Elfy Game - blanket:

This is a pattern for ‘Elfy Game-blanket’,
to go with the story ‘The mushroom under the Elf’.
In this bed-time story the Elf, who usually sleeps in flowers, ends up sleeping on top of the mushroom’s head.

Pattern includes:
knitting instructions,
short version of the story,
game instructions.

The book itself “The mushroom under the Elf”/ Mayan & Richard Ward is available at Amazon, and includes 3 more patterns:

• Simple mushroom for embellishment/coaster,
• Double knit puffed mushroom for a baby toy
• Modular mushroom picture/potholder.

The pattern is also available for 3.50 without the story, here.
KNITTING:

Size: approx. 24” x 28” (89 sts x 155 r), without the border.

Yarn: medium weight / worsted , approx. 8 yards / 7 m per square.
My recommendation is: just use what you have and change yarns mid square when you run out (it will make the blanket even more fun).

More specific colors:

• Dark greens : 43 squares = approx. 344 yards / 301 m (if not doing blue on top).
• Light greens : 39 squares = approx. 312 yards / 273 m (if not doing blue on top). (preferably 4 shades of each, and if you run out of a particular yarn, substitute with another).
• 2 shades of mushroom stem : 4 squares of each shade = approx. 32 yards / 28 m.
• 2 shades for mushroom top : 9 squares of each shade = approx. 72 yards / 63 m.
• Sparkly white for white spots : approx. 40 yards / 35 m.
• 2 Sun colors : 2 squares each = approx. 16 yards / 14 m.
• Yarn for the border (approx. 130 yards light yarn, 70 yard red)
• Optional: special effect yarn for few squares in the middle (fur, eye lash, textured will be great) 3 squares (2 instead of dark green, 1 instead of light green) = approx. 24 yards / 21 m.
• Optional: 2 shades of blue instead of green for the top 3 lines of squares: 11 squares each = approx. 88 yards / 77 m. (here you will need only 256yards/224m of dark green, and 232yards/203m of light green).

• The more colors you have the better, and the more variety (texture etc.) = more fun.

Needles: #8US /5mm, Crochet hook G

Gauge: approx. 15 sts and 22 rows per 4”/10cm.
If the finished size is not important, gauge is not a must. Your piece does not have to be the same size as mine, the squares do not have to be square and the mushrooms can be tall or short.
If you want to estimate yarn or want the piece to be a certain size, make a gauge piece.
• To adjust the gauge as you knit along, add/subtract 2 rows per each line of squares.
(if you add/subtract only one row, the squares will zigzag instead of moving to the right).
• To make the blanket wider add a vertical row of squares on one or on both sides.

To play:
slide down on a mushroom leg (because it’s slimy!),
climb up on mushroom’s head and up on a sun ray
+some rules can be added by the kid for extra fun (like the fuzzy squares and the white dots).

Apart for playing it with Hubby (every night before bed as the knitting was progressing)
I played it with 2 nine years old – first on a table, then they drugged me for another game on the floor + wanted another one! One of them read the story aloud before we played, and the whole thing was so much fun.