Then a gust of wind caused her to slip from her mossy perch and she landed (very daintily) amongst some big yellow daisies below.
I lifted her carefully from the flowers and took her back indoors where I gave her a mossy log to sit on and that seemed to please her.
She only measures 15 cm (6 in) and I feel sure she would be easy enough for new knitters to try (children as well as adults). As long as you can cast on, cast off, knit and purl there shouldn't be a problem. I'm including the pattern in this post and have given added hints and tips which I hope will help if you are a new knitter. So whether you are new to the craft, or have been clicking away for years, do try knitting my fairy. I used 3.25 mm needles (US 3). If your knitting tends to be fairly loose then use a needle one size smaller. You will also require a large (tapestry) needle for sewing up.
I used DK yarn (in the US use light worsted and in Australia 8 ply). You can of course mix and match your own colour range but I chose autumnal shades. Golden yellow, rusty red, olive green and cream for clothes. Golden brown for hair and flesh pink for the fairy. Brown and pink embroidery floss or sewing cotton for eyes and mouth plus a tiny amount of stuffing.
The body and head are worked in stocking stitch (knit one row, purl one row) .
Cast-on 15 stitches in golden yellow and start with a knit row.
Rows 1 - 12. gold/yellow
Rows 13 - 20. flesh pink
Row 21. k2tog across row to last stitch, k1 (knit 2 stitches together right across the row to the last stitch then knit this last stitch)
Row 22. purl
Break the flesh pink yarn leaving a 15 cm ( 6 in) tail. Thread this onto a tapestry needle and take the remaining stitches off the knitting needle onto the tail of yarn. Draw up tightly and secure
Stitch the head and body seam which will be at the back. Stuff the head and part of the body, but not too firmly (don't stretch the knitting).
Thread your needle with flesh pink yarn and starting from the seam at the back, where the gold joins the flesh, pick up every alternate loop all the way round (see picture above).
Draw up to create a neck and fasten off.
Placing your needle down the centre of the head (see above) will indicate where the eyes and mouth should go but there are several variations. Using pins with coloured heads will give you some idea where you want to place the features.
Eyes close together and fairly high on the head will give a worried or perplexed expression.
Eyes places at different heights and mouth off-centre gives a quizzical look.
Eyes places at different heights and mouth off-centre gives a quizzical look.
So I played safe with eyes widely spaced. I'm not sure what expression this would be.
Knitting yarn can be too thick for a small face so use embroidery floss or sewing thread. Black eyes and a red mouth can look too heavy so try brown eyes and a dark pink mouth.
At this stage the fairy is simply a finger puppet and so she needs arms and legs.
These are twisted cords made from flesh pink yarn. Just two strands twisted to form a four strand cord is perfect. If you are unsure how to make a twisted cord you will find very good instructions (with pictures) in the sidebar of my blog. Arms should be approximately 6 cm (2.5 in) long and legs 8 cm (3.5 in) long.
There shouldn't be a knot at the top of the arm but the knot at the bottom will (with a bit of imagination) look like a fairy hand and fingers. Similarly the knot at the bottom of the leg will resemble feet and toes. A knot at the top of the leg will be useful as it will help to secure it inside the body when the legs are attached.
Stitch the tops of the arms to the fairy's shoulders. Add a little extra stuffing to the body if required and push the knots at the tops of the legs into the body. Stitch across the bottom of the body with matching yarn ensuring the legs are held firmly in place.
Next comes the fairy hair. I have used golden brown and have created a fairy top-knot. Wrap the yarn 6 times around two fingers and secure in the centre with matching yarn to make a top-knot (see picture below).
Stitch top-knot over the centre hole in the top of the head
Place a few extra stitches on the fairy's forehead. I got so carried away with my hair styling I added a little plait at each side. (If you want to do this you will need to plait six strands of yarn).
Finally the fairy needs wings and a skirt. Firstly the wings. Cast on 4 stitches in green and work 10 rows in garter stitch (knit every row). Break the yarn leaving a 15 cm ( 6 in) tail. Thread this onto a tapestry needle and take the remaining stitches off the knitting needle onto the tail of yarn. Draw up tightly and secure. Stitch this end of the wing to the back of the fairy at shoulder height. The tail at the cast on end can be woven down through the wing and cut off.
The skirt is quite full which allows the fairy to sit comfortably. It is knitted in garter stitch (knit every row). Cast on 52 stitches in russet.
Rows 1 - 2. russet
Rows 3 - 6. golden yellow
Rows 7 - 9. white
Row 10. k2tog across row
Row 11. green
Row 12. k1, k2tog across row to last stitch, k1 (green)
Rows 13 - 15 green
Cast off . Weave in the ends of yarn and then (leaving a small opening for fitting) stitch the seam from the bottom upwards. Fit the skirt onto the fairy with the seam at the back. Close the remainder of the back seam and back-stitch the skirt to the body around the fairy's waist.
Finally, little blushing cheeks made with a red pencil crayon complete the 'look'. What a cute little lady she is. But I think she looks a bit lonely so reckon I'll have to knit her a few fairy friends!!
Hope you have fun knitting fairies.