The biggest dilemma in Squirrel Picnic’s history has finally been solved! With my new and improved crochet squirrel pattern, we can dress our squirrel friends up in fancy costumes and clothing without their pesky tails getting in the way. Now we can all sleep at night.

You may remember that over the course of this past year, I’ve made a lot of updates to my squirrel pattern: I added the option to crochet the tail (as opposed to sewing a faux fur one). I even cut off my beloved mascots’ tails to fit them with football jerseys for the Super Bowl. Reattaching the tails with Velcro turned out to be a big mistake (poor squirrels!).

I think the most recent update provides the best solution yet — buttons! By adding two buttons to the back of the tail, you will be able to attach it to the squirrel by inserting the button into a stitch on the squirrel’s back or head. It’s important to note that the size of the button matters and may depend on how tightly you crochet your squirrel.

If you are making a squirrel for the first time, I would recommend crocheting a gauge swatch first, and then test out a few buttons to see which size fits comfortably before purchasing them.

If you’ve already crocheted a squirrel but want to redo or make a new detachable tail, I suggest taking your squirrel friend along with you to the store and trying out a few buttons to find the best fit. I think Hodge and Podge enjoyed their trip to the fabric store to fit them with buttons for their tails.

The right size button will be the one that can be inserted securely (you may have to tug on the squirrel’s fabric a bit to get it in), but you shouldn’t have to get out the pliers or strain a muscle.

Now’s the fun part! It’s time for me to design some Halloween costumes for our squirrels, keeping this new tail option in mind. I already have a request to create the pattern for Hodge’s Batman costume from last year. I’ll include Podge’s Frida costume too. What other costumes would you like to see for our squirrel friends this year?