Purple Dress Monkey Finger Puppet

I started finger puppets to be given as a gift with Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed back in July.

After finishing the first 4 I paused after making the head when the family moved as I was preparing the October birthday and Halloween boxes.

I postponed the Halloween box a year but decided I'd still deliver the birthday gifts late. As the dates got moved off for delivering the gifts I put the last monkey aside to finish up the doll donations.

Around Thanksgiving I realized I'd forgotten the monkey and started working on pieces of the monkey between doll donation projects. When finished I took pictures but never posted the project. Since this blog has been a great way to keep a record of my projects I decided it was time to get a record up about finishing the project.

I'm very glad I finished the puppets as they were a HUGE hit. You never know what will be "the" item but the monkeys were a good choice. The puppet pattern is available for purchase here.

Fall Birthday Presents

I set this post up to add things as I was making them for the birthday and then I found out the birthday girl was moving very close to her birthday. So I'm waiting until they are settled in to their new home to give the birthday gifts. I still thought I'd share this post because I know when I look back to remember what I made the previous year, I'll be looking during this time period for a reference. I still have one monkey to make and depending on when I finish it will determine if the monkeys end up a late birthady or early Christmas present.

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

As soon as the Orca was finished for the Summer birthday box I had to begin work on both the Fall Birthday Box and the Halloween box.

Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher

The Tale of Samuel Whiskers

Monkey Finger Puppet Pink Dress

I am so pleased to say I can see the end of the Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed project in sight.

These are not difficult puppets, just time consuming as they are made in thread and thus take me longer to make than the ones I've made with sport cotton or acrylic yarn. I think there is also the repetitive nature of making the same puppet 5 times. There was something nice about getting to make the dress this time instead of the overalls. The dress pattern is a little more fun to make and it also works up more quickly.

For those of you interested you can purchase the pattern here. I used Aunt Lydia Size 10 Cotton, Natural, Fudge Brown, and French Rose for this puppet.

Monkey Finger Puppet Grey Overalls

This is the next finger puppet for my Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed project for the October birthday box. This is the last of the overall monkeys. The next two have different outfits. You can purchase the pattern here.

I used Aunt Lydia's Crochet Size 10 Thread in Natural, Fudge, and Stone.

Monkey Finger Puppet Blue Overalls

I finished the second finger puppet to go with the Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed book that will be going out with the October birthday box. You can purchase the pattern here.

I used Aunt Lydia Size 10, Natural, Peackock, and Fudge. Peackock was not a pattern choice but as I mentioned in the previous post I decided I'd use colors on hand for the puppet's clothing.

I had an issue with the straps last time so I made them shorter and I crossed them in the back. This seemed to make it easier to join them.

Monkey Finger Puppet Yellow Overalls

During the Christmas book sales I'd picked up a copy of Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed and put it away for this birthday box.

At the time I had a different finger puppet pattern in mind for the box. It was on my wish list but when I went to buy it the pattern was gone. As luck would have it I was looking through e-pattern central and found one I liked even more as these puppets had clothes and I had limited experience clothing finger puppets. It seemed like a fun challenge. You can purchase the pattern here.

This pattern requires size 10 thread and with my ever growing thread collection I had the colors I needed for the monkey in my stash. I'm choosing clothing colors from my stash. This is a brighter yellow than suggested but I'm happy with the color.

I was concerned I'd get the tail hole placement on the overalls wrong but instead my mistake was following the directions for the back right strap. I'll watch this more carefully on the next monkey. I'll also decrease the number of chains as I found the straps to be a bit long for the pants.

This was a unique construction pattern that allows the pants to be open for the finger portion of the finger puppet. Most of my finger puppet patterns are finger tubes with perhaps heads and arms. Only a few like this one include additional features like legs and tails that extend below the tube. It was fun to see how it came together. Only 4 more to go. I will be spreading these out with other birthday, Halloween, and doll projects.

I used an Etimo Steel 1.8 mm Crochet Hook for the monkey body and clothes. The facial features were made with a Tulip Etimo 1.25mm Steel Crochet Hook. I was able to use safety eyes because I crocheted the eye sections before decreasing the head and then placed the saftey eyes through the crocheted eye sections with their backings before finishing the decreases.