This is for Katy Board and anyone else who wants to make a Penguin for a friend or themselves!
What I used to make the Penguin
pattern
- Size E/4 (3.50mm) crochet hook You can use a bigger hook it will make a bigger Penguin, depending on how big your hook is it make leave gaps if you find that happening you should crochet with two strands of yarn at the same time or go down a hook size.
- Blue yarn (I used 'I love this Yarn' in Royal) You don’t need a lot what I used was just left over scrap from making a few Tardis dice bags ((http://embertouchtehfire.deviantart.com/art/remaining-Tardises-but-more-to-come-288992847?q=boost%3Apopular%20%28%28tardis%29%20AND%20%28by%3Aembertouchtehfire%29%29&qo=1 )) or any color you want your penguin to be
- A sheet of white felt (or any color you want the belly and eye patch to be) you willl only be using a 2 inch by 3 inch piece
- Felting needle (if you don’t have one you can always sew or glue the patch into place but I love the way it looks felted)
- Scissors
- Stitch marker - You can go fancy and use a store bought one or make a fancy one, I just use contrasting scrap of yarn something I am sure will not rub off and leave fiber behind.
- Safty eyes- Safty eyes will lock in and are impossible to remove with out bolt cutters or actually cutting into the doll so it will make the toy safe for any age.
- Small amount of orange crochet thread or yarn (I used #10 crochet thread because I had a few scraps left over from making toe straps for my baby niece last summer.)
- A needle (to embroider the beak, and attach the wings and weave in loose yarn ends) I have a few darning needles and a 'Big eye' that I used ((Big eye is a beading needle that the whole center of the needle is the eye you pinch to open it and it makes it easier to thread, plus the needle is flexible and thin))
- PVC pellets (if you want some weight to help it stand straight)
I am from the US so I am using the US crochet terms the only things you need to know to make this penguin are, MR (magic Ring), SC (single crochet), INC (increase), and DEC (decrease). Some other terms I may use rnd=round, st-stitch, yo-yarn over.
Even if you have
never crochet before this should be simple.
If you have never worked in the round before don’t be scared its easy!
For those of you who
don’t know how to do a magic ring (MR) its pretty easy and its my preferred
method of starting most amigurumi.
Start by taking hold of the end of your yarn in your non
dominate hand ( that would be my left) and drape it over your hand with the
tail end on your palm and wrap the working end (connected to your ball) loosly
around your first two fingers.
Then your going to
take your hook and slip it under both loops, (in the pictures I am using a
larger hook the needed for the pattern so you can see what I am doing clearly)
then take the working yarn and wrap it from under the hook over and pull that
loop under both loops of the ring. Then
you will yarn over and pull threw the loop on the hook. (basicaly chaining one
stitch) Slip under the loops of the MR yarn over, pull threw, you should have
two loops on the hook now (in the video I might call the loops hooks because I
am loopy like that) yarn over and pull threw both loops and that is your first
SC in the round. Now just keep slipping
under YO pull threw YO pull threw both loops, repeat till you have the number
of st's needed for your mr, so if I say
MR-8 you would need to end up with 8 sc.
I like to loosen up the working loop and slip a finger or three threw it
before closing up my MR to make sure I don’t loose a stich. Now take the tail end of the yarn and gently
pull to close the ring!!
Now onto the pattern.
MR-8
Rnd 1 INC ALL
-16 ((Round 1, increase in each stitch,
ending up with 16 st's
Rnd 2 sc, inc -
24 ((Round 2, *sc in stitch, increase in
the next repeat from * so its sc, inc, sc, inc, sc inc…)
Rnd 3 thru 8 sc all
-24 ((Rounds 3 to 8 sc in each st, no
increasing or decreasing you will have 24 sc st in each round)
Rnd 9 sc, dec
-16 ((Round 9 *single crochet one st,
then decrease* repeat from * ending with
16 st's)
Rnd 10 sc all-16
Rnd 11 sc, inc -24
Rnd 12 thru 13 sc
all -24
I took the time here
to attach my felt and eye's (I didn’t felt it on I just put the eyes threw the
felt and let them hold it on). After
securing the eyes nice and tight I stuffed the head portion to my liking.
I cut the felt a
little larger then I wanted the finished part to be because when you felt you
will loose about a CM of space all around. If your gluing or sewing make it the
size you want it to be.
I folded my 2x3
piece of felt in half, starting with the head I cut as if I was going to cut
out a heart but stop half way threw turn and cut down like a tear drop. I used my crochet hook to loosen up the fibers of the felt to
put my eyes threw, you can make small slits with scissors if you prefer. Slide the eyes threw the felt and into the
crochet, making sure you put their backs on tightly.
Rnd14 sc, sc, inc
-32
Rnd 15 thru 18 sc
all -32
Rnd 19 sc, sc, dec
-24
Rnd 20 sc, dec -16
Rnd 21 dec all -8
Cut off and leave
4-6 inch tail. Stuff the rest of the
body adding in about 2 Tablespoons of pellets, and weave the tail threw the st and pull them shut, using
the needle weave and tie off the end. I
like to weave tie and weave again and tie off a second time then weave the needle threw a large part of the body and
snip off the extra so you hide the tail
inside.
After you stuff,
either glue, sew, or felt the mask/belly patch. I started at the top with the eyes and
worked my way down trying to keep both sides even and flat, when you get to the
bottom you will have to pinch the felt in to spots to get the rounded look if you didn’t cut it
just right (which I didn’t)
Now make two of the fallowing wing's
MR-6
Rnd 1 sc, inc -9
Rnd 2-6 sc all -9
Lay the wing flat
and using the needle weave or stitch the wing closed then stitch it onto the body, I choose to
stich it into round 11 of the body, only stitching onlge the closed edge so the
wings can be flapped.
Then I finished it
off with my big eye needle and orange crochet threat I slipped threw from the
front to the back of the felt and make to the front and loosely make a
knot then went back in and out in the
same spot 3 more times, then lower and smaller three times till I got a small
triangle beak. I slid the needle threw the front and weaved it
back and forth before pull it threw and hiding the tail inside by pushing the
needle threw to the back of the head.
If something isnt clear or you need help with a step leave a comment and I will do my best to help you out with video or picture walkthroughs.
