Read Across America CAL, Part 4

In Part 3 of our Read Across America Crochet-a-Long, I shared my Little Red Riding Hood Puppet pattern. I talked a bit about the history of the fairy tale that has been passed down generation to generation for centuries. So I will not bore you by retelling it all here! Please check out that post, if you are interested, but we will move right along to our Big Bad Wolf.

I had my Instagram followers vote in my stories as to whether they wanted him with just Granny’s hat, or also Granny’s nighty. The large majority voted for the nighty too, so I have included it! But you are more than welcome to make him with only the hat, or no accessories at all.

Why Read Across America?

If you’re just tuning in, let me explain!

As a lover of books myself, I have tried to pass that love down to my own children. It is shocking to me, the number of kids who do not enjoy reading. Also surprising is the number of children who prefer electronics at a very early age, to books. I’d love to change that!

March 2nd is National Read Across America Day, named in honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday. March has since become National Read Across America Month. Interestingly, March is also National Crochet Month! I am combining my love for both, by using crochet to make reading and learning more enjoyable. Young children, even before learning to read, learn the art of story telling through books and play. Why not encourage that creativity with puppets, bringing their favorite stories to life?

You can access this pattern for FREE here, or you can purchase the printer-friendly, ad-free PDF from my Ravelry or Etsy shops. Thanks for your support! 

Notes:

The body is worked from the top down, in the rnd, with no joining. The arms, ears, and snout, are made separately and sewn on. The eyes are sewn on with black dk yarn, but worsted would work just as well. The hat and nightgown are optional, if you are telling the Red Riding Hood story. 

Size: This is one size, fitting child through adult, but if you wish to make it smaller for a smaller child to play with, simply tighten the gauge or go down a hook size. 

Gauge: 6 sts across and 7 rnds down = approximately 2 inches

*This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase anything through them, I will get a small referral fee and you will be supporting me and my blog at no extra cost to you, so thank you!

Materials:

Bulky Weight 5 Yarn:

THE HOOK NOOK, YUMMY TWEED: Precious Metals (A) approximately 90 yds

THE HOOK NOOK, YUMMY TWEED: Cookies & Cream (B) approximately 8 yds

THE HOOK NOOK, YUMMY: Charcoal Toothpaste (C) less than 1 yd

THE HOOK NOOK, MAIN SQUEEZE: Rose Gold (D) approximately 10 yds

THE HOOK NOOK, MAIN SQUEEZE: Midnight Decisions (E) approximately 25 yds

DK Weight 3 Yarn:

THE HOOK NOOK, SMALL STUFF: Tattoo Ink

CROCHET HOOK, size H – 5mm

Stitch marker

½ inch button

Small amount of thread

Sewing needle

Tapestry needle

Scissors 

Terms and abbreviations to know:

Magic ring

Rnd, rnds – round, rounds

St, sts – stitch, stitches

Sl st – slip stitch

Sk – skip

Sc – single crochet

Inc – increase, 2 sts in same st

Dec – decrease, combine 2 sts to make 1 st

Hdc – half double crochet

Dc – double crochet

BLO – back loop only

Invsc2tog – invisible single crochet 2 together; this is essentially a decrease, but done in such a way as to make the continuous stitching smoother, and the decrease not as noticeable. 

1. Insert hook into front loop only of next stitch, DO NOT yarn over.
2. Insert hook into front loop of second stitch. 
3. Yarn over. Pull through 2 loops. 
4. Yarn over and pull through last 2 loops.

Body

beginning at the head, with A

Begin with a magic ring.

Rnd 1: 6 sc in magic ring; 6 sts

Rnd 2: inc in each st around; 12 sts

Rnd 3: (inc, sc in next st)6x; 18 sts

Rnd 4: (inc, sc in next 2 sts)6x; 24 sts

Rnds 5-7: sc in each st around; 24 sts

Rnd 8: (3 inc, sc in next 9 sts)2x; 30 sts

Rnds 9-12: sc in each st around; 30 sts

Rnd 13: (3 invsc2tog, sc in next 9 sts)2x; 24 sts

Rnds 14-15: sc in each st around; 24 sts

Rnd 16: (ch 7, sk next 4 sts, sc in next 8 sts)2x; 30 sts, counting the chs

Rnd 17: (sc into each of the 7 chs, sc in next 8 sts)2x; 30 sts

Rnds 18-30: sc in each st around; 30 sts 

Fasten off and weave in ends. 

Arms

Make 2, begin with B

Begin with magic ring. 

Rnd 1: 6 sc in magic ring; 6 sts

Rnd 2: inc in each st around; 12 sts

Rnd 3: BLO, sc in each st around; 12 sts

Pull Precious Metals through to complete the last st of rnd 3, and fasten off Cookies and Cream. Continue with Precious Metals.

Rnds 4-12: sc in each st around; 12 sts

Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Sew onto the arm holes in the body. Weave in ends inside the puppet. 

Snout

with B 

Begin with magic ring.

Rnd 1: 6 sc in magic ring; 6 sts

Rnd 2: inc in each st around; 12 sts

Rnd 3: (inc, sc in next st)6x; 18 sts

Rnds 4-5: sc in each st around; 18 sts

Sl st into first st of rnd and fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Continue with the making of the nose, before any sewing. 

Nose

Begin with C

Ch 2

Row 1: inc in 2nd ch from hook; 2 sts

Row 2: ch 1 and turn, inc in each st across; 4 sts

Pull color (A) through to complete the last st, and fasten off color (C), and leave a long tail for sewing the nose on, but continue with the top part of the snout.  

Continue in (A)

Row 3: ch 1 and turn, using FLO, sc in each st across; 4 sts

Row 4: ch 1 and turn, inc, sc in next 2 sts, inc; 6 sts

Rows 5-6: ch 1 and turn, sc in each st across; 6 sts

Do not turn, the finishing of row 6 is the front side. 

Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Sew the nose, and the gray strip onto the top of the snout, with the bottom point of the nose about center of the first rnd of the snout, and the front side facing out. 

Sew the whole snout onto the front of the face, with the top being around rnd 11 of the face, and the bottom being around rnd 18 of the body

Eyes

in Tattoo Ink

Sew the eyes about rnd 9 of the head, about 2 rows above the snout, with about 2 stitches in between them. Knot off and weave in ends inside the puppet. 

Ears

Make 2, with A and B

Begin with B

Ch 5

Row 1: turn and sc in 2nd ch from hook and each ch across; 4 sts

Row 2: ch 1 and turn, 2 dec; 2 sts

Row 3: ch 1 and turn, sc in each st across; 2 sts

Row 4: ch 1 and turn, dec; 1 sts

Do NOT turn, continue to sc around the triangle you just made with 3 sc down the side, 2 sc in the corner, 2 sc across the bottom, 2 sc in opposite corner, 3 sc up the other side, 1 sc in the top, and fasten off.

With color A, repeat all the steps you just made with color B. Begin with a long tail for sewing at the end. 

After working sc around the gray triangle, do NOT fasten off. Place your gray triangle behind the white one, and sc in each st around through both triangles, making sure they line up properly with each corner. When you get to the top, (sc, ch 1, sc) in the top st. Sl st in next st and fasten off. Weave in ends, but leave one gray end for sewing. Sew the ears to the top sides of the head. 

If you are just doing animals, and not participating in the Read Across America Crochet-a-Long, you are welcome to stop here! He makes a very handsome wolf without the hat and nightgown, don’t you think?

Granny Hat

with D

Begin with magic ring. Ch 2. *Chains do not count as sts. Work first st of each rnd in the same joining st. 

Rnd 1: 8 dc in magic ring, join to first st with sl st; 8 sts

Rnd 2: ch 2, 2 dc in each st around, join with sl st; 16 sts

Rnd 3: ch 2, (2 dc in next st, dc in next st)2x, ch 9, sk next 2 sts, (2 dc in next st, dc in next st)3x, ch 9, sk next 2 sts, 2 dc in next st, dc in last st, join with sl st; 18 sts, 18 chs

Rnd 4: ch 2, dc in next 6 sts, dc in each of the 9 chs, dc in next 9 sts, dc in each of the 9 chs, dc in last 3 sts, join with sl st; 36 sts

Rnd 5: ch 1, (invsc2tog, sc in next 4 sts)6x, join with sl st; 30 sts

Change to color E, and fasten off D.

Rnd 6: continue with E, (3 sc in next st, sl st in next st)15x, join with sl st; 60 sts

Fasten off, and weave in ends. 

Granny Nighty

in E

Ch 43

Row 1: hdc in 2nd ch from hook, hdc in each ch across; 42 sts

Rows 2- 8: ch 1 and turn, hdc in each st across; 42 sts

Row 9: ch 1 and turn, hdc in next 7 sts, ch 6, sk next 9 sts, hdc in next 10 sts, ch 6, sk next 9 sts, hdc in next 7 sts; 24 sts and 12 chs

Fasten off, and weave in ends. 

Sleeve Ruffles

in D

For the right arm, you will be attaching the yarn to the back of the arm in the post of the last st before the ch, with the chain to your left, and working across the ch. 

For the left arm, you will be attaching the yarn to the front of the arm in the post of the last st before the ch, with the chain to your left, and working across the ch.

Row 1: (sc, hdc) in each of the 6 chs. 

Fasten off, and weave in ends. 

Sew a button onto row 8 of the nighty, about 3 sts from the edge. The button should fit through the stitches in use, so no need to make a button hole. 

I hope you have enjoyed part 4 of our Read Across America Crochet-a-Long!! If you make any of these puppets for your children, I’d love to see them! Please tag @ekaygdesigns in the pictures of your makes!