Cuttlefish

Also baby-safe:
I plan to write up a pattern soon (in a couple of weeks?) - I'd love help in testing it out to make sure it's easy to understand and free of error. If you want me to send you a "beta" version when it's ready, please leave me a comment here with some way to get in touch - or just contact me directly. EDIT: Thank you so much for all who responded - I'm going to go ahead and cap sign-ups at comment 12.

Child-proofed octopus

I normally make these octopuses with seed bead eyes and an unsecured, yarn-scrap belly, which is fine for display, but not very baby-friendly. Three modifications can address the problem:

1. Make the body to the point at which the neck begins, and stuff with polyfill. I usually crochet with pretty high tension, but if you crochet loosely, you can make a fabric sack to hold the polyfill to make sure it won't poke out.
   
2. Cut a piece of fabric larger than the hole and tuck the edges in, as shown above. Then sew in place (avoiding the last row of crochet, since you'll need to continue the neck).
3. After finishing the octopus, make eyes with french knots on top of rounds of felt, which are also sewn down separately along their perimeter with regular thread.

Figure Legend online

The embroidery show at the Curiosity Shoppe is now down, but the pieces will still available online for a couple weeks through the Curiosity Shoppe's website.