This knitted net is a great way to store soft items and use some unused corner spaced in the room.
Total Project Time: 6 hours
I have a lot of stuffed animals littered around the house. They are squishy and I love them. Some have homes but I have quite a few recently acquired ones that have nowhere to go. And I figured, why not make a new home for them? I have seen stuffed animal hammocks around the internet, and I thought this was the perfect solution! But instead of buying something pre-made, why not make it myself? It seemed easy enough!
Check out the Craft section of MCG for more fun patterns in strings and things or more unlimited ideas.
Supplies
There were not a lot of supplies that went into making this project. I used a black yarn because it matches most things in my house and I didn’t want the hammock to clash with any of the stuffed animals that would call it home. For the needles, I used size 15 needs to make large holes in the project. I also used a 8.0mm crochet needle as it was the biggest on I had.
Process
01
Creating the Pattern
The biggest hurdle in this process was coming up with a pattern that I liked. I knew that the end would have to be a triangle and the should be holes in it. But that’s really all I had to work off of. So, I decided to make a single row pattern because I thought it would make my life a lot easier. I didn’t want to have to remember a lot of different stitches.
One of the easiest ways to create a hole in a knitting project is to combine a knit two together stitch with a yarn over stitch. This is a basic decrease and then an increase that leave an opening. The other thing I had to take into consideration is adding in an increase in a way that makes sense.
What I came up with was create an increase at each end of the triangle as it would help create a thicker border for the project. This resulted in a final row pattern of:
Row 1: K1, INC1, *K2tog, YO* repeat ** until last two stitches, INC1, K1
Row 2: K1, P until last stitch, K1
02
Finishing Touches
After I got the project to my desired length, I used a knit bind off stitch to close the project. But now it’s just a net, It’s not quite a hammock.
Using the crochet needle, I created a reinforced loop at each corner of the project so I would have a way to hang the hammock on the wall. I also used this opportunity to help create a finished edge on the project wherever I felt it was lacking.
Reflections
So… this kind of worked and kind of didn’t. I think the net ended up being a little too long and not wide enough for the space I put it in. A major contributor to this issue is my wall limitations. I probably should have reverse engineering this for the space. But it still works! And I do love the way it looks; I just wish I had been able to stretch it out a bit more in the space.
Lessons
The Importance of Needle Size
So, when I started this project, I started with a much smaller needle. That did not end well as it was taking me forever to get the length I wanted and the holes that were created were not the size I wanted at all. The needle size dictates the size of your finished project and it’s very important to make sure you have the right size of needle.
Quick Recipe
Knitted Stuffed Animal Hammock
Equipment
- Size 15 needles
- 8.0mm Crochet Needle
Materials
- 1 Skein Yarn whatever color you want!
Instructions
- CO5
- Row 1: K1, INC1, *K2tog, YO* repeat ** until last two stitches, INC1, K1
- Row 2: K1, P until last stitch, K1
- Repeat Rows 1 and 2 until the project reaches around 97 stitched. BO.
- Using a crochet needle, create reinforced loops on each corner