Dead Moose in the Middle of the Road
I made this pattern to give to my sister. I love making her weird things that questions the boundary of normal sanity. I made up most of this pattern myself, taking inspirations from some other patterns that I liked the concept of, but what wanted something a little different.
This is the first pattern that I have made up that I’m sharing with other people, so if you make it let me know if you have any questions or concerns. The only thing that I would change is I wouldn’t use black for the tire treads because it doesn’t pop enough from the brown of the body. I would probably use a more grey black. But other than that I LOVE how this moose turned out!!
Materials:
1 skein Brown yarn
A bit of tan yarn
A bit of black yarn
A bit of pink yarn
Size 3 double point needles
Tapestry needle
Poly fill
Moose Body:
CO 3, distribute evenly onto needles. Place stitch marker at beginning of the round.
KFB on all sts (6 sts)
KFB all sts (12 sts)
K all sts
KFB all sts (24 sts)
K all sts
KFB all sts (48 sts)
K all sts
*KFB, K5* across round (56 sts)
K till piece measures 5 ½ inches long (about 42 rows, give or take)
*K2tog, K5* to last 4 sts, K last 4 sts (48 sts)
K all sts
K2tog all sts (24 sts)
K all sts
K2tog all sts (12 sts)
K2tog all sts (6 sts)
Stuff body, not too firmly, since you will be embroidering tire treads on it.
Break yarn, and with tapestry needle thread through 6 remaining sts and pull tight. Secure and weave in ends.
Moose Head:
CO 5 sts, distribute evenly onto needles. Place stitch marker at beginning of the round.
Leave long CO tail to help sew it to body when done.
Round 1: *KFB* 5 times (10 sts)
2: K all sts
3: *KFB, K1* 5 times (15 sts)
4: K all sts
5: *KFB, K1* 7 times (22 sts)
6: K all sts
7: *K2, KFB, K1* 3 times, to last 2 sts, K last 2 sts (27 sts)
8: K all sts
9: *K3, KFB, K1* to last 2 sts, K last 2 sts (31 sts)
10: *K4, KFB, K1* to last 2 sts, K last 2 sts (36 sts)
11: *K5, KFB, K1* to last 2 sts, K last 2 sts (41 sts)
12-21: K all sts
22: *K6, K2tog* to last 2 sts, K last 2 sts (36 sts)
23: K all sts
24: K all sts
25: *K7, K2tog*
26: K all sts
27: K all sts
28: *K5, K2tog*
29: K all sts
30: *K9, K2tog* to last 6, K last 6 (26 sts)
Sew on eyes or attach safety eyes at this time.
31: K all sts
32: K all sts
33: *K10, K2tog* to last 2 sts, K last 2 (24 sts)
34: K all sts
35: K all sts
36: *K4, K2tog* around (20 sts)
37: K all sts
38: *K3, K2tog* around (16 sts)
39: K all sts
40: *K2, K2tog* around (12 sts)
41: K all sts
42: *K3, K2tog* to last 2 sts, K2tog (9 sts)
43: K all sts
Stuff head, not too firmly, and shape it to the way you want it to look.
Break yarn and thread through remaining sts and pull tight, thread through again to secure and weave in ends.
Using CO tail, sew onto body in desired position.
Moose Ears (Make 2):
CO 3, work as flat piece.
Leave a long tail on CO end to use to sew ears onto head.
1: KFB, K1, KFB (5 sts)
2: P across, and every even row
3: K1, KFB, K1, KFB, K1 (7 sts)
5: K2tog, K3, K2tog (5 sts)
7: K2tog, K1, K2tog (3 sts)
8: P across
Break yarn thread through sts and weave in tail.
Fold bottom of ears in half and sew onto head.
Moose Antlers (Make 2):
CO 7, distribute evenly on needles, place stitch marker at beginning of the round.
Leave a long tail so you can use the tail to sew the antlers onto the head.
Rounds 1-8: K across
9: KFB 4 tims, K to end of round (11 sts)
10: K across
11: *KFB, K1* 4 times, K to end of round (15 sts)
12: K across
13: *KFB, K2* 4 times, K to end of round (19 sts)
14-15: K across
Next Round: K across 3 sts, place 13 sts on waste yarn to be worked later. Use backward loop to CO 1 over gap, K remaining 3 sts and CO 1 using backward loop (8sts). Distribute sts evenly between 3 needles, and K 5 round. Break yarn, thread through remaining 8 sts and pull tight, fasten off and weave in tail.
Next Round: Put first and last 3 sts on 2 needles. K first 3 sts, CO1 using backward loop to cover gap, K last 3 sts, pick up and K 1 st to close the gap (8 sts). Distribute sts evenly between 3 needles and K 5 rounds. Break yarn, thread through remaining 8 sts and pull tight, fasten off and weave in tail.
Last Round: Place remaining 7 sts on needles. K 7 sts, pick up and K 1 st to close gap (8 sts). Distribute sts evenly between 3 needles and K 7 rounds. Break yarn, thread through remaining 8 sts and pull tight, fasten off and weave in tail.
Now, you can stuff the antlers lightly if you want, using the non-business end of a pen or pencil to help stuff. I didn’t stuff mine, but now wish that I would’ve since they are a bit floppy, not too floppy but I would like them to stand up a little more.
Sew antlers onto head.
Moose Tail:
CO 3 sts
Leave long tail to help sew onto butt of moose.
K using I-cord method
*Knit a row. Slide row to other end of needle. Do not turn the work. Repeat from*
Do this till the tail measures around 3 ¾ inches, or your desired length.
Using same color as the antlers, cut a few pieces of yarn about 2 inches long (I cut 2 pieces) and loop through end of tail and cut to the desired length.
Sew onto butt of moose.
Moose Legs (Make 4):
CO 10, distribute evenly between needles, place stitch marker to mark beginning of round.
Leave long tail to sew legs onto the body.
Rounds 1-10: K across
11: *K2, KFB* to last st, K last st (13 sts)
12: K across
13: *K3, KFB* to last st, K last st (16 sts)
14-16: K across
17: *K3, K2tog* to last st, K last st (13 sts)
18: K across
19: *K2, K2tog* to last st, K last st (10 sts)
20-24: K across
Change to black yarn
25-28: K across
29: K first 5 sts, put remaining 5 on waste yarn to be worked later.
Divide the 5 sts evenly on 2 dpns.
30: Back loop CO 1 to cover gap, and K rest of sts (6 sts)
31-33: K across
Break yarn, thread through sts and pull tight, fasten off and weave in ends.
Next Row: Put remaining 5 sts on waste yarn on 2 dpns. K5 sts, pick up st to cover gap. K 3 rows.
Break yarn, thread through sts and pull tight, fasten off and weave in ends.
Stuff legs and shape accordingly.
Sew onto body using CO tail.
Moose Tongue:
CO 4 sts distribute evenly on 2 dpns, place stitch marker to mark beginning of round.
Leave long tail to help sew to mouth.
Rounds 1-6: K across
Break yarn and thread through the 4 sts, fasten off and weave in ends.
Sew to mouth.
Finishing:
Embroider on tire treads so they look good on both sides of the body (or you can do just one side of the body if you don’t want to make it reversible).
I embroidered the tire tracks before I sewed the legs on and it made a big difference. The body shape drastically changes when you embroider the tire tracks so the leg positions would move around if they were on before embroidering.
Tire tracks look like:
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