Knitted Meeple

01

The Front / Back

The reason that this pattern felt so complicated is because I created a two-dimensional surface that rapidly expands, contracts, and splits. It’s due to the complexity of this pattern that I decided to release it at no cost. I started the pattern at the head casting on 12 stitches and then rapidly increasing the size to 16 stitches. This part is then knitted straight to fully create the head. And then I got to the next challenge.

How do I create the arms?!?! The arms on a meeple would require rapid expansion of knitting space. Cast on 16 stitches on both ends of the working space. This cast on worked fine on the side that was knitted to the end, but it caused a little hole on the other side. This can be avoiding by pulling the loop tightly and tying it off. For the arms, I wanted to make a rounded tip effect which led me to increasing the rows and then decreasing them over the course of the arms.

After the arms were completed, a rapid decrease is needed to make the meeples waist. I decided the best way to do this would be to cast off the unneeded areas on each side. After staring at a wooden meeple for longer than I am willing to admit, I decided the amount of time spent on the waist is less than I thought it would be. I also decided to immediately start increasing the size to create the perfect split for the legs.

If you’re yarn is curling at this point, that is totally normal. I will go over this a bit more in the lessons for this project.

The last part needed to create the front/back of the meeple is the legs. Generally, the legs on meeples seem to lean apart from each other. To mimic this, I increased the outside of each leg by one stitch while decreasing the inside of each leg. This kept the size of the leg always the same while giving it the desired shape.

The whole process needs to be repeated twice to make both the front and back of the meeple.

02

The Side – Knitting Attached

The way I decided to knit the side was to cast on 10 stitches and merge those with the edges of the meeples. The meeple needs to be perfectly aligned and a stitch from each end will get picked up. The two stitches on the ends of the row should be combined so each row will start with 12 stitches and then decreases to 10.

I would highly recommend using double pointed knitting needles for this process because it allows you to pick up stitches on each side. This process also reduces the time needed to sew the project together. I don’t want to say it will get rid of the need for sewing entirely because I was sloppy when making this project. But you can avoid needing to sew if you are meticulous when picking up stitches.

02 Alt

The Side – Sewing Attached

The way I assume will be easier to make the side is to make a long-knitted panel and then sew the three parts together. Given how I attached it in the section above, I would recommend sewing a panel that is 10 stitches wide and long enough to encompass the entirety of the front and back pieces.

03

Finishing the Piece

Once everything is attached, double check the project from any large holes that need to be sewn shut. There will be one hole left to add in the stuffing. After the project is stuffed, the hole can be closed, and you got yourself a meeple!