You will need:
2½mm knitting needles
Pair of toy eyes
Ball of pink wool
Ball of white wool
Ball of rainbow wool
Key:
K1: Knit 1 stitch (K2 = knit 2, K3 = knit 3 etc.)
P1: Purl one stitch (P2 = purl 2, P3 = purl 3 etc.)
M1: Create a stitch by knitting into the front of the stitch but, rather than slipping the stitch off when you have knitted it, go in behind and knit another and then slip it off. This way one stitch becomes two.
K2tog: Knit 2 stitches together (K3 = knit 3 together etc.)
P2 tog: Purl 2 stitches together (P3 = purl 3 together etc.)
SKPO: stands for slip, knit, pass over; slip the first stitch onto the next needle, without knitting it, knit the next stitch as normal then pass the first stitch over the knitted on so it falls off the needle. This reduces the number of stitches by one.
Body:
Cast on 10 stitches in pink
Row 1: Knit
Row 2: Purl
Row 3: M1 in each stitch (so 20 stitches by the end)
Rows 4 – 10: st-st starting with purl (tip to know you’ve counted your rows correctly: there are seven rows to knit here; seven is an odd number so you should finish on the same type of stitch you started on. In this example, you should also finish purl.)
Row 11: *M1, K1* until end of row (so 30 stitches by the end)
Rows 12 – 18: st-st starting with purl
Row 19: M1, K1 and repeat until end of row (so 45 stitches by the end)
Row 20 – 30: st-st starting with purl
Row 31: *K1, M1* 3 times, K33, *M1, K1* 3 times (so 51 stitches by the end)
Row 32 – 34: st-st starting with purl
Row 35: *K3, K2tog* 5 times, K1, *K2tog, K3* 5 times (so 41 stitches by the end)
Row 36: Purl
Row 37: *K2, K2tog* 5 times, K1, *K2tog, K2* 5 times (so 31 stitches by the end)
Row 38: Purl
Row 39: *K1, K2tog* 5 times, K1, *K2tog, K1* 5 times (so 21 stitches by the end)
Row 40: Purl
Row 41: *K2tog* until last stitch, then K1 (so 11 stitches by the end)
Row 42: Purl
Row 43: *K2tog* until last stitch, then K1 (so 6 stitches by the end)
Cut a long tail on the wool. Thread the wool onto a wool needle and pull through remaining stitches, pulling tight. Stitch the body up inside out, stopping with enough space to turn it back the right way around. Stuff the body and sew up.
Head:
Cast on 10 stitches in pink
Row 1: Knit
Row 2: Purl
Row 3: M1 in each stitch (so 20 stitches)
Row 4 – 10: st-st starting with purl
Row 11: *M1, K1* until end of row (so 30 stitches by the end)
Row 12 – 16: st-st starting with purl
Row 17: *M1, K4* until end of row (so 36 stitches by the end)
Row 18 – 22: st-st starting with purl
Row 23: *M1, K5* until end of row (so 42 stitches by the end)
Row 24 – 28: st-st starting with purl
Row 29: *K2 tog, K2* until last 2 stitches then K2tog (so 31 stitches by the end)
Row 30: Purl
Row 31: *K2 tog, K1* until last stitch then K1 (so 21 stitches by the end)
Row 32: Purl
Row 33: *K2 tog,* * until last stitch then K1 (so 11 stitches by the end)
Row 34: Purl
Row 35: *K2tog* until last 3 stitches then K3tog (so 5 stitches by the end)
Cut a long tail on the wool. Thread the wool onto a wool needle and pull through remaining stitches, pulling tight. Stitch the head up inside out, stopping with enough space to turn it back the right way around. Attach the eyes about halfway down the head, about 5cm apart. Stuff the head and sew up.
Ears (make two):
Cast on 10 stitches in pink
Row 1: Knit
Row 2: P3, P2tog, P2tog, P3 (so 8 stitches by the end)
Row 3: K3, K2tog, K3 (so 7 stitches by the end)
Row 4: Purl
Row 5: K2, K3tog, K2 (so 5 stitches by the end)
Row 6: Purl
Row 7: K1, K3tog, K1 (so 3 stitches by the end)
Row 8: Purl 1
Row 9: K3tog (so 1 stitch by the end)
Row 10: Purl
Row 11: Knit
Cut a long tail on the wool. Fold the ear in half and sew up. Sew onto the head. Repeat this process until your unicorn has both ears.
Legs (make four):
Cast on 8 stitches in white
Row 1: Knit
Row 2: Purl
Row 3: M1 in each stitch (so 16 stitches by the end)
Row 4: Purl
Row 5: M1, K1 and repeat until end of row (so 24 stitches by the end)
Row 6 – 8: st-st starting with purl
Row 9: *K2, SKPO* 6 times (so 18 stitches)
Row 10: Purl
Row 11: *K2tog* twice, *K2, K2tog* 3 times, K2tog (so 12 stitches by the end)
You have now made the hoof.
Change to pink wool then:
Row 11 – 30: st-st starting with purl.
Cut a long tail on the wool. Thread the wool onto a wool needle and pull through remaining stitches, pulling tight. Stitch the leg up inside out, stopping with enough space to turn it back the right way around. Stuff the leg and sew up. Sew the legs onto the body.
Mane:
Cut individual pieces of white wool around 8cm each. The more you use, the thicker the mane will be. If unsure, start with 30 pieces (you can always cut more later). If you want your mane to be longer or shorter, adjust the length of the pieces accordingly, but remember that you can always trim the mane once attached, but you can’t make it longer without starting again.
Thread an 8cm piece of wool onto the wool needle.
Using the needle, guide the wool through a stitch on the unicorn’s back (preferably along the line you stitched up).
Remove the needle and adjust the wool so it is the same length on each side then double knot.
Repeat this process until the mane covers the unicorn’s back and continues to just above the unicorn’s eyes.
You can add other wool colours to make the unicorn more colourful.
Using the wool needle, break the strands of wool apart so each strand looks less like wool, and more like hair.
Tail:
Wrap the white wool around your hands several times. Add other wool colours to make the tail brighter.
Gently remove the wool from your hands and tie the top with more wool. Use the wool needle to add some stitches to make this more secure.
Using scissors, cut the loops of wool so that they are individual pieces.
Sew the tail on to the unicorn’s body.
Using the wool needle, break the strands of wool apart so each strand looks less like wool, and more like hair.
Horn:
Cast on 8 stitches in rainbow wool
Row 1: M1 in each stitch (so 16 stitches by the end)
Rows 2 – 4: st-st starting with purl
Row 5: *K2tog* for whole row (so 8 stitches by the end)
Row 6: *P2tog, P1* twice then P2tog (so 5 stitches by the end)
Row 7: M1 in each stitch (so 10 stitches by the end)
Rows 8 – 10: st-st starting with purl
Row 11: *K2tog* for whole row (so 5 stitches by the end)
Row 12: P2tog, P1, P2tog (so 3 stitches by the end)
Row 13: M1 in each stitch (so 6 stitches by the end)
Row 14 – 16: st-st starting with purl
Row 17: *K2tog* for whole row (so 3 stitches by the end)
Row 18: P2tog, P1 (so 2 stitches by the end)
Row 19: K2tog (so 1 stitch by the end).
Cut a long tail on the wool. Thread the wool onto a wool needle and pull through the remaining stitch, pulling tight. Stitch the horn up inside out, stopping with enough space to turn it back the right way around. Stuff the horn and sew up. Sew the horn onto the head, between the ears and with some mane in front of it.
The horn changes shape as you knit, so it should have 3 sections (almost like three tiers in a cake). Depending on the thickness of the wool and the amount with which you stuff the horn, these may or may not come out clearly (if you stuff it a lot, they won’t be seen). If they aren’t obvious, consider using the wool needle to stitch some definition in place.
