The Little Vampire

Just thought I'd pop in and post these two patterns before Halloween. Hope everyone has been well, I haven't been able to visit much of late.
We don't celebrate Halloween to the same extent as other countries, but I made the next two little people a while ago, similar to my Toy Soldier Christmas Decoration. We've always been a ghoulish family, loving our spooky, scary stuff. Not that these two are very scary, I tried to make the Zombie look scary but he still looks like a softie.
The first one is here, the second one, the little Zombie will be in a couple of days. Hope you like...

    The Little Vampire

                       The Little Vampire is only 11.5cm tall, and is knitted in DK/8ply yarn.

Materials

Black DK/8ply yarn

Small amount of DK/8ply in Flesh, White and Red.

3.25mm knitting needles

Fibre Fill

2 small beads for eyes - optional.

The doll body is knitted in one piece, starting at the feet. Arms and cape are knitted separately.

ERRATA - Row 26 - should read P2tog B (twice), P2tog W (twice), P1W, P2tog W (twice)

P2tog B (twice). 

BODY - Make 1

With Black, cast on 17sts.

St st 22 rows.

Now join in Black and White for front of shirt....

Row 23 - K 8B, 1W, 8B

Row 24 - P 7B, 3W, 7B

Row 25 - K 6B, 5W, 6B

Decrease for neck

Row 26 - P2tog B (twice), P2tog W (twice), P1W,  P2tog W (twice),  P2tog B (twice).

Row 27 - Change to Flesh, K

Row 28 - Inc purlwise in next 4 sts, P1, inc purlwise in next 4 sts - 17sts

Now join in Black and Flesh for head/face.

Row 29 - K 5B, 7F, 5B

Row 30 - P 5B, 7F, 5B

Repeat the last 2 rows up to and including Row 34.

Row 35 - K 6B, 2F, 1B, 2F, 6B

Row 36 - P 6B, 1F, 3B, 1F, 6B

Row 37 - K all sts in Black 

Row 38 - P

Row 39 - K2tog to last st, K1

Thread yarn back through sts, gather in tight and fasten off.

ARMS - Make 2

With Flesh, cast on 7 sts.

St st 

2 rows Flesh

2 rows White

10 rows Black

Thread yarn through stitches, gather in tight and fasten off.

CAPE - Make 1

With Black, cast on 24 sts.

K 2 rows 

Starting with a K row, st st 10 rows, but on every P row, knit the first and last 2 stitches to form a garter st border up both sides of the cape.

Row 13 - K2, K2tog, K4, K2tog, K4, K2tog, K4, K2tog, K2  -  20sts

Row 14 - K2 (remember the border), P to last 2 sts, K2.

Row  15 - K

Row 16 - K2, P to last 2sts, K2.

Rows 17 - 18 - same as rows 15/16.

Row 19 - K3, K2tog, K4, K2tog, K4, K2tog, K3  -  17sts

Row 20 - K2, P to last 2 sts, K2

Row 21 - K

Row 22 - K2, P to last 2 sts, K2

Row 23 - K2tog to last st, K1  -  9sts

Row 24 - K2, P to last 2 sts, K2

Row 25 - K, Inc in every st  -  18sts

K 3 more rows, cast off.

So everything should look pretty much like this ....

MAKE UP

Sew in any ends you won't be using for sewing up.

With right sides facing out, sew up the back seam of the body, leaving the bottom edge open to stuff. Stuff the head and body, stuffing the legs lighter than the rest to make it easier to sew up the middle to make his legs.

Neatly oversew the bottom edge to close and sew a line of stitches from the bottom, up the middle for aprox 3.5cm to define his legs.

I backstitched in white just above his feet to define his feet/trousers, and backstitched down from his white shirt. You could continue and white in his lapels, bottom of the coat etc, but sometimes less is better I think. 

I separated some black yarn until I had one strand to do the facial features, same with the red - this usually works with acrylic, but if you're using wool you might find the strand just falls to pieces, you can use 3/4ply cotton instead.

Embroider his facial features, I used tiny beads for his eyes (cheater I know) or you can make small french knots, I also sewed in 2 sideburns to make him look a little more suave lol. 

Don't forget his fangs!

Arms - don't stuff these, I'm not THAT cruel! Fold them with right sides facing out, and sew down seam and around hand.

With the arm seam at the back of the doll, sew each arm to the side of the body.

Cape - run some red yarn through the decrease row of the cape (just under the collar) and tie it around the neck. Tie it in front. 

                          © Jennifer Stacey 2013 - for personal use, not for profit

All done, please let me know if you find any mistakes with the pattern. Oh! not suitable for children 3 and under - due to the beads.

love Jen.