Attaching washers to plastic safety eyes

bimbler · 06-21-2007, 07:11 PM

I was wondering if anyone had experienced that same problem as me.

Am currently knitting Sheldon the turtle (http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter06/PATTsheldon.html and finally got to the point where he is ready to stuff and my plastic washers are refusing to attach themselves to the eyes, it's like they are too small. I have a larger disc to push them down onto them with, but that's not working either. And I have been pushing as hard as I can, even to the point of making eye-shaped dents in my wooden shelves!

I bought them from here:
http://www.e-crafts.co.uk/soft_toy.htm and I'm wondering what might be the problem.

Anyone got any suggestions?

debinoz · 06-22-2007, 03:27 AM

Sometimes it makes a difference which way you put the washer on. I had some one time that said to put them together so the raised side(on the washer) was facing out. No go, so I flipped it over and it went on fine. Sometimes it helps to run the shaft of the eye lightly on a bar of soap.

bimbler · 06-22-2007, 08:08 AM

i did try flipping the washers over, and the other side seemed smaller still!!

good tip about trying some soap on it... will have a go. thank you!

tchriste52 · 06-25-2007, 01:55 AM

Just in case you give up on the plastic eyes, I use Jean Greenhowe's method of making eyes for knitted toys. Cut a piece of black yarn about 8 inches and just as you would make a knot, instead of a singe wrapping of the yarn, wrap the yarn several times then draw the knot up, trying to keep it as round as possible. Using a long tapestry needle, insert 1 end 1 stitch above and the other end 1 stitch below where the eye would go. Pull through the stuffing 1 yarn end at a time. Repeat for the other eye. If you had stuffed only the head, then you could tie the ends through the stuffing, indenting the eyes a little in the process. When you have the eyes just the way you want them, knot the ends the pull the extra thread through some point in the doll and snip the ends. If you've pulled hard enough, the thread end should disappear into the body. You can experiment with different yarn weights for affect. Hope this helps.

bimbler · 06-25-2007, 07:46 PM

That does help, thank you! I have just borrowed a Jean Greenhowe book and was wondering about her method of making eyes. I'll give it a try on my next stuffed toy (because I will be making more, oh yes!)

My plastic washers seem ridiculously small and in the end I had to drill out the middle to get them to fit!!