Emotional Support Chicken

I just couldn't resist the allure of the Emotional Support Chicken any longer. Meet Scrappy Henrietta! 😍

This pattern arrived on the knitting scene sometime in 2023 or 2024 (I believe), and the internet practically EXPLODED with excitement.

I added the pattern to my Ravelry favorites for safe-keeping but decided to wait before making one. I noticed, however, as the months went by the way the emotional support chicken consistently remained on the first page of Ravelry's "hot right now" designs, suggesting that the internet's adoration for the ESCs had yet to abate. It was on FIRE.

Eventually, I just couldn't resist the pull of the ESC any more.  

I think the thing that put me over the edge was when I discovered that The Knitting Tree LA had made a companion video for the pattern. Checking out the video was my undoing. 😂

Tail part 1

I grabbed a long old scrap of Hobby Lobby's I Love This Yarn in the Jazzy Stripe colorway (left over from an Infinite Granny Square afghan project) and cast on to follow along with the video, which starts at the tail.

Tail part 2

For part 2 of the tail and the main part of the body, I used a couple of long scraps of Red Heart With Love in the Pewter Gray colorway that were left over from when I made my Autumn Mists vest with no pattern.

Tail and main body

I don't know which yarn I used for the neck and head, but it was one long scrap of an ombre-ish yarn with purple, dark pink, and raspberry colors that is probably something by Red Heart, but I didn't have a label for it anymore.

Neck and head added

I used up the remainder of the raspberry ombre scrap for the top end of the undersection piece, and more of the gray yarn to finish the undersection.

Henrietta got a bit wonky as I was sewing her up, where the two ends of her neck stripes don't line up at the front, but hey. She is still adorable, and I wuv her!! She has 15 mm blue safety eyes from a pack that I bought off Etsy years ago from a seller named 6060, who is no longer active on the site. Whenever I'm installing safety eyes, I always use this tool to help set the backs, because it makes it a lot easier for my arthritic hands to handle the task of snapping them on securely.

You might be able to knit a whole ESC by only watching the video, but I think the video really makes a better accompaniment if you also own the written pattern, so before I reached the end of the first tail section, I bought the pattern: And the emotional support chicken claimed yet another willing (happy) victim. 😂

I followed this up by making a friend for Scrappy Henrietta, another Emotional Support Chicken, Scrappy Patty, in colors to match our guest bedroom.

Scrappy Patty and Scrappy Henrietta

 

Scrappy Patty sitting on the bed in our guest bedroom

Scrappy Patty side view

Lots-a hanger covers

Crocheted or knitted hanger covers are so quick and easy to make and are perfect for making your plastic tubular hangers slip-resistant. These are quick projects that can be great for busting down your yarn stash because they only require small amounts of yarn, and they produce a useful finished object. I mean, who doesn't need a collection of yarn-covered hangers in their closet to keep their nice blouses (etc.) from falling onto the floor? 😊

The crocheted Hanger Cover free pattern by Frugal Knitting Haus is a great, basic option for dressing up your everyday hangers. These look equally great whether worked in solid colors or variegated yarns.

The strip you crochet is six stitches wide (about 2 inches) by about 36 inches long. When you finish off, cut a long tail (about 2.25 times the length of the finished work) and use the tail to sew the cover to the hanger with a wide whip stitch (about 3-4 stitches per inch). No need to be fussy about it because the sewing stitches will blend into and be disguised by the cover. Knot the tails together and hide them inside the work for an easy finish.

Another easy way to make hanger covers is by using a 22-needle knitting machine, such as the Addi Pro.

You can make a matching set of multiple hangers all from one skein of yarn, or you can do like I did above and just grab whatever pieces of yarn you have available for a unique, scrappy hanger.

Using a 22-needle machine, cast on with a few rows of waste yarn. Change to your working yarn and knit 160 to 170 rows to fit most tubular plastic hangers. Leave about a 2-yard tail before cutting the working yarn and drop it into the center. Change to waste yarn and work a few more rows then cast off from the machine. Gently stretch the knitted piece.

Using a 5mm crochet hook, close the end of the tube with the short tail and remove the waste yarn, pulling the short tail through the last loop to secure it. (Don't hide this tail inside yet.) Then close the end of the tube with the long tail, pulling the long tail through the last loop to secure it.

Thread the long yarn tail onto a large needle. Hold the knitted strip so the end wraps around the hanger and whip-stitch the long edges of the knitted piece together. Stretch the knitting until the ends of each side meet just below the hook of the hanger and whip-stitch or mattress-stitch the ends together for a neat appearance. Knot the tails together to secure and then hide the tails inside the knitting for an easy finish. Now your covered hanger is finished and ready to use.

The striped machine-knit hanger cover in the photo above was made with 160 rows, which was just long enough to fit snugly on the hanger. It might have been better if I'd made it 170 rows, which is what I did in the machine-knit hanger cover in the photo below. 

Doughnut Buddies

These Doughnut Buddies toys are so sweet (pun intended) and quick and easy to make. Each one can be made in an evening (about 4-6 hours each max, depending on the level of detail). Watch out -- these are fun and addictive. 😊

The only reason these project took me multiple days was because I had to wait for an order of safety eyes to arrive in the mail. 😄

Rachel Zain, the designer of all these adorable Doughnut Buddies, generally doesn't tell you in the patterns which colors to use at each step -- and that's fine because it allows for individual creativity. I made my Baby Yoda buddy on a burlap-brown base doughnut to represent The Child's robe, with green icing (of course) for his face and ears. (Rachel used the same green doughnut base on her alien as the icing, which is perfectly all right, too, of course.) 

And, of course, I simply HAD TO make a Mandalorian to go with my Baby Yoda. 😜

Tip: Leave a 14-inch-long tail before chaining to make the icing layer. This gives you the length you need to attach the center ring of icing to the doughnut.

I freehanded a couple of Doughnut Buddies last year as a gift for Lilliana, but it's fun to now have the official patterns to learn from and use as a jumping-off point for more creativity.