Can you knit a fox?

An unusual commission!

I’d like to show you one of my more unusual commissions; a knitted fox! He’s rather sweet, don’t you think?

In the UK, because of government cuts, many local authorities have decided that public libraries should not be publicly funded; they are to be run by volunteers. A member of the new library committee for Quorn Community Library contacted me asking if I could knit a mascot for the library. The library committee had chosen a logo which is a book in the shape of a fox’s head. 

Why a fox? The village of Quorn is the base for a fox hunt. Because of that, the village and surrounding area have become associated with foxes. Some people in the area love the idea of hunting them, whereas others just love them. They are used as logos or mascots for various companies or organisations. So, for example, Leicester City Football Club is known as “The Foxes”.

The library committee wanted a knitted fox that would live at the library and could be used to promote the library. This mascot needed to be about 12-18 inches tall, sitting on its haunches with its tail wrapped around it and its face needed to resemble the logo.

How to knit a fox

The easy bit was choosing the yarn. I knew that Jamieson’s of Shetland have a huge range of colours in their 4-ply and double knit ranges and that there would be suitable ones. I chose the double knit weight in Amber, Apricot, Rust, Natural White and Shetland Black, or as I like to think of them: cartoon, pale, deep and silver fox and fox paws!

I sketched some ideas, but essentially I was making the pattern up as I knitted it. So, first I knitted a body or two!

I choose the best one and stuffed it.

Then I knitted some back legs. Now, if you had been to the Being Knitterly Studio in March for one of my classes, you might have seen a headless fox. A little bit disconcerting!

Next, I knitted a few heads and attached the best one to the body. That’s better!

I added some arms …

… then a tail …

… and finally the eyes.

I used various techniques for this project. The body and face were knitted in rows using intarsia for the colour work. The arms, legs and tail were all started by picking up stitches from the body and knitting in the round.

Why has he no name?

So, here he is – the fox with no name!

The children at the local primary school are having a competition to name him. A few weeks before the Easter holiday this brave little fox visited the school to meet all the children. They must have liked him because just before Easter there were over two hundred entries in the competition. And I’ll tell you his name when I know.

What name would you choose?