Free Pattern: Fast & Easy Finger Puppets

As promised, here is the first of a few fast and easy patterns I've designed recently for gifts. This one actually came at the request of my daughter, who wanted to make finger puppets for a friend and for her nephew. They're quite beginner friendly!

Fast & Easy Finger Puppets

If you’re in need of a really quick gift for a kid, these finger puppets are just the thing! They take very little yarn and very little time. You’ll likely spend more time embellishing them with the stitched on faces than you will actually knitting the puppets themselves. And they are a great way to use up leftover yarn from other projects.

Materials

Worsted weight yarn scraps. Each puppet uses approximately 3 grams of yarn, which is about 6 – 7 yards of worsted.

Other small bits of decorative yarn for embellishing.

US4 needles. I used two 8” DPNs just because these are small pieces and they easily fit on them, but use whatever US4 needle you prefer, straight or circular.

Tapestry needle.

Directions

Using long-tailed cast on, cast on 12 stitches.

Work in stockinette stitch (Row 1: knit; Row 2: purl) for approximately 2”, ending with a purl row. If you are making the puppets for a small child whose fingers are shorter, adjust length accordingly.

After reaching desired length, k2tog across all stitches (6 stitches remaining).

Next row, p2tog across all stitches (3 stitches remaining).

Break yarn, leaving an 18” tail. Leave the last three stitches on the needle (or place them on a small stitch holder or waste yarn) while you embellish your puppet.

Using contrasting yarns, stitch on eyes, mouth, or whatever features you wish to add. Weave in the ends of your embellishment yarns, or simply tie them off as they will be inside the puppet and not visible. (Hint: when stitching on knitted fabric, try to insert the needle in between strands of yarn of the stitches rather than into the gaps in between the actual stitches. Your embellishment stitches will stay closer to where you want them that way.)

Once your embellishments are complete, thread the tail of your working yarn onto a tapestry needle and run it through the remaining three live stitches, pulling it snug to cinch them up, forming the top of the puppet’s head.

Using the tail yarn, which is still attached to the puppet at the top, use mattress stitch to seam up the two edges of your puppet’s back down to the cast on edge. Weave in ends.

Now add hair! You can create a braid and stitch it to your puppet’s head (such as on my brown one), or you can thread individual strands of yarn through the top of the puppet and tie them off to each other for a spiky hair do (like my red one). Or channel your inner beautician and create your own innovative hair style!

Variations

Use different yarns to make up the body in order to give your puppet a bottom and top ensemble.

Knit the last few rows of your puppet with a fuzzy yarn (such as fun fur) to make the hair an integrated part of the puppet (like I did on my purple one).

Use beads or small buttons for eyes. However, if you’re making this for a small child who may choose to gnaw on the puppet as well as play with it, you may wish to forego using anything that could be a choking hazard.

In general, have fun! Mix it up! Be creative!

Pattern and images © Lisa M. Beamer, 2010. Reproduction of pattern is permissible for personal, non-income generating purposes only.