There is just something about the bowling-pin shape that I love. A slightly undersized head atop a slightly oversized tummy—it has a certain je ne sais quoi. That is, if little knitted creatures can possess je ne sais quoi. My vote is that they can.

My original design includes a round base that you pick up and knit once you finish the body; this lets him sit up nice and straight on his own (something knitted critters often don’t like to do without a lot of coaxing and creative thinking). However, once I got knitting, I found this shape looked just as awesome and even a little different if you omit the base and sew the cast-on edge just at the end for a flat bottom. I found this very helpful on a few patterns, like Small-Peanuts Elephant, which took a bit more than my intended 50 yards of yarn.

Whatever look you love, I feel like this shape offers a huge variety of ways to be creative and go beyond my patterns to make your own knitted critters!

Need help? Check out these videos by Rebecca Danger, demonstrating the techniques used in the book.