Fluffy Chick Egg Cosy

These egg cosies are quick to knit and you should be able to get six or seven of them out of one 50g ball of yarn, which makes them inexpensive. Perfect for breakfast on Easter Day or as a springtime present for the children in your life, perhaps as packaging for a small chocolate egg.

This is a straightforward project for anyone who can knit in the round, involving only knit stitches and simple increases and decreases. But if you’ve never knitted with eyelash yarn or any other fluffy yarn before, you should be aware that it poses particular challenges. It’s very difficult to see the individual stitches to tell whether you’ve dropped a stitch or gone wrong, and when you do make a mistake it can be hard to undo your work to correct it. So take it slowly and pay special attention to where you are placing the tip of the right hand needle as you work each stitch, be sure it is going cleanly through the stitch on the left hand needle.

Abbreviations
K - knit
K2tog - knit 2 stitches together
M1 - make a stitch by picking up the strand between the stitch just worked and the next one, from front to back, and then knit into the back of it

For one egg cosy you will need:

• About 7g (¼ oz) of yellow or gold “eyelash” yarn, such as King Cole Moments DK
• A short length of orange DK yarn, or orange felt, and matching sewing thread
• A short length of black yarn – any thickness
• A small amount of washable toy stuffing (or use old tights/pantyhose)
• A set of 4 or 5 double-pointed knitting needles, size 4mm (UK 10, USA 6)
• If using orange yarn for the beak, a pair of size 2.5mm (UK 12-13, USA 1.5) knitting needles
• A stitch marker (a loop of yarn in a contrasting colour will do)
• A darning needle and a sewing needle

The body

Cast on 6 stitches quite loosely (this eyelash yarn doesn’t have much “give”) on each of 4 double-pointed 4mm knitting needles and join in the round, placing a stitch marker at that point. Be sure that the cast-on edge isn’t twisted when you join it. (If you only have 4 needles then you will need to have 8 stitches on each of the 3 working needles instead of 6 on each of 4.)

Knit every round on these 24 stitches until the work measures 5cm / 2” from the cast-on edge, then shape the neck.

Shaping the neck

Round 1: (K2tog, K4) four times - 20 stitches

Round 2: (K2tog, K3) four times - 16 stitches

Round 3: (K2tog, K2) four times - 12 stitches

Round 4: (K2tog, K1) four times - 8 stitches

Round 5: K

The head

Next round: (M1, K1) eight times - 16 stitches

Continue without shaping, knitting all stitches, until the head is 2.5cm / 1” long.

Next round: K2tog all round - 8 stitches

Cut the yarn leaving an end about 15cm / 6” long. Remove the end-of-round stitch marker. Thread your darning needle with the tail end of yarn and take it through the remaining 8 sts as you slip them off the needles. Pull it up tight and darn in the end on the inside – turn the cosy inside out to do this.

Stuff the chick’s head - make sure the cosy is turned right side out first. You can use the blunt end of a pencil to push stuffing through the neck. Don’t make the head too firm, just enough to hold its shape.

Then wrap a length of eyelash yarn tightly around the neck to hold the stuffing in place. Tie it off and darn in the ends on the inside.

For a knitted beak, cast on 8 stitches on the smaller needles using the orange yarn and then immediately cast/bind them off. Darn/weave in the ends.

Alternatively, cut an elongated diamond shape from a scrap of orange felt to make the beak.

Fold the beak in half lengthwise and, using the matching thread, take a few stitches along the fold line to hold it in place. Then sew this fold onto the cosy, about half way down the head, such that one half of the beak points slightly upwards and the other down. Refer to the photos for guidance.

Finally, embroider dots for the eyes using black yarn. 4-ply (fingering) yarn is best for this, but thicker yarn is usually made from several strands plied together which can be separated. The eyes should be either side of the head, about half way between where the beak is attached and the top of the head. Again, refer to the photos.

Now, I defy you not to make more of these cute chicks. They look great as a flock.