Peso Penguin finger puppet

Toddlers are fickle things aren't they? You may remember how I was saying that pirates were the flavour of the month? Well, that was so September 2011. I mean, come on, we're in October now. October is all about the medics. If it's any indication of future career choice, then I'm all in favour... with the NHS looking in dire jeopardy, having a doctor in the family could be handy. (Do check out the 38 Degrees campaign to save the NHS!)

So, in a shocking bloodless coup, Kwazii's been relegated from pole-position and Peso Penguin is where it's at. I don't think I've a single limb that's gone un-bandaged in recent weeks. I'm a little concerned there's a touch of Munchausen by proxy going on, the way she's been inciting me to put my finger in her castanets (not a euphemism) and then shutting the b*ggers on my defenceless digit! "Does it hurt Mummy? Shall I bandage it?" Yes, and no. And no, I don't want to put my finger there again. Eejit that I was to do it the first time.

To make Peso, I stuck with my trusty hummus pot lid as the template for his head. Some of the process was replicated directly from the Kwazii finger puppet. The rest of the measurements are again estimated and adjusted in proportion to that. I don't know why he manages to come out looking a little sad, but I like to imagine it's professional sympathy for my multiple needle-pricks sustained during the creative process. This has not been a good week to be one of my fingers.

Take:
Some black felt
Smallish bit of white felt
Tiny bit of yellow felt
Some blue felt
Some stuffing (about an eggcup-full)
Cotton of appropriate colours
The all-important hummus pot lid

Draw round the hummus-pot lid on the black felt, and cut out a circle.
Use running stitch around the edge of the circle, draw together, stuff and then draw tighter. (Again, mine had a small gap in the centre where you can see the stuffing but it's not so far been a problem as it's hidden by the finger-tube.
Cut out a shape from white felt for Peso's face (sort of like the outline of a rounded capital B)
Cut out two black circles for eyes
Cut out a small yellow triangle for a beak
Stitch the eyes onto the white felt, using black thread around the edges, and then adding eye highlights in white thread.
Stitch the beak onto the white felt.
Stitch the white felt face onto the black head-ball.
Cut a rectangle out of the black felt, long enough to fit onto and around a finger.
Stitch rectangle into a tube, turn inside out and stitch top of tube to Peso head.
Cut out thin rectangle of white felt and stitch to front of tube, under Peso's face.
Cut a rectangle of blue felt. Stitch the top of the felt around the bottom of the Peso head, to cover the join between the tube and the head.
Cut a square of blue felt, and cut it in half.
Stitch the two short sides together, and turn inside out. Fold edge of triangle back on itself, to form hat.
Stitch hat onto head.
And we're done. Seeing as we have two Octonauts now, I may as well attempt Captain Barnacles in the near future...

Kwazii finger-puppet

ToddlerGirl's love of Octonauts is such that we record it and incorporate it into the bedtime routine, the only slight downside being that if it ever comes on TV at its scheduled time, a look of dismay crosses her face: "It's not bedtime, Mummy!" (Some days, dear heart, I wish it was. When did sleep start to be something you look forward to, rather than to be avoided at all costs? Is it just when your own kids arrive?!)

We're a bit short on Octonaut toys though, as I mentioned previously. It seems that Amazon, Tesco and Argos do have a some in stock, but they're a bit pricy, if you ask me. (And if you don't ask me, I'll still think it anyway.)

So, we make do. And if I say so myself, I'm quite pleased with how this turned out, although I didn't involve the kids in its creation. You'll have to bear with me as I try to describe how I made it, there were a lot of adjustments made as I went along. The first hummus pot measurement is as precise as it gets, and then everything thereafter was adapted in proportion to that. (Should anyone does want more accurate measurements, let me know and I can get my ruler out again!)

I had the felt lying around from a project some years ago, various coloured 20cm x 20cm squares, so that was my starting point. I'm thinking about making Captain Barnacles and Peso versions, when my needle-stabbed fingers are up to it. I'm pretty sure I wasn't a seamstress in a former life...

Take
1 square orange felt
1 square black felt
1 square blue felt
1 square cream/pale yellow felt
Some stuffing (about enough to fill an eggcup)
Cotton of various colours


Cut out a circle of orange felt - I used the lid of a hummus pot to draw around.
Using running stitch, stitch around the edge of the circle, leaving a thread trailing behind where you start, so you can pull this thread as well as the end of the thread where you finish up.
When you've stitched all the way around, pull both ends of the thread to pull the edges of the circle together, bunching it up. Don't pull it tight yet!
Add stuffing, and pull tighter. Knot ends together as tightly as possible (without snapping the thread! From personal experience, it's very annoying when that happens. There may be a small gap in the centre, but I think that's okay.)
Cut out a small square from the orange thread, then cut in two diagonally to make two triangles.
Place one triangle at the top of the ball, with the long edge touching the ball.
Stitch halfway along the long edge, then bend it 90 degrees before stitching into place to form the ear.
Repeat with other ear.
Cut out an eye and and eyepatch from the black felt. The eyepatch needs to be a similar shape but larger than the semi-circular eye shape.
Stitch eye into place.
Cut a long, thin strip of black felt to form the band for the eyepatch. Stitch into place.
Stitch eyepatch into place, over the band.
Cut a figure 8 shape from the cream/yellow felt (but without cutting out the internal holes)
Stitch onto the face using pink thread in the centre of the shape, to both secure the shape and form the pink nose.
Put a few white stitches into the eye.
Take a brown felt tip pen and add freckles to cheeks.
Cut a rectangle out of the orange felt, long enough to fit onto and around a finger.
Stitch rectangle into a tube, turn inside out and stitch top of tube to Kwazii head.
Cut a rectangle of blue felt. Stitch the top of the felt around the bottom of the Kwazii head, to cover the join between the tube and the head.
Cut a square of blue felt, and cut it in half.
Stitch the two short sides together, and turn inside out. Fold edge of triangle back on itself, to form hat.
Stitch hat onto head.
Treat self to glass of wine.

Voila. Be warned, this finger-puppet did necessitate an hour talking in my best Kwazii voice to the toddler yesterday. Yow!