When birthdays or births of small children come up (usually without much notice), I am eternally grateful for two things: super wash yarn in my stash and quick patterns for stuffed toys.

Behold the kiwi! Promptly named Silly by its six-year-old recipient, the kiwi was designed by Cheezombie. This is the first time I’ve knitted one of her patterns, and now I am not sure how that sorry state of affairs existed for so long. She is a knitter after my own heart, designing creatures without seams that can be speedily knitted when on a deadline (in a very real sense: I do not want to experience firsthand being the grownup that commits the unforgivable slight of showing up for a birthday party without a gift for the birthday child). All Cheezombie patterns also feature those adorably ridiculous buggy eyes, which are the perfect antidote to the preponderance of too-cute children’s toys that usually proliferate at birthdays.

The kiwi is also perfect in that it uses next to no yarn. After a few years knitting with, rather than buying, super wash yarn, I find myself in the surprising and rare situation of being nearly out of the yarn I need for my projects.