Prehistoric Crafting

The latest issue of Knitty featured an adorable pattern for stuffed nautiloids, and I couldn’t resist. It’s a suitable pattern for using up scrap yarn, and it is very easy. I liked that you stuff the shell as you go along, because it leaves very little finishing to do at the end. You can even get away with just shoving your loose ends inside after you knot them off. I had a bit of a struggle deciding on the placement for the tentacles, but in the end I’m pleased with how this little guy turned out.
For this particular nautiloid, I used Red Heart worsted weight acrylic leftovers, with a dark green head and alternating rows of red and orange for the body. I wasn’t sure how the alternated color rows would look – they’re sort of hard to see even in the pattern images, but it really adds to the spiral effect. The biggest tip I have for making the pattern is to make sure you knit fairly tight as you go along, so that the stuffing doesn’t show through, and then to stuff firmly, so the spiral shape really holds up.