I had seen a picture of someones project of a cute little french sailor stuffie on one of the knitting groups, I thought how cute it would be to make a little hunting buddy for my little nephew.
I come from a hunting/shooting family. My nephew now sees his daddy get ready to go shooting or hunting and of course he is far to little to go along. For his birthday I got him a plastic shotgun and crocheted him some pretend "sporting clays" to shoot at. (the gun doesn't actually shoot anything, just makes a sound, but he can pretend to shoot). The little orange discs actually fly REALLY well when you toss them (as you toss a frisbee).
I also then knit 3 "hunting buddies". The hunting buddies can stand and watch him shoot his sporting clays. I thought I'd give a brief recap of how I made everything.
*I am posting this for others who might want to make the same thing - not asking for any political comments about hunting, shooting or guns. We all have our own beliefs. We are generations of a gun safe family who has always followed the gun safety guidelines, obeyed the law etc. *
The little "hunting buddies" could be made to be fishing buddies, football buddies, hockey buddies, etc. I plan on doing more ideas later.
The hunting buddies were made based on a picture I saw - the person who made hers used this freebie pattern: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/petit-marin-2
The pattern is in french I don't read french, so I winged it. Here is how I did mine.
Using #2 (2.75 mm) needles and sock weight type yarns.
Cast on 52 sts.
St st 6 rows of black or brown for shoes/boots
St st 4 rows of white for socks
St st 30 rows of camo yarn for pants
St st 24 rows of shirt color
Switch to #1 (2.25 mm) needles
1x1 rib for 1 row (still in shirt color)
Switch back to #2 needle
15 rows of face color
k3, k2tog, repeat across
k2, k2tog, repeat across
k1, k2tog, repeat across
k2tog, repeat across
Cut yarn, using daring needle, thread thru remaining stitches and pull to gather. Knot securely.
Before stitching the back seam I hand stitched the detail of the face (eyes, eyebrows, mouth).
Next I stitched the back seam of my little guy using my sewing machine.
Using a darning needle, I then used one color yarn (I tried to use one that was the most generic and blended in with the colors used for the clothing, in my case it was a med. green.) First I gathered just below the 1x1 ribbing of the neck, then I stitched the shaping of the legs and arms. I started by slightly gathering at the ankles, then I stitched the center leg to crotch area. Next I stitched the arm definition.
Lastly I used the same yarn as I knit for the shoes and stitched the bottoms of the shoes closed.
To make the beanie type hat I used #2 needle, cast on 52 sts
15 rows of hat color
k3, k2tog, repeat across
k2, k2tog, repeat across
k1, k2tog, repeat across
k2tog, repeat across
Cut yarn, using daring needle, thread thru remaining stitches and pull to gather. Knot securely.
Sew back seam.
Make pom-pom, sew on pom pom.
The scarves were made a variety of ways but only took minutes - it can be a short length of knitting or crochet - I'm sure you can figure it out. You could also cut a tiny square kerchief out of fabric also.
To make the sporting clays I crocheted them.
Using size F (3.75 mm) crochet hook
ch 2
6 sc in 2nd ch from hook, sl into 1st sc to join.
ch1 & 2 sc in 1st sc, 2 sc in each sc around sl into 1st sc to join . [12 sc]
ch1 & sc in 1st sc, *2 sc in next, 1 sc in next*, rep to end of round, end with 2 sc in last sc. Sl to join.
ch1 & sc in 1st sc, 1 sc, 2 sc in next, *2 sc, 2 sc in next*, rep to end of round. Sl to join. [24 sc]
ch1 & sc in 1st sc, 2 sc, 2 sc in next, *3 sc, 2 sc in next*, rep to end of round. Sl to join. [30 sc]
ch1 & sc in 1st sc, 3 , sc, 2 sc in next, *4 sc, 2 sc in next*, rep to end of round. Sl to join. [36 sc]
ch1 & sc in 1st sc, 4 sc, 2 sc in next, *5 sc, 2 sc in next*, rep to end of round. Sl to join. [42 sc]
ch1 & sc in 1st sc, 5 sc, 2 sc in next, *6 sc, 2 sc in next*, rep to end of round. Sl to join. [48 sc]
Cut yarn and secure.
Make another one the same way but don't cut yarn at the end, and ch1. Hold the first one behind and against the second one, sc into the both of them held together, continue to sc the two together until you reach the end of the round. Sl into the first sc, ch 1 & sc into same sc as join, 9 sc, sc2tog, *10 sc, sc2tog* rep to end of round. Sl into first sc, tie off and cut yarn.
One sporting clay complete! I made 6 of these to make a "set". I had the perfect size little box to put them in and I wrote wording and made a drew and colored the sporting clay on the box.
Materials: 
