I will call you "Squishy!"

This line from Finding Nemo now holds a few meanings for me. When I was pregnant with X, my sister deemed him "Squishy" after the little jellyfish Dory comes across in Finding Nemo. (I will call you "Squishy" and you will be my Squishy and you will be mine!) The nickname stuck - to the point I had acquaintences of my parents asking me how "Squishy" was doing. We don't use the nickname much anymore, but it still has a special meaning.

With that in mind, how perfect was it that I found a pattern in Itty Bitty Toys called Squishies! These delightful toys, designed by Susan B. Anderson, are so very simple to make. Just a knit ball filled with poly-fiberfill. And they do exactly as the name might suggest - they squish!

There are 3 sizes in the book you can knit - along with corresponding instructions to make your Squishies look like the ones pictured in the book. I chose not to follow the designs in the book, but instead used the cotton yarn I dyed a while back. I was so anxious to see how it would knit up, and these seemed like the perfect project.

I made the small and medium sized Squishies from the colorway "Cool Cartoons" (cool colors - blue, green, purple). These colors knit up with more pooling that the last Squishy. You'll see portions that are defined stripes of purple, blue and green and you'll see other areas that are a "flash" of muted, combined colors.

And I made the large size from the colorway "Strawberries & Cream" (warm colors - yellow, orange, red). This largest ball was the neatest, in my opinion, to see finished. The varigaited yarn striped perfectly around the middle of the Squishie, with some fun pooling/striping at the ends.

When the yellow and red are against one another, they are perfect Iowa State Cyclone colors! (I may have to dye more yarn with just red & yellow!) This one is so bright and vibrant. I don't usually think of my toys as geared towards girls or boys but when I was knitting this one, I couldn't help but think this one was more girly. Some of the reds tones are actually more pink, but it's subtle.

The best part about these toys are that X loves them! I finished the first one late one night. The next morning, when I put X down to play, he had found it and was already carrying it all over the house. He likes to try holding all 3 at once, but hasn't quite figured out how yet. He's drawn to them, though - which I love! Who knew that something so simple could create such an attraction! And it doesn't matter if he puts them in his mouth or spills something on them - they wash. They're soft and kid friendly.

These are also great stash-busters because they don't take a lot of yarn. I may have used up most of one skein doing all 3 in the same colorway, but the smallest Squishy takes hardly any yarn. After I get a few more projects done, I may come back to these and make more. :)

You can see more pictures on my project page HERE.