Crocheted 'Piggy' Banks

Our grandchildren each have a piggy bank here at our house. Well, they were actually empty, plastic snack and coffee jars and I had promised to make something out of them.

I finally got around to it and here are the results; footballs for our oldest grandsons, little ladies for our granddaughters and a little guy for our youngest grandson.

They are all crocheted, starting out with a circle, adding stitches until it is a perfect fit for the bottom. Then it is a matter of working your way up, in- or decreasing the number of stitches to make it a tight fit and changing colors when needed.

Once you get to the lid, stick to the same number of stitches until it is large enough to cover the lid. This will allow for easy access once the piggy bank needs to be emptied. Weave a drawstring through the last round of stitches and pull it all together, covering everything but the slot. Hide the string by tucking it under.

The first thing you need to do however is make the slot. I used a glue gun to melt it in the lids of most of them. It may take a little while, but it works.

After you attach the hair, the slot is easily covered and hidden, but you can also make a cap or hat like I did for the little guy. I attached the back of the cap to the head so it wouldn't get lost.

Some lids don't melt so easily and you will have to make the slot in the container itself. That is no problem as you can see here.

I covered it by pulling the hair together and adorning it with a bow. That also makes it easy to find; simply lift up the bow. You can also leave the slot uncovered and crochet around it.

It is really fun to do and I have many more ideas for unique 'piggy' banks. The main thing though is that our grandkids love them!