Knit Your Own Sackboy, Dress Him Like Zangief

Want a real-life Sackboy? Knit your own, courtesy of U.K. magazine Simply Knitting, and then dress him up however want – maybe even as a Street Fighter!

The unofficial pattern was created by Alan Dart, a “hugely popular” designer of knitted and fabric toys. (I can’t actually vouch for the “hugely popular” part, but after poking around his website I can say that at the very least he appears to have some serious knitting chops.) The pattern for the knitted Sackboy, which is identical to the digital version “right down to the fingers,” is available now in issue 49 of Simply Knitting, and the fuzzy little guy will also be making appearances in the December editions of Official PlayStation 3 Magazine, PSM3 and GamesMaster.

“Sackboy will be tremendously popular and this is the perfect time of year to knit the little chap. Knitting and customizing him means that he will be utterly unique and a very cool accessory,” said Simply Knitting Editor Debora Bradley. “We’re very lucky to have him in the magazine and we hope that he’ll help to increase the already sizable crossover between the great communities of gamers and knitters, online or not.”

There’s no doubt that dressing up Sackboy is half the fun, and in that vein there’s even more good news for fans: After a week of rumors, Sony has finally made it official, confirming that Street Fighter Sackboy costumes are on the way.

Speculation about the upcoming costumes began last week, when a Spanish PlayStation forum posted images of Sackboy dressed up like various Street Fighter characters. The actual pedigree of the images was unknown, but Sony moved quickly to have the images pulled from the site. Not quickly enough, however, to keep them from reaching other sites, including Ripten and beyond.

Now, Sony has announced on the PlayStation Blog that the images were, and are, official, and that the costumes will become available to LittleBigPlanet owners beginning December 11. Four Street Fighter costumes will be available – Ryu, Chun-Li, Guile and Zangief – for $1.99 each, or in a complete set for $5.99, via the PlayStation Store.

But that’s not all! Sony has promised that other new costumes will make their debut on the PlayStation Store on Wednesday. Check back here to see what else they have on tap – and get started on that knitting!