Crochet Baby Rattles and Kids’ Toys…a Sneak Peak

I really love crochet toys that are made by hand.  I’m not picky, I like all the different variations–the baby rattles, the kids’ toys, the finger puppets.  It’s the fact that they they are hand-made that gets me.  It gives these toys more character and a story.  Plus, the fact that they are not mass-produced gives their creators the potential to create something offbeat, quirky, and original.  And if  there’s one thing I really adore, it’s something original.

We recently set about creating some crochet animals of our own.  Our goal was to invent some unusual characters that we thought would appeal to babies and kids alike.  We of course wanted them to be soft to the touch and attractive, but most of all,  we wanted our crochet toys to be DIFFERENT.  No teddy bears.  No smiling suns. No flowers with goofy-looking faces. 

Since much of my inspiration comes from my kids, the first thing I thought of was my four year-old son and his obsession with dinosaurs.  In the past year, my husband and I have scoured the internet to find all things dinosaur.  We got the dino lunch box.  We got the dinosaur shirt.  We even got the dinosaur wood puzzle. But nowhere could we find a nice dinosaur that our son could roam the earth with by day and cuddle up to by night.

Eureka.  Crochet toys number one and two.  We found a wonderful group of Peruvian women who could crochet like champs and set forth the crochet dinosaur challenge.  We had to work out some kinks (not so easy to get t-rex’s perfectly stumpy arms right), but in the end we created a gorgeous t-rex and a fantastic stegosaurus (pictures to follow shortly, I promise).   The blue guy above is our crochet goat rattle and he will be joined by an orange cat, a grey moose, and a duck rattle.  For those of you looking for something a little smaller, we also created some crochet mini rattles: a baby bunny, a baby duck, a baby panda, and a baby elephant.  All of these will be appearing shortly in the shop and online.

We’re thrilled with our new crocheted toys and we hope all of you will be as well. I know my son will be delighted to finally be able to sleep with the dinosaurs.