Crocheting Monster Eyes!

These 2D monster eyes are a bit of a lark and simple to do. I'm going to make some 3D ones too ( http://monstereyesevents.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/crochet-your-own-3d-detached-monster.html ), for cuddly sock monsters! (I will put the tutorial in another blog post)

Materials

You'll need two colours of wool. Just whatever you have lying around will be fine as this won't take much wool. You might want to do another colour if you want monsters with crazy red eyes or blue eyes or glow-in-the-dark eyes! 

I've also used a size 5.00 crochet hook.

CROCHET YOUR SPOOKY EYEBALL

Step 1: I started with a slip knot and crocheted a chain of 4 stitches.

Step 2: As you make your 5th chain stitch, push the crochet hook (with the wool on) through the hole like in this picture and pull it back to create a circle.

Step 3: As you now have a circle, crochet into the next stitch in the circle and crochet into each stitch all the way around. If it gets a bit tight add another chain stitch and crochet into the next chain of the circle. Go around the circle as many times as you'd like to make the pupil of your monster eye.

Step 4: Add another colour. I'm using white as I want monochrome eyes but you can do whatever colour you want. I simply catch the last black chain on my hook and get the end of the white wool and pull it through, making sure the white wool is tight.

Step 5: Now that the white wool is part of your eye, you can continue what you were doing with the black wool circle. Crochet the white wool into the next stitch and, if the circle gets a bit too tight simply make another chain stitch and crochet into the next stitch in the black circle. 

Step 6: Continue with the white until it's as wide as you'd like. If you'd used blue/red for an iris, you could add the white of the eye in the same way at this stage.

Step 7: Poke your hook through the white crochet and pull those tricky wool strands to the back of the eye. Do the same with the black wool strands, making sure you pull them through the black crochet so the colour lines don't merge.

N.B. To make your monster's eye a little bit more 3D don't add extra stitches. Simply leave the crochet circle to get tighter as you crochet each circle and the eye will maintain a nice boggly shape.

Step 8: WELL DONE! You have made a monster eye. If you make another one, attach both eyes to a big sock (odd socks are best as I always think they might be a bit lonely in the odd sock bag) and stuff it with polyester stuffing - you can get cheap cushions from the rag markets, warehouses or simply use whatever offcuts of fabric you have knocking around (as long as they are cut up small). Sew up the bottom to keep the stuffing in and you can use smaller socks for arms!

Notes: My monster eye has a lovely 3D feel to it, but if you'd like a more flat effect eye then have a peek at this online tutorial to crochet a magic circle with double crochet - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PmaQJbyVt0