Happy Almost October, friends! A chill is in the air and we are ready for ALL things fall!

Today I am sharing a highly requested modification to the bitty buddies – chunky buddies! I have had so many inquiries into using bulky or super bulky yarn for bobble buddies and bitty buddies. Unfortunately, super bulky yarn like Bernat Blanket is just too bulky. But I have found Premier Parfait Chunky to be the perfect bulky sized yarn to make chunky bitty buddies!

These buddies turn out incredibly soft and plushy. They are considerably bigger than the bitty buddies, but not as large as the bobble buddies. The Halloween buddies are typically 7-9 inches in size but made in bulky yarn, they are 10-12 inches! Parfait Chunky comes in a wide variety of beautiful colors, perfect for making a whole rainbow of buddies! The yarn is sooo soft to work with but I do have a few tips as it can be a little different than working with cotton or acrylic!

• It can be tricky to make a magic ring with Parfait Chunky. If your yarn keeps breaking when attempting a magic ring, start with a slip knot and chain 1 and crochet your initial stitches into that space rather than the magic ring. Be sure to pull the slip knot taut and weave in the ends so that it remains secure!
• Parfait Chunky can shed easily so don’t hold your tension too tightly or it will affect the “plushiness” of the yarn. Use a larger hook size if needed to keep the tension loose!
• It can be a little tricky to see your stitches with bulky yarns. I always recommend using stitch markers (or a spare piece of extra yarn!) to keep track of the stitches in your yarn.
• Finally, it can be difficult to sew with parfait chunky as the yarn can break easily if pulled too tightly. I recommend using an embroidery needed with a large eye so that the yarn is able to easily thread through the needle and pull through the project.

Alright – onto the modifications! The bulk of the pattern for the bat, pumpkin and ghost is exactly the same as the bitty buddies. If you need a copy of the Halloween bitty buddies, you can find yours on Etsy or Ravelry. The pumpkin is a free pattern on the blog if you want to test that one out first! The main modifications for using bulky yarn will be the use of different hook sizes. I’ll go through each Halloween buddy below!

Bitty Bat

Modified Materials:

• ~120 yards Parfait Chunky in “Eggplant” (or desired color)
• 4.0 mm (G) Hook // 5.0 mm (H) Hook
• 12 mm safety eyes or embroidery thread

To make the bitty bat, you will use a 5.0 mm hook for the head, body and wings. The pattern for the head, body and wings is exactly the same as written in the bitty buddy pattern. The muzzle pattern is the same as written but requires a 4.0 mm hook rather than a 2.75 mm hook. Be sure to keep tension taut on the muzzle or it will turn out too large. For the features, use 12 mm safety eyes or embroider the eyes onto the face of the bat. Sew the muzzle onto the face of the bat after embroidering two small fangs on either side. I omitted the mouth on the muzzle, as the eggplant yarn color is pretty dark and the mouth wouldn’t show through. Sew the wings to the side of the body as written and then sew the head!

Bitty Pumpkin

Modified Materials:

• ~95 yards Parfait Chunky in “Peach” // <5 yards Parfait Chunky in “Seaglass” (or desired color)
• 4.0 mm (G) Hook // 5.0 mm (H) Hook
• 12 mm safety eyes or embroidery threa

To make the bitty pumpkin, you will use a 5.0 mm hook for the head, body and arms. The pattern for the head and body is exactly the same as written in the bitty buddy pattern. For the arms, I opted to make them a little bit longer by adding one extra round to the repeats of 6 sc around. This is optional, but makes the arms more proportional to the size of the chunky buddy! For the “stem,” the pattern is the same as written but requires a 4.0 mm hook rather than a 2.75 mm hook. Sew to the top of the head, as written. For the features, use 12 mm safety eyes or embroider the eyes onto the face of the pumpkin. You can find a tutorial for embroidering eyes as shown here. Attach the arms to the body and sew the head to the body as written in the pattern!

Bitty Ghost

Modified Materials:

• ~80 yards Parfait Chunky in “Cloudy Day”(or desired color)
• 4.0 mm (G) Hook // 5.0 mm (H) Hook
• 12 mm safety eyes or embroidery thread

To make the bitty ghost, you will use a 5.0 mm hook for the body. The pattern for the body is exactly the same as written in the bitty buddy pattern. For the head, start the pattern with a 4.0 mm hook rather than a 2.75 mm hook. The first two rounds can be a bit tight working with such few stitches. You can omit round 2 if needed and continue on to round 3. You will switch to a 5.0 mm hook after round 6 and complete the rest of the head as written. For the features, use 12 mm safety eyes or embroider the eyes onto the face of the ghost. You can find a tutorial for embroidering eyes as shown here. Attach the head to the body and add a neck bow if desired!

I hope you love your new buddies! If you make bitty buddies this Halloween season, I would love for you to share! Please tag me on Instagram or Facebook and share your makes! As always, thank you so much for your support and following along with me!