Murphlet 5 received a craft kit from his grandmother for Christmas (thanks, Mum). He’s been waiting (im)patiently for me to help him figure it out and make it. The first time I looked at the instructions with him I put it in the too-hard basket and have been making excuses ever since. But today I finally sat down with him to tackle the project.

The kit included a french knitting tool, and the materials to make a monkey. It also included instructions which were so vague they may as well have not been there. But with an old ball of wool and some long-lost memories of french knitting as a child, I managed to cast on and get started and even managed to teach Murphlet 5 how to do the stitches. Then came a search for how to cast off. My first attempt was unsuccessful and resulted in the little tube we’d created unravelling (which is why we were experimenting with spare wool). At this point I visited my dear friend Google and searched for French Knitting. Bingo – understandable instructions for casting off.

So, back to the real world and attempt two was more successful. One little tube of french knitting was soon completed and proudly adorning Murphlet 5’s finger. Then it was on to the monkey. to be made with fluffy brown wool and soft orange chenille yarn. I cast on and soon discovered that knitting with fluffy stuff was really hard – so although Murphlet 5 did have a little go, it fell to me to labour away and get the knitting bit done. Three hours and two tubes (one orange, one brown) later we then had to figure out how to assemble the thing. Again, no instructions, but with a tube of glue and a needle and thread, I managed to get the thing together. You can see the finished product here (photograph courtesy of Murphlet 2). It’s not exactly the same as the monkey on the pack, but I’m pretty proud of it – and, more importantly, Murphlet 5 thinks it’s cool.