Woodland Beauty

I love all things woodland, so when I saw this mushroom baby rattle pattern, I knew I would knit it one day. Unfortunately, I didn't get it done in time for the woodland baby shower I hosted for a girlfriend in February, but better late than never! It knit up quickly and easily. The rattle is a little bigger than I had imagined, and it may be too big for the tiniest babies, but I think they'll grow into it quickly. It's about 3.5" across the top when looking down on it, and about 5" tall.

I didn't have any Koigu, so I used some beautiful Madelinetosh yarn as a substitute. If you have never knitted with this yarn, you should give it a try. It's absolutely wonderful to work with, and the colors are amazingly rich.

For this rattle and other knitted baby toys that I want to make noise when shaken, I buy small cat toy balls from PetCo. They're cheap and work well. I've tried a couple of local pet stores, but they don't carry these little balls. I'm amazed that yarn stores don't carry them, as they work so well for knitted toys.

I have found that you need to use loose batting for knitted toys as opposed to batting you would use for a quilt. Flat batting doesn't fill all the nooks and crannies as well as loose batting does. 

Pattern: Purl Bee Toadstool Baby Rattle http://www.purlbee.com/toadstool-babyrattle/
Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh Sock
Yarn source: Bad Woman Yarns (Seattle) or Knit Purl (Portland and internet) http://www.knit-purl.com/store/pc/Madelinetosh-Glazed-Sock-Yarn-12p1373.htm