I made twenty of these for the swap and my daughter wants to keep all of them. :) We call them Fairy Caterpillars because of something we read in Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them: "The fairy lays up to 50 eggs at a time on the underside of leaves. The eggs hatch into brightly colored larvae. At the age of 6 to 10 days these spin themselves a cocoon from which they emerge one month later as fully formed winged adults." But if you prefer the idea of baby fairies in fairy form (I do!) then these caterpillars could be fairy pets. :) I hope the kids who receive them like them as much as my kids do.

Rhea

They are so cute!
How did you make them? I want some too...

--anu

Okay people, this is just wrong! I am suffering not having signed up for the swap but really I have had no time to make anything anyway. How did you make those gorgeous creatures? I just got back from Maine where I had my Mom make some of the grass nests fro Maya's basket this year. I really need to learn to crochet and knit :rolleyes:

yah...i could really use a few of those too. my kids are bug fascinated. are you going to make extras to sell to us non-swapping egg stuffers?

those are sooo cute!!

My teeny painted mushrooms are starting to look shabby.....

those are sooo cute!!

My teeny painted mushrooms are starting to look shabby.....

oh, wait, I forgot, I am sending charms, too! So its ok, I don't feel badly anymore, rofl.... :happy:

Those are adorable! I hope we get some!!!

<sigh> I didn't sign up either. Very cute!!!

OoOOOOO! I am getting more excited all the time! Those are ADORABLE!

Does anyone mind if I split things like this up evenly? So we each get a few and no one gets 20??

Love Val

Oh my gosh....sob, these are so cute, I want some so badly...and no I didn't sign up for swap either! :wah:

OoOOOOO! I am getting more excited all the time! Those are ADORABLE!

Does anyone mind if I split things like this up evenly? So we each get a few and no one gets 20??

Love Val

YES!! I thought that was the original idea ;) please please mix it up!! :)

yes it was... but I was thinking doing more of a few, and less of others... but this is one that is going to have to be evenly given out. :) Honestly, everything so far has been like that...

love Val

Thank you for all the sweet comments!

If you'd like to make them yourself, my best attempt at how-to is below. If you'd like me to make them for you, they'd be $3 each.

I used two yarns at the same time. One needs to be that fringy stuff if you want your caterpillar to be the fuzzy kind. The stuff I used was Bernat Boa. The purple caterpillar also had Fun Fur "eye lash" yarn by Lion. The yarn I used for the white with pink/brown caterpillar is missing its label, but I've included a picture of it so you'll know what it looks like.

I cast on 10 or 11, knit a row, then knit and cast off. (Can you tell I barely know how to knit? I'm not even sure of the language for that last step!) Then I wove the ends back through the body. (Actually on some I tied and cut and on others I wove it through, as I tried to decide which would hold up the best to little kids.)

They are all about 2.5 - 3 inches, but are soft and flexible and should shove into an egg okay.

Btw Val, my daughter wanted to make a tiny yarn dolly for all the kids, but only got two made in time. :) So in with the bag of caterpillars there are two small yarn dollies.

Rhea

Thank you for the instructions. I am going to attempt to knit so please don't all laugh at once.

Yikes! I attempted to knit and it was scary to say the least. So, I crocheted a caterpillar and it came out "okay" enough for Maya. I did want to say that I put a pipe cleaner in it so it can wrap around something like a tree branch which is kind of neat. Off to attempt some different types of yarn.

they are adorabl!

Thank you for the instructions. I am going to attempt to knit so please don't all laugh at once.

Yikes! I attempted to knit and it was scary to say the least. So, I crocheted a caterpillar and it came out "okay" enough for Maya. I did want to say that I put a pipe cleaner in it so it can wrap around something like a tree branch which is kind of neat. Off to attempt some different types of yarn.
Did you just chain a few and then go back with sc or what? (I can't knit!)

so cute and so simple! Your instructions are great. Just one question - what size needles did you use?

Did you just chain a few and then go back with sc or what? (I can't knit!)
I have no clue how to crochet so your guess is as good as mine. I did a length that I liked and then went back into it if that makes sense so it was like 2 rows. I have tons of knitting needles and crochet hooks and no lclue how to use any of them!
i also made a few by crocheting like I said, adding a pipe cleaner and then wrapping with more yarn so they are a bit bulkier. Maya loves them and I have made 8 so far in all different colors and textures.