Christmas Panda

I made up this pattern recently. I was re-making the panda which appeared in LGC magazine some time ago.

These were quite big and knitted in very bright colours. I made them smaller and in classic panda colours.

I thought about dressing it in a jumper, but the jumper would hide the colour pattern of the body. I made him a scarf and a hat and made him look a little Christmassy. I would like to share the pattern here today.

Christmas Panda
Size: 15cm sitting height

Materials
• 15g White, black DK (8-ply)
• 7g red DK
• 3g red and white fleecy yarn in DK weight
• Small amount of brown DK
• A pair of amigurumi eye beads (6mm)
• Strong cotton thread
• Stuffing
Needles
• A pair of 3.5mm knitting needles
Additional tools
• A chenille or tapestry needle
• Scissors

Abbreviations
St st: stocking stitch
St: stitch
K: knit
P: purl
Kfb: k one through the front then through the back (same stitch)
K2tog: knit two together
P2tog: purl two together

Knitting instructions
Body
With white, cast on 10 sts
Row 1 (WS): Purl.
Row 2: [Kfb] in each st. 20 sts
Row 3: Purl.
Row 4: [K1, kfb] to end. 30 sts
Row 5: Purl.
Row 6: [K2, kfb] to end. 40 sts
Row 7: Purl.
Row 8: [K9, kfb] twice, [kfb, k9] twice. 44 sts
Row 9-17: Work 9 rows in st st, starting with a p row.
Row 18: [K2, k2tog] to end. 33 sts
Rows 19-25: Work 11 rows in st st, starting with a p row.
Rows26-29: change to Black and st st, starting with a k row.
Row 30: [K1, k2otg] to end. 22 sts
Rows 31-35: Work 5 rows in st st, starting with a p row.
Row 36: [K2tog] to end. 11 sts
Break yarn, draw through sts, pull tightly and fasten off.

Head
With White, cast on 10 sts. Work as Body to row 6. 40 sts.
Row 7-17: Work 11 rows in st st, starting with a p row.
Row 18 (eyeline): K10, (k2tog) ten times, k10. 30 sts
Rows 19-23: Work 5 rows in st st, starting with a p row.
Row 24: [K1, k2tog] to end. 20 sts
Row25: Purl.
Row 26: [K2tog] to end. 10 sts
Break yarn, draw through sts, pull tightly and fasten off.

Eyes: make two
With Black, cast on 10 sts.
Row 1: Purl.
Row 2: [K2tog] to end. 5 sts
Break yarn, draw through sts, pull tightly and fasten off. Sew side edges together to make it into a circle.

Legs: make two
With Black, cast on 10 sts.
Row 1 (WS): Purl.
Row 2: [Kfb] to end. 20 sts
Rows 3-7: Work 5 rows in st st, starting with a p row.
Row 8 (shape ankle): K7, [k2tog] three times, k7. 17 sts
Row 9: P7, p3tog, p7. 15 sts
Rows 10-17: Work 8 rows in st st, starting with a k row.
Row 18: [K1, k2tog] to end. 10 sts
Break yarn, draw through sts, pull tightly and fasten off.

Arms: make two
With Black, cast on 12 sts and work 15 rows in st st, starting with a p row. Break yarn, draw through sts, pull tightly and fasten off.

Ears: make two
With Black, cast on 14 sts.
Row 1: Purl.
Row 2: [K2tog] to end. 7 sts
Break yarn, draw through sts, pull tightly and fasten off. Stitch the side edges together to make it into a semi-circle.

Hat
With White fleecy yarn, cast on 30 sts.
Rows 1-5: Knit. Break yarn
Rows 6-10: Change to Red DK and work in st st, starting with a k row.
Row 11L K1, k2tog, k10, [k2tog] twice,k10, k2tog, k1. 26 sts
Rows 12-15: Work 3 rows in st st, starting with a p row.
Row 16: K1, k2tog, k8, [k2tog] twice, k8, k2tog, k1. 22 sts
Rows 17-19: Work 3 rows in st st, starting with a p row.
Row 20: K1, k2tog, k6, [k2tog] twice, k6. K2tog, k1. 18 sts
Rows 21-23: Work 3 rows in st st, starting with a p row.
Row 24: k1, k2tog, k4, [k2tog] twice, k4, k2tog, k1. 14 sts
Rows 25-27: work 3 rows in st st, starting with a p row.
Row 28: k1, k2tog, k2, [k2tog] twice, k2, k2tog, k1. 10 sts
Rows 29-31: Work 3 rows in st st, starting with a p row.
Row 32: K1, [k2tog] four times, k1. 6 sts
Break yarn, draw through sts, pull tightly and fasten off.

Scarf
With Red fleecy yarn, cast on 4 sts and knit until the work measures 25 cm (about 10 inches). Cast off.

Pompom: make three (one for hat, two for scarf)
With White DK, wrap two fingers 30 times and tie the centre with strong cotton thread. Cut loops and trim.

To make up
With fasten off yarn end, sew body half way. With cast-on yarn end, work a gathering thread along the cast-on edge and draw tightly. Sew the rest of the bottom seam, stuff and close body. Make up the head as body and stuff, but keep a small opening. With white, work a gathering thread on decreasing row on the face to make eye dent. Attach eye circles. Attach eye beads. With dark brown DK, embroider nose and mouth with backstitches, inserting the needle from the opening. Close the head seam. Attach ears to head. Make up arms and legs as the body, working from both ends. For legs, thread black and insert needle from the sole and take the needle out from the top of the foot and repeat. Pull the thread gently to shape ankle and flatten sole. Attach arms and legs to body. Attach head. Attach the pompom to the hat and attach the hat to the head. Attach pompoms to the scarf and wrap the neck in the scarf.

Knitting part is simple and there isn’t much shaping.
The pattern is fresh out of my file and has not checked by professional tech-editor. I hope there is no error. Do let me know if you come accross problems.

Happy Knitting!

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