortunately, the only colors of eyelash yarn I have are light blue and bright pink. So, when I wanted to make a hedgehog, I chose the blue.

Eager to add my pattern to Ravelry's database (I love being able to use the word database), I wrote it out on a piece of stationary and am all ready to type it up here. I hope that you choose to knit my hedgehog pattern rather than all the other patterns out there. I guarantee it, mine is the best. (Probably.)

Arctic Hedgehog

well this picture certainly is reminiscent of the arctic

What you need:
small amount of blue eyelash yarn (body)
small amount of brown worsted weight yarn (head)
smaller amount of black worsted weight yarn (nose and eyes)
US size 5 double pointed needles or circular needle for magic loop
Toy stuffing

Gauge:
Just make it rather tight so the stuffing doesn't show through.

Abbreviations:
CO- cast on
dpns- double pointed needles
inc- increase, knit into the front and back of stitch
k- knit
k2tog- knit two together as one
st- stitch

Pattern:
Body:
Using US size 5 needles and eyelash yarn, CO 6 stitches. Divide over dpns and join in the round
Round 1: inc every stitch around (12 st)
Round 2: *k1, inc, repeat from * around (18 st)
Round 3: *k2, inc, repeat from * around (24 st)
Round 4: *k3, inc, repeat from * around (30 st)
Knit in the round until work measures 2 inches from CO.
Now, switch to the brown worsted weight yarn for head.
Head:
Round 1: k every stitch
Round 2: *k3, k2tog, repeat from * around (24 st)
Round 3: k every stitch
Round 4: *k2, k2tog, repeat from * around (18 st)
Round 5: k every stitch
Round 6: *k1, k2tog, repeat from * around (12 st)
NOW take a break and stuff your hedgehog. Then, continued to round 7.
Round 7: k every stitch
Round 8: k2tog every stitch (6 st)
NOW switch to black worsted weight yarn
Round 9: k2tog every stitch (3 st)
Round 10: k every stitch
Pull yarn through the three remaining stitches and pull tight. Cut the yarn, leaving a long tail. use this to embroider eyes. Weave in ends and wonder why you wanted to make a hedgehog in the first place, since it's really a pretty useless thing to have around.

Oh, but wait... you can use him as a pincushion! Now that's useful.

xoxo!