KNITTING: This is a dear little squirrel to knit, with a fluffy loop stitch tail and very appealing face. This vintage style toy “Nutty Squirrel” holds a nut or acorn ready to hide –or eat! ( Although in one image it seems to have morphed into a marshmallow; he must have found a campsite!)
This is really charming a little creature; squirrels featured in all sorts of stories for children, but the Red Squirrel is now rare in England. (Of course you could also make him as a grey squirrel too - but then it has not such a ‘vintage English’ effect!)
On a technical note; this is an unusual and useful addition to any toymaker or knitter’s repertoire. The body shape would also be good as a base shape for all sorts of creations.
For those interested in ephemera, I actually have 2 versions of this pattern. One is part of a set of woodland toys* in a 1973 magazine and the other is a later revision which was published as a card in a collectable pattern compendium. The second set used a different wool manufacturer and by then is showing metric needle sizes as well. (This was some time after the UK “went metric”; or so they lead you to believe but lots of people still use inches and ounces, LOL )!
* The magazine set consisted of three woodland animals which I also have as PDFs; see “Solomon Owl” and “Marchmont Hare”
