Crochet Update: Magnetic Fishing Game

So, November 1st was my nephew's 1st birthday! Very exciting :) He's walking everywhere now and he is into everything, lol. I've always seen the magnetic fishing games and thought they were so cute. When my planned gift fell through (it is lost in the many boxes around my house somewhere), I decided Luke needed a fish game for his birthday. So I whipped this up!

Isn't it cute?! I just love how it turned out. I used the Wal the Tiny Fish Pattern by FreshStitches, but I modified it a bit to make it smaller. I only increased up to 30 stitches, and I only did 5 rows of plain sc for the centers. I also left off the eye balls and just embroidered eyes, and I left off the fins. But the coolest part is this:

Their mouths are magnetic! I used 5/8" metal washers and just crocheted through the center hole - basically it worked like a magic loop but with metal - and the stitches encased the washer. So the black mouths are another modification, but I still just did 6 stitches around them and that covered them just enough.

See how you can just see a little bit of metal through the black? That made it to where the magnet would still grab tight enough to pick up the fish.

Each fish looks just like this and making them smaller really helped with their overall weight, making them easier to be picked up by the magnet. I only stuffed them a little bit - there is a little ball of stuffing in the body and another smaller ball in the tail, just to give them some dimension. I used all yarns from my stash since these fish only took about 22 - 25 yards each. So some of them are Vanna's Choice (cranberry and radiant orange), some are Red Heart With Love (blue hawaii, violet, and daffodil), and even some Red Heart Super Saver (spring green). The black yarn is Everyday Soft Worsted. Once i got the pattern figured out, each fish took my about 35 minutes - definitely not bad!

After I got the fish finished, I had to make the pole. I bought a 5/8" wide dowel rod and cut it to about 15" long. My dad and I ground down the edges and I sanded them smooth. Then we drilled a hole about 1" down from the top. I played around with several types of magnets, and this circle one worked the best for my quicky project. I took some white sport weight yarn (type unknown - I've had this over 10 years, lol) and I threaded it through the hole in the pole 3 times, then tied several knots and secured them with fray check. I measured out about 12" or so of white yarn, then wrapped through the hole in the magnet, tying several knots and also securing them with fray check. I certainly don't want it coming undone :) It was actually really easy to put this together and now I even have plenty of parts to make it again.

It ended up being a huge hit! He may not understand it right now, but he thinks it's pretty cool that his pole picks up the fishes :) Also all the other kids at the party jumped at it and played around with it, so this was definitely a good idea - and kids of all ages played with it! Even my dad :) My sister has already requested different types of magnetic sea creatures to add to the set for Christmas. And when he gets a bit older, we can use this to teach him his colors. Gotta love a multi-purpose toy:)

I am thrilled with how this set came out. It's cute, quick, and well loved - you can't get better than that!