Baby Knit Sock Monkey Costume Tutorial

My criteria for making a Halloween costume for Momo this year were as follows:

1. It needed to be adorable.

2. It needed to be warm.

3. It needed to take 20+ hours to create.

Just kidding on that last one, although by the projects I usually choose to endure tackle, you wouldn’t know it. To be honest, mid-September I bought a cute little watermelon costume from Costco and was ready to call it a day. Figured we’d be a fruit salad family. Duh, right?

Then in a mom’s group I’m a part of, someone mentioned selling a used sock monkey costume. Just the thought of Momo dressed as a sock monkey make my heart pitter patter. That’s when I knew that cozy little watermelon get-up didn’t stand a chance. First, I found this knit sock monkey hat pattern by Trappings and Trinkets. Doesn’t it look EXACTLY LIKE  A SOCK MONKEY? Yeah, it does.

Then I enlisted my fast-fingered mom in this crazy scheme and she agreed to knit the sweater. She found this baby sweater pattern by America’s Knitting Guru. In her usual fashion, she cranked it out in three commercial breaks.

Lastly, I tackled the pants by modifying this knit baby pant pattern by Shiri Designs. A few days before Halloween, these were very close to being one-legged pants. I came down with some sort of bug and could barely take care of Momo much less knit a left pant leg for her. By the grace of the stockinette gods though, somehow I squeaked that last leg out Halloween morning. You can see in this photo taken on Halloween that I hadn’t even woven in the ends yet.

So for one very brief, but exceptionally rewarding few hours, my daughter looked so extra cute I wanted to lick her face off. And if that wasn’t enough, I’m really happy that all three of these pieces can be reworn all winter long, either in combination (who doesn’t want to take a real live sock monkey grocery shopping in January?), or separately with other items.

So here are some details on our “monkey business” (sorry, couldn’t help it):

* Yarn: “I Love This Cotton” in Twist. This yarn is available at Hobby Lobby and even at full price only costs around $3.60 a skein. We amended each pattern a bit since this yarn is thicker than what was called for on each and consequently gave us a wider gauge.

* Hat: I knit the “preschool” size and it’s a bit big. I used size 5 needles.

* Sweater: My mom knit the 6 month size in general, but knit it the 1-year-old length. She used size 5 needles.

* Pants: I knit the 1-year-old size, but cast on 4 fewer stitches for each leg to make them a bit narrower. I also make them a few inches longer and added some K2P2 ribbing at the bottom. I used size 4 needles for the ribbing and size 5 for the legs.

As far as DIY Halloween costumes are concerned, this one is fairly involved. But since it just turns into regular clothes come November 1st, I think it’s well worth the time. Of course, I couldn’t have done it without my mom’s help. You might be able to. But unfortunately, I just didn’t get that plan-ahead-gene.

What about you–did you take on a DIY costume this year? How did it turn out?