Knitted Cozy Toadstools
Imagine stepping into a whimsical forest filled with colorful Knitted Cozy Toadstools scattered around like something out of a fairytale. These charming handcrafted creations bring a touch of magic and coziness to any room. Their soft, knitted caps and adorable spotted stalks are sure to bring a smile to your face. Perfect for adding a playful touch to your home decor or giving as a thoughtful gift to a nature-lover, these Knitted Cozy Toadstools are as enchanting as they are cute.
LEVEL: intermediate or very confident beginner.
Yarn and materials:
Less than 25g of DK weight yarn, ideally in cotton, wool or a blend. Feel free to use acrylic but natural yarns look a lot better in my opinion and don’t pill! You will need the main colour (MC) for the stalk and bottom of the cap and a contrast colour (CC) for the cap itself.
3.5 mm longer-length circular knitting needles, a stitch marker, scissors, yarn needle.
Oddments of embroidery floss, glitter thread, buttons, sequins or whatever you like to decorate the cap of the toadstool.
Fiberfill stuffing or leftover yarn to stuff your work.
Skills: Knitting on circular needles using the magic loop method, knit stitch (k), purl stitch (p), invisible join in the round, knit into the front and back of the stitch increase (kfb), knit two stitches together decrease (k2tog), cast on and bind off, weaving in ends.
Tips: Knitting on a small scale can be tricky – especially when using the magic loop – so don’t fret if you find it hard going at first. Practice makes perfect! Keep your first round relatively loose and you’ll find it a lot easier to work with.
If you’d like to make your toadstool bigger you can simply use bigger yarn and bigger needles. I recommend going down half a needle size than your yarn requires to keep your stitches tighter and stop the stuffing showing through.
These toadstools are perfect for using up scrap yarn and playing with texture. Try embroidering small stars on the cap (see my samples with gold thread for some ideas) to add a really glam, kitsch look. How about working with lamé yarn (see my pink, glittery toadstool) and making some disco-style ones? Maybe you could even experiment with fluffy yarn or variegated yarn? Either way your toadstools will look really unique and adorable.
Method:
The stalk and base of cap:
In MC, cast on 17 sts and join invisibly by decreasing one st (16 sts).
Rds 1 – 16: Work in the magic loop and knit 16 rds plain.
Rd 17: ffb all sts around (32 sts).
Rd 18: k all sts around.
Rd 19: kfb, k1 around (48 sts).
Rd 20: k all sts around.
Rd 21: kfb, k2 (64 sts).
Rd 22 and 23: k all sts around.
Rd 24: *k1, p1 to end.
Rd 25: p all sts around.
The cap:
Change to CC.
Rds 26 – 29: k all sts around.
Rd 30: k3 (k2tog, k6) 7 times. K2tog, k3 (56 sts).
Rds 31 and 32: k all sts around.
Rd 33: k3 (k2tog, k5) 7 times, k2tog, k2 (48 sts).
Rd 34: k all sts around.
Rd 35: k2 (k2tog, k4) 7 times, k2tog, k2 (40 sts).
Rd 36: k all sts around.
At this point you can sew on any embellishments such as buttons or sequins. You can also embroider onto the cap when you have finished stuffing the piece (which is what I did) if you are comfortable doing this.
Rd 37: k2, k2tog, k3) 7 times, k2tog, k1 (32 sts).
Rd 38: k all sts around.
Rd 39: k2 (k2tog, k3) 7 times, k2tog, k1 (24 sts).
Rd 40: k all sts around.
Rd 41: k2tog all sts around (12 sts).
Rd 42: Bind off all sts.
Now you can stuff your piece using a knitting needle or crochet hook to push the stuffing into your work evenly, making sure it’s stuffed firmly. Thread the yarn tails through the cast on and bind off edges of your work and pull them tight to cinch closed. Thread the yarn around a few more times to secure them, knotting if necessary. Thread the ends into your work to hide them.
Now you’re finished you can add a hanging cord to the top of your toadstool which will allow you to hang it or just leave them as they are.