Frog & Toad: A Knitted Toy Pattern Review

After reading Frog & Toad: A Knitted Toy Pattern Review you will have all the information you need to start your next toy knitting project. Find the yarn I used, the tutorials I depended on and the new material I used for stuffing these two amphibious friends.

I don’t remember the first time I saw this pattern, but I do remember when I decided that I had to make them.

Scrolling through Instagram, a photo of a pair of dapper amphibians stopped me in my tracks. I recognized the characters right away as Frog and Toad from the popular children’s books.

My own children loved the stories of these two friends and the adventures they had together. And I had to have them in my life in knitted form.

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Frog & Toad Knitted Toy Pattern

Frog & Toad look like they stepped right out of the books and onto my knitting needles. Their expressive faces and adorable clothing bring them to life.

The Frog and Toad Collection Box Set

I’ve shown these two fellas to several people and the reaction is always the same…. big grins. People can’t help but fall in love with these somber-faced friends and I know you will too.

Get Your Own Frog & Toad Pattern Here

The creator behind these wonderful designs is Kristina McGowan from Frog & Cast.

“I’ve always loved the saying that ‘reading is dreaming with your eyes open,’ and as a child, no book filled my dreamscape more vividly than Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad series. Tucked under our quilts, my parents would often read the books to my twin sister and me before bed and the sense of comfort and home they provided was immense. “
â€” Kristina McGowan

I know you are going to love knitting Frog & Toad for yourself and as always, I’m sharing what I learned along the way.

Materials for Frog & Toad: Knitted Toy Pattern

First you’re going to need a few thing to make these little guys and you may already have some of them in your own supplies.

Check out: Comparing Yarns for Hand Knit Toys

Yarn

I used my tried and true, two favorite yarns for this project:

Berroco Vintage

Berroco Vintage is my go-to for all things toy knitting. Not only is it soft, but sturdy enough for seaming. I love all the beautiful colors you can choose from.

It is a true worsted weight yarn with a slight halo, but also has beautiful stitch definition.

For Frog I used the color Fennel, which is a gorgeous green with darker and lighter shades throughout.
For Toad I used the color Oats, which is one of my favorite natural colors to work with.

Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino

For the clothing I chose Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, which is also one of my absolute favorite yarns. It is soft and the colors are beautifully pigmented.

For Frog I used the color Chocolate for his pants and Mustard for his little jacket.
For Toad I used the colors Duck Egg and Ecru for his bathing suit.

Hand Dyed Yarn

If you’re wanting a special wool created just for the Frog & Toad pattern, look no further. This gorgeous hand dyed 100% Merino Wool was created especially for Frog & Toad.

The DK weight yarn can be found in glorious green for Frog and earthy brown for Toad.

Double Point Needles

Get out your favorite double point needles! If you aren’t super comfortable using them here is my favorite tutorial from Sheep & Stitch.

It can be intimidating to use double point needles for the first time, but like anything, it just takes……… you guessed it, PRACTICE.

I’ve tried several different brands of DPNs but these are my absolute favorite. The CHIAOGOO Double Point Knitting Needles are metal without being slippery, which I find essential, especially for knitting toys.

CHIAOGOO Red Ribbon Double Point Stainless Steel Knitting Needle Set, 6-Inch

Tutorials for Short Rows

This was not the easiest pattern for me, but boy am I glad I decided to tackle it. Like many of my projects, I gravitate towards ones that are going to stretch my skills (aka frustrating the heck out of me).

From this pattern I learned how to knit short rows. I will not demonstrate my new found skill for you all since there’s a lot of muttering under my breath and frogging (see what I did there?).

Thankfully I found two immensely helpful tutorials for how to knit short rows from much more experienced knitters than me.

The first is from Purl Soho. This is a written blog post with excellent photos. Sometimes I need to read instructions rather than watch a video. I found this tutorial incredibly helpful. Short Rows: Wrap + Turn
The next is a video from Very Pink Knits: Picking up Wraps. This video demonstrates how to knit the short row wraps and is super quick and well explained.

Stuffing with Something New

For these two little guys I ended up stuffing them with a new material. Kristina has a couple of recommendations for pellets in her pattern (and one is beautifully fragrant).

I decided to use up what I already had tucked away in my craft room.

Fairfield PP2B Poly-Pellets Weighted Stuffing Beads

I would not recommend using the pellets if you are making this for a small child. The pellets could be a very serious choking hazard. Since your toy will be knitted it is unlikely to keep every one of those teeny tiny pellets in their place.

If you are knitting this for a child consider just using Fairfield Poly Fil Premium Fiber Fill just to be on the safe side.

But if you are knitting this for yourself or an older child, the pellets create a wonderfully weighty toy. It just feels good in the hand. The bean bag consistency is a stark contrast to the squishy softness of a poly fil stuffed toy.

Because of the intricate shaping of the amphibian’s legs, I believe the pellets are ideal to highlight the knitted shaping.

Frog & Toad Helpful Hints

Printing the Pattern Twice

The Frog & Toad knitted toy pattern is perfectly written. I did not find any mistakes and all of the explanations were incredibly clear.

I believe it would be most helpful to print the pattern twice, once for Toad and once for Frog.

Because the instructions for both are written in the same spaces, I always would highlight the directions for each toy in its own color.

For example I would highlight all the instructions for Toad in yellow and then Frog in green. It will help keep you from getting confused late one evening and knitting Toad’s legs on Frog’s body.

Ask me how I know.

Blocking

Give your Frog & Toad the finishing touch by blocking their hands and feet.

It looks as if you are getting ready to dissect them in high school Biology class, but I promise no harm came to my own amphibious friends.

Because the hands and feet are two dimensional they will curl up if you don’t block them.

Here is the blocking and mat I recommend that comes with one hundred and fifty rust free T-pins: Blocking Mats for Knitting

Eyes

I had a bit of a tough time trying to knit the whites of Frog & Toad’s eyes so I ended up just crocheting six into a magic ring. It was a much quicker and simpler solution for me.

I used a bit of scrap white Berroco Vintage yarn and a 3.5 mm crochet hook and that combination fit perfectly into the eye sockets.