Welcome the Emotional Support Chicken!

She is done!!

My son told me that she looks majestic.

This was a fast, fun project. The entire chicken was knitted in one piece except for the red parts and the underneath section. All garter stitch made it easy on my hands/wrists to knit, and the change in colors helped me keep moving along. Here’s the pattern for the emotional support chicken on Ravelry: I just noticed that there is a tutorial available with the pattern.

Sewing up was pretty minimal.

The red comb is knitted separately and was quick and easy to attach. The beak was finished in a grand total of about 4 stitches, and then it was pretty straight forward to seam the underneath to the two sides of the body as I closed the chicken. It was amazing how quickly the bird came to life.

The base is nice and wide, letting the chicken sit in place without tipping over.

I really am happy with the final product. This chicken is made solely from homespun yarn, and it makes me even more happy to see this yarn being used well. Here’s the problem with my homespun yarn; it is a little rough on my skin and as a scleroderma patient I’m giving my skin whatever it wants. So… I’m not wearing my homespun anymore, and it is even a little hard to knit with it. The chicken goes quickly, however, and I can have a beautiful, finished chicken to admire and then take a few days to let my fingers recover from the knitting. I’ve already gone stash diving to pull together ideas for another chicken or two or… don’t you think that it would be nice to donate a few emotional support chickens to patients at the infusion center or maybe to Ronald McDonald House? That’s what I’m thinking now. It depends on how well my fingers tolerate the knitting. It makes me so happy to get the homespun out and put to use; each skein and color is a memory, and it makes me feel so good to think of putting them to a good use.

Hannah: Don’t I look sweet?

Last night Hannah attacked the chicken and dragged it around, bunny kicking it from time to time. Poor chicken, it was defiantly Hannah pecked.

It is therefore named HanPeck.

Welcome, HanPeck. Hang on, the rest of the flock is on the way.

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Author: Midnight Knitter

I weave, knit and read in Aurora, Colorado where my garden lives. I have 2 sons, a knitting daughter-in-law, a grandson and two exceptionally spoiled kittens. In 2014 I was diagnosed with a serious rare autoimmune disease called systemic sclerosis along with Sjogren's Disease and fibromyalgia.

33 thoughts on “Welcome the Emotional Support Chicken!”

  6. I’ve been seeing a flock of emotional support chickens on Instagram lately, and I am sorely tempted to knit one! Yours is very cute, even if Hannah isn’t sure she wants emotional support from it.

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    1. It’s a little silly, but the chicken actually is the right size to serve as a cushion, and is an excellent size for hugging. I looked at the other finished projects on Ravelry and there are a lot of creative knitters out there that have given me good ideas for displaying limited amounts of yarn well in the chicken.

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  8. Maybe the emotional support Hannah needs is a little combat buddy that doesn’t fight back? I think it looks marvellous and a great idea for not so soft handspun. Now it’s a well known fact chickens live in groups not alone so I feel you definitely need more and your idea to donate some sounds marvellous too. I feel the emotional support vicariously through the joy in your tone of writing this post.

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    1. Maybe I should knit some mice for her out of the same yarn? It is somehow tempting to knit mice for the cat out of yarn with dog down… I used to buy one ounce samplers of fiber from a store I liked and that’s why I have lots of little balls of fabulously colored handspun. Then there are larger lots from different sheep and alpacas. The chicken is a perfect way to use both up. HanPeck absolutely needs some friends!!

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    1. It is pretty rewarding as silly knits go. I found some purple yarn from recycled fiber in the stash (pretty rustic, this yarn…) and I’m pretty sure that’s the next chicken just waiting to hatch.
      Hannah: that chicken should show me more love!!

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  14. I love this chicken! My best friend has a few chickens. I may have to knit her up one. I was trying this in crochet…but the right yarn, hand-dyed…and we may have a birthday or Christmas gift in the works. What a great idea! I do love her name, too.

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    1. There is a crochet version of the pattern. I looked at other knitters’ chickens and there are some wonderful ones made in hand-dyed yarn in earthy (and crazy) colors. I’m pretty sure I need to make more chickerns.

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      1. I started making the crochet chicken (or one of them). I think I have 6 or 7 inches until decreases….and he’s plain yellow cotton. He’s in the chill chair until other projects need the chill chair right now…but good colors and a quick knit w planned color changes just might work.

  15. I love this chicken! My best friend has a few chickens. I may have to knit her up one. I was trying this in crochet…but the right yarn, hand-dyed…and we may have a birthday or Christmas gift in the works. What a great idea! I do love her name, too.

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    1. It sounds so much better than the crying chair…so The Chill Chair it shall remain. And it sits next to the teacher’s desk, so it’s not a favorite spot;-). But some days, its absolutely necessary;-).

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      1. Oh. I get it. I was a biology teacher, and I had names of scientists hanging over the group tables. The back tables were called the Galapagos Islands (the Darwin tables, of course) and if students were too boisterous or needed time out, they headed to the Galapagos Islands for some down time. I should have left some knitting there for them…

    1. I have some great yarns downstairs waiting to get wound to become chickens, but right now I am focusing on getting the La Prairie cardigan done. HanPeck is anxiously awaiting the rest of her flock!

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