Hi everyone, and welcome to this October Halloween CAL!
I am J.A. Poolvos from Little Bear Crochets. This month I will guide you through my pattern to make yourself a wonderful amigurumi elephant in costume. There will be an option for a pirate costume and a witch costume, but of course, with a little creativity, you can adjust the basic pattern to suit any extra wishes you may have!
The project will be crocheted in the amigurumi style, which works with continuous rounds. For this we use a Furls Candy or Odyssey Hook in size 3.5. There will also be a giveaway for these hooks for three winners, scroll down to the bottom of this post to enter. Also be sure to join our CAL group Fun with Furls and favorite this pattern on Ravelry, to stay up to date on the happenings with this CAL.
The full supply list of what you’ll need is as follows:
- Furls Candy Shop or Odyssey hook in size 3.5
- Stylecraft Special DK yarn in color 1820 Duck Egg Blue
- Stylecraft Special DK yarn in color 1002 Black
- Stylecraft Sepcial DK yarn in color 1010 Matador Red (only if you wish to make the pirate)
- Stylecraft Special DK yarn in color 1001 White (only if you wish to make the pirate)
- A small bag of polyester stuffing
- One pair of safety eyes, size 6 mm
- About 15 cm (5.9 inches) of metal wire
- Your favorite sewing needle
Are you looking forward to this project? I sure am, and I hope you will enjoy it too! If you have any questions about the pattern, you can visit Furl’s Facebook group where I will hover around during the CAL. I will do my best to answer all of your questions. :)
We will begin with the amigurumi’s head, which will directly continue into its main body (less sewing work for you!). We’ll also be doing the legs and tail this week, so let’s go!
The abbreviations that I will be using are as follows:
Mc = magic circle
Sc = regular stitch
Inc = increase stitch
Dec = decrease stitch
Ss = slip stitch
Hdc = half double crochet
Dc = double crochet
FLO = front loop only
BLO = back loop only
( … ) x N = repeat whatever is in between the brackets N amount of times
[ .. ] = total amount of stitches that row
Head/body
Use blue yarn
Round 1: 6 in a m.c. [ 6 ]
Round 2: (inc) x 6 [12]
Round 3: (sc, inc) x 6 [18]
Round 4: (2 sc, inc) x 6 [24]
Round 5: (3 sc, inc) x 6 [30]
Round 6: (4 sc, inc) x 6 [36]
Round 7 – 14: sc around [36]
Round 15: (4 sc, dec) x 6 [30]
If you want to make a witch, place the pair of eyes between round 10 and 11, with about 7 stitches in between. If you want to make a pirate, simply place only one of the eyes.
Round 16: (3 sc, dec) x 6 [24]
Round 17: (2 sc, dec) x 6 [18]
Start stuffing really firmly! Stuff along as you crochet along.
Round 18: (sc, dec) x 6 [12]
Round 19: (sc, dec) x 4 [ 8 ]
Switch colors here. Make sure the color switch happens on the back of the body, where there are no eyes on the head. Make an extra few sc is that’s necessary to get to the back. If you wish to make a witch, simply use black. If you want to make a pirate, start with red yarn here and switch from red to white and from white to red for the upcoming eight rounds to form a striped pattern for the elephant’s shirt.
Round 20: sc around [ 8 ]
Round 21: (sc, inc) x 4 [12]
Round 22: sc around [12]
Be sure to stuff the neck very firmly! Otherwise, the body won’t hold the head in place.
Round 23: (2 sc, inc) x 4 [16]
Round 24: sc around [16]
Round 25: sc around [16]
Round 26: sc around [16]
Round 27: sc around [16]
If you were working on red/white stripes, change your color to black now.
Round 28: FLO- Sc around [16]
Round 29: (3 sc, inc) x 4 [20]
Round 30: (4 sc, inc) x 4 [24]
Round 31: (in the following stitch, do these 3 stitches: hdc, dc, hdc. In the next stitch do a ss) x 12
Finish off and work away your thread.
Now you’re left with a body and a dress, but as you might have noticed, the main body is still open underneath the skirt! Remember in round 28, when we only worked the front loops? Turn your elephant upside down, push the skirt down and reattach your blue yarn in the back loops of round 28.
Round 29: sc around [16]
Don’t forget to stuff the body!
Round 30: (2 sc, dec) x 4 [12]
Round 31: (dec) x 6 [ 6 ]
Finish off, close the hole and work away your thread.
Now you’re ready to make the legs and tail and attach them to the body.
Legs (make 2)
Use blue yarn
Round 1: 6 in a m.c. [ 6 ]
Round 2: (2 sc, inc) x 2 [ 8 ]
Remember, stuff a little after every few rounds while crocheting.
Round 3 – 19: sc around [ 8 ]
Round 20: (2 sc, dec) x 2 [ 6 ]
Finish off and leave a long thread.
Sew the two legs on the bottom of the body, underneath the skirt. Be alert! Make sure that the legs are next to each other when looking to your toy from the front side.
Tail
Use blue yarn.
Make a chain of 10 stitches, then finish off and leave a long thread for sewing.
Attach little pieces of yarn with a knot to the first sc of the chain.
Sew the tail on the bottom of the body, underneath the skirt. Look closely, so you don’t accidentally sew the tail on the front side of the elephant! Watch where you’ve placed the eyes.
That was all for this week! Next week we’ll finish the elephant. Meanwhile, you can find me on Furl’s Facebook group to answer your questions.
This was J.A. Poolvos from Little Bear Crochets, good luck, and until soon!